Gallimaufry

Spike Jonze and Dave Eggers have teamed up to make an adaptation of the children's classic Where the Wild Things Are. Growing up in Scandinavia, I confess I had never heard of this book, but the trailer looks stunning (and turn the volume up - the chosen song fits perfectly). Via John, aquarists at the Blue Reef Aquarium in Newquay have uncovered the identity of a mysterious coral reef killer. Like John says, the accompanying picture really sells the story. It looks like really bad CGI from a D-list Monster Movie of the Week .. but it is not. Ew.

io9 lists The 7 Deadly Sins of Religion in Science Fiction which feels a bit lazy as they mainly focus on Battlestar Galactica and Doctor Who with a bit of Heroes and the odd Star Wars mention. What? No, X-Files with their beatification of Dana Scully? I'm also rather unsure about the attack on the use of cargo cults.

On a similar-ish note: what do you get if you divide science by God is a strange little article:

The bizarre nature of quantum physics has attracted some speculations that are wacky but the theory suggests to some serious scientists that reality, at its most basic, is perfectly compatible with what might be called a spiritual view of things.

And so the journalist proceeds by asking random scientists about their spirituality and we are all somehow supposed to jump to startling conclusions about quantum mechanics, the existence of God and what not.

Oh, let's just end with a BBC headline which I first saw thanks to Anna: "God will not give happy ending!" Oh damn.

Oh, Anyway, It’s Looking Like A Beautiful Day

One of my favourite pastimes of late has been taunting my local physicist friends: "Oh, I cannot make plans later than Wednesday morning because we are all going to die" or "I'm really looking forward to this event horizon thing". Their facial expressions have been priceless, I tell you. Usually I mostly get affronted linguists or disgusted literary scholars, so annoyed physicists have been very diverting. Ah, mass media and their funny takes on scientific matters. I'm also rather pleased to see Elbow winning the Mercury Prize with "The Seldom Seen Kid". It's a very good album and I'm happy to (maybe) see them gain a bit more success. The first single off the album, "Grounds For Divorce", features a fabulous sentence construction: "There's a hole in my neighbourhood / Down which of late I cannot help but fall".

But because I can, let me spam you with a Mercury Prize nominee, not winner. Heartbreakingly gorgeous stuff.

And finally, fifty minutes after my blog rant, Parcelforce delivered my yarn. That'll teach 'em.

"Antimatter's Sort Of Matter's Evil Twin.."

Via my Other Half, I bring you The Large Hadron Rap. Yes, the wacky nice physicists at the CERN project have written a rap which explains what exactly it is that the Large Hadron Collider does.

I tell you, physicists rock. And throw some ace moves too.

From the Guardian

A few days after the initial memory loss, I went to my doctor. He told me I had transient global amnesia, brought on by a combination of events. Just before I lost my memory, I was extremely stressed. I was anxious about my third-year exams. I had also just split up with a boyfriend, and I'd had a nasty stomach virus followed by tonsillitis. I felt physically and emotionally overwhelmed. The doctor explained that my body could no longer handle the strain, so my brain had closed down its "episodic" part, which is linked to emotional memories, times and events.

This little snippet reminded me how the mind is a funky place, indeed.

Why We Know Very Little

This is interesting: Noam Chomsky on the human brain. A short, sweet video from New Scientist. They have an entire section devoted to neuroscience but it is open to subscribers only. Oh well.