Author: Wim

Citizen Science: Schumann Resonances

Science

Schumann resonances (SR) are global electromagnetic resonances generated by lightning in the cavity between the Earth’s surface and the ionosphere. Their existence was predicted mathematically in 1952. However, it took another decade before they could be reliably measured and verified. Given that Schumann resonances occur in the same electromagnetic frequency spectrum as human brain waves, it has been suggested that extreme fluctuations in these resonances could affect human behavior and health.

Read the full story at Plus magazine.

Snooker Statistics Follow Precise Mathematical Laws

Comments, Science

A particular mathematical relationship known as a power law has been observed in many day-to-day situations, from word use frequencies in natural languages to the connectivity distribution in Facebook friendship networks. As it turns out, though, such a power law can also be found in snooker statistics. And if the amazing Ronnie O’Sullivan produces yet a few more centuries, the mathematical correspondence will be even better! Read more

Impressions of Amsterdam

Travel

I’ll admit it straight away: it’s not my city, and it never will be. But on one of those rare blue-sky days it’s actually not so bad (if you can manage to dodge the hordes of tourists, that is). Here are some impressions from around the old town of Amsterdam, in the area where I currently live and work.

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Tracing the Roots of my Family Name

Comments, Travel

It’s quite fun when your family name originates from a specific place that still exists and can be visited. As had already been known for a long time, my family name comes from a street, the Hordijk, in a neighborhood that is now in the southern part of the city of Rotterdam. So, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, I decided to go and pay a visit to this place where my ancestors once lived…

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What’s Your Problem?

Science

Some problems are fundamentally hard, not only for humans, but even for computers. We may know how to solve these hard problems in theory, but in practice it might take billions of years to actually do so, even for the fastest supercomputer.

Read the full story on Plus magazine…

The Origin of Life: A Selfish Act or a Cooperative Effort?

Science

Around 1620 the Flemish chemist Jan Baptist van Helmont, often considered the father of pneumatic chemistry (the chemistry of gases), wrote the following:

“If you press a piece of underwear soiled with sweat together with some wheat in an open mouth jar, after about 21 days the odor changes and the ferment coming out of the underwear and penetrating through the husks of the wheat, changes the wheat into mice.”

This reflected the commonly held belief at that time, even among many scientists, of spontaneous generation. Life was assumed to arise spontaneously and continuously: mice from wheat, maggots from meat, frogs from mud, and so on.

Read the full story on TVOL.

An Unconventional Place for Unconventional Science

Science

Earlier this year, the inaugural workshop of the EES Project was held at the Konrad Lorenz Institute (KLI) in Austria. The KLI is a private and independent research institute with a focus on the development and evolution of biological and cultural complexity. Housed in a beautiful baroque building in the medieval town of Klosterneuburg, it offers a place to think outside the box, escape the usual academic constraints, and work on unconventional ideas.

Read the full story on the EES blog…

Citizen Science: The Statistics of Language

Science

Our ability to learn, use, and process language is something that sets us apart from other animals. Language is used for effective communication, but also allows us to express our creativity through literature, poetry, and song. However, our use of language follows strict mathematical principles as well. One of the best known of these is Zipf’s law.

Read the full story in Plus magazine…