Galvani wanted to show that animals were inherently electrical, Volta wanted to prove him wrong. In the end it all leads to the Machines using us as batteries, really it does. I promise.

Music:

Manic

Cello Pieces by oneoneoneone

Broken Bow

Read more on the battle between Galvani and Volta(and animal electricty) here.

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Scheele did it first, Priestly got the credit, but Lavoisier made it relevant. The discovery of Oxygen was an important turning point in the history of science, and barely any mice had to die.

Fight 3: Priestly vs. Lavoisier vs. Scheele

Music:

Oxygen Garden

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(via http://twitter.com/neiltyson)

On this episode of Strongly Connected Components Samuel Hansen is joined by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. Dr. Tyson is the Frederick P. Rose Director of the Hayden Planetarium, host of the TV show NOVA scienceNOW, and author of the new book Space Chronicles. Together they discuss the language of the cosmos, just how much people really do care about scientific phenomena, and the importance of looking up. You can find out more about Neil deGrasse Tyson at his website, and do be sure to follow him on twitter and buy, and read, his wonderful new book.

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Howard Shapley thought that the universe was made of a single “continental” galaxy that was not centered on our solar system. Herber Curtis was of the opinion that our sun was at the center of the Milky Way, but he did not think our galaxy singular. On April 26, 1920 their opinions came head to head in what would later become known as the Great Debate.
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The Trimble Paper

Music and Sound Effects From:

Telegraph
Ismish(Tecko)
yonosoypol
Kenneth Lavrssen
Crowd Noise 1
Crowd Noise 2
Cheers 1
Cheers 2
Boxing Bell (2)

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(via mathmidway.org)

For this episode Samuel Hansen spoke with the people behind the Museum of Mathematics right before the February 2012 Math Encounter talk by Jeff Weeks about the Shape of Space. He spoke with the Chief of Operations Cindy Lawrence, Executive Director Glen Whitney, Chief of Design Tim Nissen, and Chief of Content George Hart about the what, the how, and the when of the soon to be opening museum. Be sure to check out the Museum of Mathematics at their website, register to attend a Math Encounter, and follow them on twitter. Not only that, here is a link to the great web games that Jeff Weeks used during his talk. Practice up and you might be able to best me in a game of Tic-Tac-Toe on a klein bottle.

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The first fight to be featured in the Science Sparring Society is between the two biggest intellectual heavyweights of the late 17th Century, Isaac Newton and Gottfried Leibniz. Their battle over the Calculus was so epic they call it a war!

Music from:
liverpoolguitarsociety
Djlo(2)(3)
CameronMusic
folkcello

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(via http://alexbellos.com/)

On today’s episode of Strongly Connected Components I am joined by the journalist and author Alex Bellos. Alex’s most recent book is Here’s Looking at Euclid, Alex’s Adventures in Numberland for UK listeners, and it is a journey through the world of mathematics told through stories that literally take the reader around the world. We talk about his writing techniques and mathematical storytelling in general. To find out more about Alex Bellos visit his website and follow him on twitter.

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(via Richard Helmer)

What you see is from an article over at Cabinet Magazine about the identification of Josef Mengele, Nazi Experimentalist, from his skeleton found in Brazil in 1985. It is a moving story of how science allowed the positive identification of one of the world’s most horrendous war criminals, and how science allowed many people’s minds, who had been scared that the skeleton was a fake, to be put to rest. It is also happens to be the story of the real beginning of the age of forensic science in criminal investigation and trials. Without the methods and techniques used, and explained cogently to the public, for this investigation forensic science would not be what it is today.

From the article:

Clyde Snow speaks of bones in a rather flamboyant manner. In the manner of a rhetorician employing the trope of prosopopoeia—the figure that artificially endows inanimate objects with a voice—he refers to skeletons as if they were both alive and speaking, and gifted with a special capacity for truthfulness: “Bones make good witnesses. Although they speak softly, they never lie and they never forget.”²⁴

 

 

 

…

 

 

Using tables and formulas he had developed of the topography of skulls based on work with hundreds of them, Helmer enhanced the skull to add the thickness and shape of the face which had disappeared with death. Using thirty separate pins, each secured with clay to the surface of the skull and tipped with a white marker at the point where the skin would have been, he recreated the missing contours. This allowed him to compare the skull and the photographs “to the closest millimeter.”²⁶

As Joyce and Stover tell the story, the pin-studded skull and the photos were then displayed side-by-side in front of

two high-resolution video cameras

 

 

…

 

Having satisfied himself, Helmer presented the work to his colleagues. “The pin-cushion skull came into focus on the television monitor with the photo superimposed onto it. The sight was unnerving. It took a moment for the eye and brain to process the peculiar image. They were seeing a human as no one in life could, as if the skin were a ghostly film.”²⁸ The match was perfect. It was the image that would convince the public, a photograph wrapped over an object, an image of life over an image of death.²⁹

[Original link via Radiolab]