Success of tsunami forecast depends on identifying the true  cause of an earth quake. If the earth's crust moved horizontally during plate movement during an earthquake rather than vertically, it won't trigger tsunami. Vertical tectonic plate movement displaces water upwards, it can trigger massive columns of waves — as was the case in 2004 - and cause tsunamis.

As a result, the speed at which scientists can identify the direction in which the earth's crust has moved in the event of an earthquake is crucial in issuing an accurate tsunami forecast quickly.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=herd-thinking&...
Science education through cartoons

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How rain drops are formed:

It illustrates the concepts of accretion — when the tiny droplets of water that form clouds bump into each other and combine to form larger drops — and cohesion, the attraction that water molecules have for each other. The “saturation point” that is mentioned in the video is the point at which a cloud can no longer absorb any more water and may release it as rain.

I am disappointed by this assertion : “I’m nonetheless going out on a limb and guessing that science will never, ever answer what I call “The Question”: Why is there something rather than nothing?” End of the science? Really? So it’s okay to chuck 2,000 years of scientific method out the window – a method that does not claim it will always find the truth, but a method that at least doggedly pursues the possibility that one *can* find answers rather than shrugging and assuming that not everything can be understood.

The idea of an infinite fractal cosmos was: “haunting, evocative…perhaps the most exquisite idea in science or religion…” - Carl Sagan

http://www3.amherst.edu/~rloldershaw/

Fractal Cosmology

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My reply to this article on Scientific American: http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/2012/04/23/science-...

Science Will Never Explain Why There’s Something Rather Than Nothing

What a gloomy picture?! Negative vibes? Yes. Science is still in its infancy. We cannot expect much from a child. It still has to grow a lot, learn a lot, think a lot, experiment a lot and come up with explanations.Is it even right to expect a child to solve all your problems and answer all your questions?
Is it right to explain things in the way religion or baseless beliefs do about the existence of our universe? If God, if one really exists, came into existence on his/her own from nothing, like the believers say, the universe could also have originated out of nothing without anybody or anything creating it! How is that for an explanation?!
Some Eastern religions say God is present in each and every atom of this universe and universe itself is the image of God and you cannot separate God from the universe! This fundamental question of origins of universe or God is too complex for an infant science to answer. Science has imbibed positiveness in me and I hope the difficult questions will be answered by science one day not in the immediate future though or in our life times.Have patience. Let science and human understanding grow to an adult stage. And be positive.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-2134042/QUAN...

The making of an activist scientist

Science students all the big ideas haven't all been discovered. There are several more. Find some!

Basic science gives information about how systems in nature work. First go for it in order to choose research as career.

Go into science for the enjoyment and fascination of the work. Not for money, awards and  prizes

http://www.scientificamerican.com/video.cfm?id=diet-goggles-fool-br...

Diet Goggles Fool Brain into Eating Less

Truth and Beauty: Aesthetics and Motivations in Science

by S. Chandrasekhar

http://books.google.co.in/books/about/Truth_and_Beauty.html?id=SO2I...

What is sixth extinction?: An exhaustive survey of the 5,487 identified species of mammals—which includes us—reveals that one in four are dying out. From amphibians to corals, the planet’s animals are disappearing, mowed under by increasing cropland, felled forests and polluted oceans. This disappearance of plants and animals from our planet has been dubbed the sixth extinction because it may be the sixth time that the Earth has experienced a mass loss of species.

Why there are less women in science and technology areas: Science and technology doesn't discriminate between men and women. According to Ms. Tessy Thomas, India's missile woman, Science has no gender. Science does not know from where knowledge is coming - it is only the willingness to learn and know things that matters. If you are willing to take on challenges and learn from experience, that is what is required for women to shine in science and technology.
When women do excel in male-dominated jobs, they're not generally celebrated for it. In fact, women may be penalized for being too ambitious, too confident, too assertive.

People attribute 'hard work' to men and 'household' work to women. The requirements for doing well in certain scientific fields don't fit with the attributes women are considered to have.

This stereotype is not correct and is responsible for the backwardness of women.

On science not getting due share of credit: http://ibnlive.in.com/news/scientists-not-getting-due-credit/252182...

http://www.radiolab.org/

Quarks are the building blocks of the protons and neutrons that populate the nuclei of atoms.

"We are all star stuff"- Carl Sagan

http://the-philosophy-of-science.blogspot.in/

FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE IN SOCIETY
University of California, Berkeley, USA
17 - 19 November 2012
This Conference will address disciplinary and interdisciplinary challenges in the sciences, and in particular the relationships of science to society.
http://science-society.com/conference-2012/

What are Fusion and Fission? SA answers this Q:

The curious world of Scientists!

No level of bio-diversity loss can occur without adverse effects on ecosystem functioning.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b012w66t

Science can be neither conquered nor defended by armies and its advancement will change the way humans govern themselves. Science cannot be controlled or arrested. Science doesn't respect distances or frontiers or laws. The major thing is the world is becoming ungovernable. The real force in our time is no longer politics, but science. And science took away the strengths of politics. Citizens now must be persuaded rather than ordered in this new age of knowledge - Israeli President Shimon Peres

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/science-is-changing-h...

http://www.sciencenewsforkids.org/2012/05/dark-matter-search-turns-...

http://www.whatscientistsread.com/take-part/

Does literature impact what scientists study?

How does art inspire science? It may seem a difficult question to answer with any empirical evidence, but in a new research project Scottish scientists aim to do just that.

Launched yesterday, What Scientists Read? will aim to find out what influence literature has on scientists and the decisions they make.

Asking questions like “how does reading literature affect scientific thought and practice?” and “does reading literature affect the career decision to become a scientist?”, the project team will conduct interviews with scientists in Scotland to try to unravel the influence on science of the creative arts.

Fear not, though. Even if you’re ruled out of the interviews due to geographical disadvantages you can still take part in the study. The project’s website hosts a forum where any scientist can go and add to the discussion.

The launch of the project is great timing. At the crossroads between science and art there has long been debate about how the arts feed back into scientific research - whether as a justification for the art or for the funding - but for ArtLab nothing is going to be as compelling as some cold, hard scientific fact.

Why do People Die While Running Marathons?

Heatstroke can certainly be a factor, as can hyponatremia -- low sodium levels in the blood often caused by drinking too much water during exercise. However, in the vast majority of cases, people die during marathons because of a heart attack. Marathon running puts an extraordinary stress on your heart, one that your body was not designed for.

It's a classic example of a concept known as "the reverse effect" – where too much of something that is normally good for you can have the opposite impact. According to a study presented at the Canadian Cardiovascular Congress 2010 in Montreal, regular exercise reduces cardiovascular risk by a factor of two or three.

Research by Dr. Arthur Siegel, director of Internal Medicine at Harvard's McLean Hospital, also found that long-distance running leads to high levels of inflammation that may trigger cardiac events,ⁱⁱⁱ and a separate study published in Circulation found that running a marathon lead to abnormalities in how blood was pumped into the heart.^{Research by Dr. Arthur Siegel, director of Internal Medicine at Harvard's McLean Hospital, also found that long-distance running leads to high levels of inflammation that may trigger cardiac events,iii and a separate study published in Circulation found that running a marathon lead to abnormalities in how blood was pumped into the heart.iviv}

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/05/11/peak-fi...

FOURTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SCIENCE IN SOCIETY
University of California, Berkeley, USA
17 - 19 November 2012
This Conference will address disciplinary and interdisciplinary challenges in the sciences and in particular the relationships of science to society.
http://science-society.com/conference-2012/

MUTAMORPHOSIS II: TRIBUTE TO UNCERTAINTY INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE Prague
6 - 8 December 2012
Do you have something original to say about our world that is increasingly fuzzy, unstable and chaotic? Are you interested in how crisis, uncertainty and complexity can come together in order to question the known as well as predict and/or model yet unknown? Do you want to share projects intrinsically linking domains of scientific, artistic and technological research and creativity that can be introduced as relevant tools for better understanding of our common future? We invite you to respond to the Tribute to Uncertainty theme.
http://mutamorphosis.org/2012/tribute-to-uncertainty/

How Science of animal colours helping us:
Birds, butterflies, squid and other creatures often sport intense or changing colors that are not formed by pigments but by highly organized nanostructures that researchers are only beginning to unravel.
Orderly and disorderly geometric patterns of these nanostructures reflect only certain wavelengths of light, creating specific colors that in some cases can also shift if the structures get wet or if their dimensions change.
Scientists are making synthetic materials that mimic these biological structures, which could lead to cars or dresses that change color as they move, sensors that detect impurities in drinking water, efficient optical chips for cell phones and authentication marks on credit cards that are exceedingly hard to counterfeit.

“There is a confusion about science. We don’t know everything right away. We have ideas and speculations and you might have a theory before you have a premise confirmed—experimental data, before you know what it means…"

Some Microbiology:

Bacterial cells in the body outnumber human cells by a factor of 10 to 1. Yet only recently have researchers begun to elucidate the beneficial roles these microbes play in fostering health.
Some of these bacteria possess genes that encode for beneficial compounds that the body cannot make on its own. Other bacteria seem to train the body not to overreact to outside threats.
Advances in computing and gene sequencing are allowing investigators to create a detailed catalogue of all the bacterial genes that make up this so-called microbiome.
Unfortunately, the inadvertent destruction of beneficial microbes by the use of antibiotics, among other things, may be leading to an increase in autoimmune disorders and obesity.

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=microbiome-graphic...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2012/may/18/science-careers-under-m...
Science careers under the microscope

http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2012/05/17/152913171/the-essence-...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/audio/2012/may/21/science-weekly-...

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/bangalore/Do-it-yourself-an...

The science of magic:

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/05/14/how-neu...

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/observations/2012/05/22/neurosc...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=magic-and-the-brain

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=magic-neuroscience...

Magicians use such sensory illusions in their tricks, but they also heavily use cognitive illusions, manipulating people’s attention, trains of logic and even memory. Although magicians probably haven’t studied these phenomena with the scientific method—they don’t do controlled experiments—their techniques have been tested over time, perfected by practice and performed under conditions of high scrutiny by skeptical audiences looking to spot the trick.

• Magic tricks often work by covert misdirection, drawing the spectator’s attention away from the secret “method” that makes a trick work.
• Neuroscientists are scrutinizing magic tricks to learn how they can be put to work in experimental studies that probe aspects of consciousness not necessarily grounded in current sensory reality.
• Brain imaging shows that some regions are particularly active during certain kinds of magic tricks

Benefits of sleep:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=sleeps-secret-repa...

http://www.senseaboutscience.org/

http://www.sciencenewsdaily.org/archaeology-fossils-news/cluster153...

How Hurricanes are formed:

http://www.smh.com.au/national/education/the-origin-of-life-the-lat...

New light on the origin of life

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/olympics/science-and-swimming...

http://www.scientificamerican.com/video.cfm?id=instant-egghead-why-...
Why is HIV so difficult to control

The science of creativity:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=put-your-creative-...

Seeking Scientists for Science Cafe!
The WA National Science Week Coordinating Committee invites you to participate in the 2012 Science Cafe. We are seeking 80 West Australian Scientists to share their passion for science with year 10 and 11 students from across Perth at a morning tea hosted at The University of Western Australia. On Wednesday, August 15th at 9:00 AM, students will attend this event at Winthrop Hall and the University of Western Australia to get to know science professionals and learn more about their fields. For information on participating, please contact Kerry Mazzotti at kerry.mazzotti@scitech.org.au