Cold

The temperature for the next week is not supposed to get over freezing (32 degrees F. / 0 degrees C.). Living in northern Utah means that you'll have weeks like this from time to time - often several times in the same month. I know it's not as cold as many other places, nor is it the coldest we can get. Peter Sinks (not far from where I went to college in Logan) holds the state record (or at least did) at -69 degrees F (-56 degrees C). It has a bit of an unusual situation that fosters that kind of temperature. I do remember being on campus when it was -40 degrees F/C (the point where the scales intersect). That day it didn't get above 0 degrees F (-17 degrees C.) You know that it's below 0 degrees F when the air in your nose freezes and pulls all of your nose hairs. If you've never experienced it you'll understand when it happens.

It's interesting that cold is measure of how little heat there is in something. A degree is a measure of heat. That's why the absolute scale (Kelvin) is considered such. Fahrenheit and Celsius are taken in reference to something. Fahrenheit has its zero point centered on a equal mixture of water, ice, and salt. Celsius uses zero as the freezing point of water. Kelvin uses the same degree size as Celsius but has zero at the point that all matter becomes inert. According to the third rule of Thermodynamics you cannot reach absolute zero. If you think about it this is simple and a bit of a no brainer. In order to measure something your instrument needs to move. If you're at absolute zero nothing is moving. A metaphor that Pratchett likes to use may be fitting. Reaching absolute zero is like trying to open a box with the crowbar that is inside of it. It just isn't going to work unless the laws of physics decide to conveniently ignore you. However, near zero temperatures are a big area of study. It's even used in quantum computers. Derek from Veritasium did a video with with Dr. Morello from the University of New Wales where they talk about one of the methods of cooling thing to near absolute zero using helium

So if we consider the absolute scale as the measure of heat that means that we cannot have negative temperatures because there is nothing less than nothing. However, there are studies that work in "negative temperature." It is not less heat that zero, but rather a different level of energy. Professor Moriarty from the University of Nottingham explains how this work, but not without a little frustration when Brady asks him to make his metaphor fit an incompatible situation.

You can get some answers to frequently asked questions about negative absolute temperatures here. In all, it's fascinating how cold we can get something and the consequences of doing so. Or should I say, how much heat we can suck out of it.

This is going to hurt. A lot.

If you've been reading my other blog, Grandfather's Wish, you'd have seen a post on my latest past time - World War Wasp. The short of it that I got stung and decided it was time to get rid of the nest that they built in my shed. Since then I've been musing about the fact that wasps don't just sting you but actually inject a venom into you as well. At the moment venom is really on my mind as I have a face full of it. I tried going after the wasps again and in an effort not to get stung, dressed in a heavy leather coat, brimmed hat and even worn gloves. They responded to by investigation with extreme prejudice by stinging me on the only spot I hadn't covered - my face. I'm fine and despite a pretty harrowing experience in the past with wasps I have a pretty good tolerance for their stings. I still don't like to be stung. I just try to cope as best I can. I must say that getting stung in the face is madding because it itches and I don't want to tear my face off for a stupid wasp sting. Luckily the local pharmacist gave me some stuff to try that works really well. Anyway, back to venom.

As I was researching wasps in particular, I learned that their venom is designed to cause pain. They use it for a variety of things, but the bottom line result of having wasp venom injected into you is to put the hurt on you. This is because wasp stingers are very small - wasps are very small and they have to defend themselves from creatures much bigger them themselves. So the venom in a wasp is a psychological biological weapon. It destroys cell ways, particularly neurons, which cause the victim to register pain. It has additional things that stop the flow of blood in the area (so the venom can hang around as much as it likes) and others that enable it to move from cell to cell, hunting out neurons. The idea is to make the victim look at the wasp and feel a strong pain and say, "Holy Crap! That little bug just put a big hurt on me. I don't want any more of this!" and leave. Now of course there can be other side effects of wasp venom: swelling, infection, and even life-threatening anaphylactic reactions for those with an allergy to the venom. Because wasps, and their cousins bees, are so common and the chance of being stung likely treatments are pretty standard and those with allergies can get an Epi-Pen for quick treatment.

There are many other types of venom out there, however. Remember that venomous creatures are those that inject a dangerous substance into their victims. In order to be hurt by poisonous creatures you have to eat them. The list of venomous animals on Wikipedia needs some better organization, but it shows that you have all different kinds of animals: mammals, fish, reptiles, insects and arachnids, just about every kind of animal will have one that venomous. The actual process of having venom injected into you is called envenomation and that is not a word you want to see by "cause of death." Snakes tend to be be the most known venomous animals. Many know about rattlesnakes, cobras, and vipers. I would put spiders and scorpions as the runners up. Not just because they're venomous but also because they're creeping looking. Beyond those, I would imagine that many people don't think about other creatures being venomous, but be careful, because there are still quite a few you wouldn't think of.

Venom can be injected a number of ways. The most commonly thought of are fangs and stingers. This is probably because they just scream, "INJECTION!" They are designed to force venom into a victim in the most direct way possible. They are not the only ones. Many lizards, like the gila monster and the komoto dragon, have venomous saliva that they chew into their victims, saturating the wound with the toxins. Others, such as the male platypus, other mammals and many fish, have a spur or spine that either secretes or is covered in the venom and is then stab it into the victim. What is also interesting is that the creature can often choose whether to inject the venom or not. Wasps, apparently, do it every time. But snakes, particularly adult snakes will often bite without releasing the venom - as a way of warning off someone or something. This is why child or adolescent venomous creatures tend to be deadlier than their parents. Every situation is a dire one and so they will often inject as much venom as possible into everything that bothers them.

Granted, just because a creature can choose to inject venom doesn't mean it's worth the risk of getting bit. Venom can kill in so many different ways, and even the ones that don't kill can maim, blind, debilitate, or just flat out hurt like the devil. Some venom effect the blood, either causing it to clot and producing strokes or blockages, or letting it run freely which also causes problems. Often times venom contains a neuro-toxin which will interrupt the signals from the brain, often resulting in a victim muscles to seize up killing them by suffocation or cardiac arrest. What is truly interesting is that scientists can now deconstruct a creatures venom just from a DNA sample and use it to treat dangerous medical conditions. This article from National Geographic back in February talks about the research being done in venom studies and what potential cures are being discovered. It is a fascinating read and explains the strides being made much better than I can.

So, World War Wasp is still one, but I think their down to their last survivors. I'm just glad that I'm not allergic to wasp venom or that would be making my life very difficult right now.

I see the light!

Light is pretty cool. That is it is interesting and fascinating, not that it's temperature is particularly chilly. In fact, Archimedes was said to have made a weapon by concentrating light using mirrors. I've found references to others that have tried to recreate this trick including, the Mythbusters (twice) with mixed results. It has been demonstrated that it can be done, but if it was done is a question for history, not science. There have actually been two modern day occurrences that demonstrate the damage the sun can do when people aren't trying to deflagrate ancient warships. The first was in Las Vegas three years ago when a sunbather got more than he was looking for. The second was just last week when a man's car was parked in just the wrong spot and was exposed to 10 to 20 times the normal sunlight. Sixty Symbols on YouTube explains how it happens, as well as how a particular urban myth about Barbecuing pigeons got started.

Light also has the ability to travel really far distances. Even a small mirror can produce a flash that is visible for miles. My siblings and I all owned signal mirrors as kids capable of long range flashes and we took particular delight in finding new ways to direct the flashes. Light always reflects at the angle of impact (like the video explains), so the trick is just knowing how the light bounces. Interestingly enough, Derek, from Veritasium, explains how light is quantized. That is, it arrives in packets. As you back away from a light source the light appears to get dimmer and dimmer until your eyes can't pick it up anymore. But with sesitive enough eyes the sun would not truly go out, but would flicker. That's because the packets are having to cover a larger and larger area as they get further and further away form the source. Derek describes it much better - check out his video.

Now that I've looked at light, perhaps I should look at darkness. Does anybody know the speak of dark?

The Green Flash and other phenomenon

Brady Haran, YouTuber extraordinaire, recently returned from a trip to the European Southern Observatory in Chile. He talks about all six days on his blog, so I won't mentioned everything he did. But I did watch the first video he posted from there on his channel Deep Sky Videos - The Green Flash!

I have to confess that I did not know that there was a actual green flash phenomenon. I thought it was something created by Disney for Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. Turns out that it's real and it makes a lot of sense when you think about it. As the sun approaches the horizon it has to pass through more atmosphere. This added air acts like a lens that distorts the light. Consequently it creates an illusion of the edge of the sun separating and turning green. I dug around and found a good resource on green flashes by Andrew Young. It's really a cool thing that I would love to see it for myself.

Learning about the green flash got me thinking about other natural phenomenon. St. Elmo's fire came next to mind.

I first heard about it from watching a version of Moby Dick.The teacher explained that the crazy blue fire on the mast wasn't magic but rather a natural occurrence. Similar to light night it is when air is ionized during a storm (often at the end of it). It tends to collect on surfaces that discharge easily - pointed objects being a chief culprit. A perfect example of how the process works is a neon light. They both operate under the same principles of ionization. The cool thing is that ionized air is basically a plasma. And if you remember my post on the states of matter you know that plasmas are really cool. So, if it looks like your plane is burning on the wings, you might be looking at the slowest lightning you can see.

Lightning is also a pretty cool occurrence when you really think about it. I won't look too closely at it, but I will link to KXCD's blog when he answered a whole bunch of questions about it. I will also share an awesome video that you may or may not have seen before. (filmed by Tom A. Warner)

Returning to the sun for a minute, I've heard of Sundogs before and even seen them and so wanted to make mention of them here.

Similar to an after effect of a lens flare, sundogs are the result of when light from the sun is broken up by before it gets to your eye. In a lens flare the light source is scattered as it passes through the lens. With sundogs the light is split by ice crystals in the air. The reason why sundogs don't show up every time it's cold enough for ice to form is that the crystals must be aligned so as to be horizontal to the viewing angle. Because of the specificity of the crystals, it produces a very distinct effect, two (or sometimes more) "phantom suns" that are equal distances from the sun. The same crystals also can form a halo around the sun in the same fashion. Again, this phenomenon generally occurs when the sun is near the horizon. The website Atmospheric Optics has some excellent photos and explanations about different visual phenomenon.

While rarely a mystery, I want to mention the Aurora borealis and Aurora australis. The northern (and southern) lights are a result of solar radiation hitting the upper atmosphere. They can be a variety of colors and are a common subject of photos. They've been studies extensively and there is lots of information you can find about them. I mention them here because I actually had a chance to see the lights while at my parents house in northern Utah. They were a faint green glow in the northeast sky, but while not being spectacular it was a great novelty. I don't have a bucket list, but if I did "see the northern lights" would have been on it.

I'll end with an occurrence that I've seen a time or two and, like the green flash, is due to the atmosphere. There are all kinds of things that can make the moon look different colors, including particles in the air (from fires, industry, etc), as well as the moon's light coming through thick layers of atmosphere (such as moon rise and moon set). I had to share this from Wiki Answers as I was doing research on this - The answer someone's question of "Why is the moon red?" Answer: "It is NOT." I've never considered Wiki Answers as credible research - Now I really don't trust them. The most established change in the moon's color is during a lunar eclipse. Red moons come from sun light reflecting off of the moon and shining through the Earth's shadow. Earth's shadow has a reddish tint to it because our atmosphere bends light around it, the red light being the most penetrating and thus infusing the shadow while the blues and greens (and other hues) scatter out. So that is why during a lunar eclipse the moon will look red. I like this description from NASA about what it would look like if you were in a spaceship in the shadow of the Earth...

The view from your cockpit window is Earth's nightside, the dark half of our planet opposite the sun. But it's not completely dark! All around Earth's limb, the atmosphere glows red. What you're seeing is every sunrise and sunset on Earth -- all at once. This ring of light shines into Earth's shadow, breaking the utter darkness you might expect to find there. Turn off the cockpit lights. There's a lovely red glow.

Rather poetic don't you think?

Further changes in Music

I just can't seem to leave music alone. Perhaps it's because it strikes a cord in me. As I continued to muse about modern music I realized that I could continue to talk about the evolution of music with some neat examples.

First, my theory of modern soundtracks being the newest wave of classical music. The Piano Guys helped vindicate me on these thoughts. They have a couple of videos that use soundtracks mixed with classical music to produce an amazing combination. The two big ones are Bourne Vivaldi and Mission Impossible (featuring Lindsey Stirling).

If you read the "Story behind the song" in the notes of Bourne Vivaldi you'd find the following:

There are few "hooks" in the movie-music world that are as grabby as the Bourne Identity Soundtrack riff. like the movie series, its intensity commands attention. We just had to figure out a way to use it. In our usual style, we thought we'd create an "action movie soundtrack" that combined this and a piece of classical music...With no "action movies" in the 1700's, [Vivaldie's piece] was probably the closest you could get to one. It has intense and exciting moments between beautiful lyrical moments. It was this piece, among others, that got Steven (the cello guy) excited about classical music - it was one of the first pieces he played with orchestra.

 The piano guys are known for mixing classical music with everything they do, demonstrating the tendency to mix different styles to create new sounds. While different forms of classical music have done this in the past, it appears to be a staple of modern music in general. Not just in mixing classical with soundtracks or pop, but different pop styles, rap, alternative, and everything in between. I am not a big rap fan. Most of the time I take issue with the content or style of rap, but I do have a collection that I enjoy. A particular favorite is the YouTuber Eppic featured in these videos (with Peter Hollens, Kait Weston, and Alex G).

I like the addition of the rap and the way it fits with the other singers and the style of the songs. the blend is good and despite the differences in styles I feel that it adds something. To go in the reverse, the Salt Lake Pops Orchestra takes popular songs and puts them to full orchestration. They are also doing fun things with orchestration (calling it the "Radioactive Orchestra") as shown in these videos with Kristen Jensen and Alex Boye and Lindsey Stirling.

One last alteration in music that follows a more experimental theme is music based on more than just emotion, narrative, or even any kind of music tradition. Alan Key writes and produces music for Brady Haran (and others) and is featured in many of the science and math videos that I enjoy. Brady has also worked with Dave Lens, a singer/song writer who has been inspired by science concepts. Below are recent videos from each of them. Alan's Pi March is based on the number pi (3.14....). He has also done music based on Tau, e, and Khinchin's constant. Dave's video was inspired by the vast differences in size between the smallest form of matter and the largest. While the music itself is original, he had to do extensive research (using Brady's help) to compile the facts, sizes, and accuracy for the lyrics. His song has grown on me over the time since he posted it on one of Brady's channels. The video features a chores by ViHart, who is a professional mathemusician at the khanacademy.org. So we can view music as it's influenced by math and the sciences.

These videos also demonstrate a principle that I was trying to blog but just never came together. With the rise of the recording industry music became a regulated industry. Only those that the production company thought were worthy would receive wide spread distribution. Sure artists could self produce, but generally access to equipment was expensive, marketing was non-existent, and exposure was limited. But then the digital revolution happened. Peer-to-peer file sharing, particularly of music, enabled people to spread music faster then the recording industry, often times spreading music without the recording companies and the artist receiving any money. This, of course, was not seen as a good thing for the people who make or produce the music. While Peer-to-peer was eventually locked down and regulated (for the majority) when Napster lost their lawsuit against the RIAA, another potential enemy of the recording industry loomed its head - YouTube.

There is lots of debate on whether and how YouTube hurts the music industry. And I don't have anything to add or subtract from what has already been said. There is obviously one huge effect of YouTube on music - exposure. Musicians are able to expand their audience much more now than ever before. The Piano Guys, Lindsey Stirling, and The Salt Lake Pops have all been able to expand their music beyond YouTube because of their success on YouTube. Many other YouTubers are able to support themselves (some completely, others partially) through their productions. But anyone can post a video and potentially become the next new thing. Previously artists would of had to go through a recording company for an opportunity to reach the same size audience. Many YouTubers will collaborate with others to increase their audience. This results in many of the mixes, mashes, and variations that occur, including some of those above.

The growth of the online musician increases with digital production and sales. I own both albums and singles of several of my favorite YouTubers' music, buying it from iTunes but it is also available via that artist's websites. Even if the artist is not looking to support themselves but just do something that they think others would like they can accomplish their ends very easily. Music as a medium and a industry is changing and it's not about to stop any time soon.

Terminating Acceleration

For my birthday, my wife got me a great gift - memories. She wanted to give me the chance to do something I had never done before. That something turned out to be indoor skydiving. Sadly I do not have pictures from the event, but I've been thinking about it and how it works.

I remember in high school physics doing all of our assignments in a friction-less environment. This was always a little frustrating to me because physics is applied mathematics that demonstrate how the world works and the world does not exist in a friction-less state. I understand the reason for this - high school students are probably not prepared for the calculations necessary to compute those numbers and high school teachers may what to stay as far away from fluid dynamics as possible.

Anyway, I bring that up because as I was doing research on this, I realized how important it is. First - let me lay out a misconception that I've been operating under, that terminal velocity (TV) is a constant, given value. I figured that the whole idea of terminal velocity - the point when a falling object no longer accelerates and thus maintains a constant velocity - was that it was an absolute. I didn't know why people stopped accelerating I just figured it was one of those points attached to the law of gravity. That doesn't make any sense, but there it is.

As it turns out TV is a function of several factors, many you could probably suspect: the objects mass, acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s/s), density of the fluid (in this case air), the drag coefficient based on the fluid in question, and the projected area of the object. That last factor is the most variable when it comes to skydiving. This is because terminal velocity is the point where the resistance of the air is pushing against you (i.e. up) at the same rate that gravity is accelerating you (i.e. down). So the very force that causes reentering space craft, meteorites, and steaks to heat up is also the one that limits how fast you can fall.

According the the terminal velocity Wikipedia article, the common TV for skydivers is about 122 mph or 54
meters per second. This is with the belly down, arms and legs out, commonly seen pose. Head down, skydivers may go as fast as 200 mph or "almost the terminal velocity of the Peregrine Falcon diving down on its prey." The world record is 843.6 mph held by Felix Baumgartner when he bailed out of a helium balloon on the edge of space last year. Up that high he was able to increase his speed because the air density was much less then closer to the surface. All in all, quite impressive.

I looked up all this because the certificate they gave us after our "jump" said that we had reached terminal velocity. I thought about how that works if we weren't really falling. But again, TV can be manipulated if you can control the different factors. In a vertical wind tunnel you can control the amount of air resistance. Simply pump enough upward force to counter gravity and your downward velocity is neutralized. When you enter the camber, they have you put your hands on your chest and fall into the wind. Even if you fell for a full two seconds, you would only be going about 19.6 meters/second (~1.1 kilometers/hour) so from what I can see, you would indeed reach terminal velocity it would just be a very slow one. Because of the controlled environment they can really whip the air resistance up to where your body does not need to be in the standard pose to remain afloat.

So, once again I feel vindicated in my believe that the more you know about something the more you can exploit it. By learning more about the relationship between gravity and air resistance (which resulted in a discussion of terminal velocity) we can see how they can be controlled. I've always said that until the force that holds things down was understood we could never fly. Now, I can actually say that I have flown. And it was pretty cool.

Explosive tendencies

Kablammers!

During my undergrad a classmate of mine said that he tried to convince his brother-in-law to start his Master's Thesis with that word. Sadly, he was unsuccessful.

I think it's interesting the kinds of things that will explode as well as the ways they will do so. It's important to note the difference between detonation and deflagration. As Destin from Smarter Every Day demonstrates, it is the difference between shotgun shells and gas cans. Both are considered explosions, but simply differ in the speed of the blast.

Most people with then think of explosives think of dynamite and TNT. The US military has also used Comp-B and still uses C-4 for it's purposes. In high school a group of my friends and I had a conversation with a member of the Army Core of Engineers (I later heard him speak on his experiences in Iraq as part of the 2nd wave of troops). As part of the conversation he described how to remove a freeway overpass using C-4. When he mentioned that he would set a 10 minute fuse, someone said, "Wow, it takes you that long to get away?" The engineer looked at him and said, "You don't want to have to run." This dispelled many of the images I had in my head from popular media of explosives experts sprinting away from their target and throwing themselves on the ground just in time. Granted, they still sell "Bomb Squad" shirts and don't forget Schlock Mercenary's Maxim 3. Needless to say, you don't want to have to run, but if you're working with explosives you should be prepared to.

Granted, chemical explosives are not the only option available. Destin pulled a first when he analyzed the Prince Rupert's Drop with a high speed camera. As he explains, when broken it explodes, but rather than releasing chemical potential energy it releases mechanical strain energy (4:42 mark). The speed of this explosion is approximately 1658 meters per second. Seeing that the speed of sound at sea level is 340.29 meters per second, it would mean that we have the equivalent of a detonation, but with glass. Make sure you wear eye protection.

Of course, glass isn't the only thing that might be seen as an unlikely explosive. As a youth, I helped several others clean at a grain mill. They explained that we could not use electrical appliances (like vacuums) because of the danger of explosion from the flour dust. One of the guys collected some and was planning on burning it in the parking lot later. I told him it wouldn't work, but that was only because my father had explained it to me. If you think about it, it makes sense. When something burns its heat radiates out around it. You don't have to touch the flame to feel the heat. If you have lots of little particles, like bits of flour dust, and they are in a cloud, evenly spaced where if you light one the ones around it will also ignite then depending on the size of the cloud you could have a pretty big fire ball. Kind of like this sawdust cannon or Mythbuster's creamer cannon that they built to test this principle. I think this would be classified as a deflagation.

But don't forget the some of the most powerful kinds of explosive. No, it's not nuclear - it's all natural. Volcanoes, meteors, even trees, can all go under the right conditions. I've even seen a dumpster spontaneously combust. I was walking by and heard a "FWOOM!" and where there was once a dumpster full of trash there was a dumpster full of fifteen foot tall flames. Nature has a way of surprising us with it's violence. One of particular violence was the Tunguska event in Russia. Scott Westerfeld, author of Leviathan,  Behemoth, and Goliath, a trilogy of steam-punk alternate history novels, has fun with the event, but how it happened in his universe - you'll have to read the books to find out.

All in all, it's amazing what can go kablammers in this world. Even people. Spontaneous combustion aside, just try telling your significant other that those pants really do make them look fat.

Solid, Liquid, Gas, or Plasma?

Most week days  I drive my two kids to day care and I try to be educational in the car. What can I say - its a professional interest. One morning we got on to states of matter and it got me musing. What are the definitions of the different states? How do you test for the state of matter?

NASA has the most concise and simplest explanation I've seen, even if it was written in 2006. It is not the most extensive but it answers my question on how to test for states of matter. It also addresses the issue of plasma - the "fourth state" of matter. There is plenty to read on plasma including this "Plasma Cannon Safety Activity Book" by the makers of Schlock Mercenary (there is a link on the right). But the thing I liked most about the article was NASA's comment, "NASA is currently doing research into the use of plasmas for an ION propulsion system." Do you know what uses twin ion engines to fly? I'll give you a hint - Twin Ion Engine is an acronym. Turns out that NASA is already implementing the NEXT generation of ion engines to meet our propulsion needs. Now to develop an X-wing.

I kind of touched on the states of matter when I talked about setting fire to the snow back in January. I used to think that the states were steps to progress through, but I was clearly mistaken. Snow is when water goes from gas to solid without mucking about in the shifty liquid phase. Also, I always wondered why you never saw liquid carbon dioxide. You ether have what you breathe out of your lungs or what you use to make ice cream. It turns out that in order to see liquid carbon dioxide you need a very large, very think, very clear sapphire. So movement between the phases may be triggered by a variety of things (not just temperature) and does not need to happen in a liner process.

It occurred to me that the states of matter are also represented in the classic elements of Earth, Water, Wind, and Fire. Apparently that is a common thought - or at least common enough to end up on Wikipedia (first paragraph). But I wonder how many came to that thought from Avatar: the Last Airbender. I'm not talking about the movie which had one of the highest CinemaSin scores ever, but the cartoon which is well worth watching.

So here is the question - Why should we care about the phases of matter? Why do I try to teach them to my children? Why is it considered basic science knowledge that people should know? Probably because it is - basic science knowledge that is. A basic understanding of the sciences is important to have as science dictates how the world works. Perhaps that was a bit strong - science describes how the world works. The more you know about something the more you can use that information. For instance, before people understood gravity (the force that holds us down) they couldn't fly.

Now isn't that interesting?

One last thought - Water is the only composition that is not only found naturally in the three main states, but that are consumed in all three. Particularly in hospitals. Heck, they even use plasma - both kinds. Just make sure they use the right one in you.

March 26 / 2013 Update - Web comic KXCD in it's weekly What if blog makes mention of ION engines in the retrieval of the Voyager I probe. Of course NASA is not going to retrieve Voyager I, but it's cool to hear about ION engines.

What do frogs and Schlock have in common?

While listening to the NPR podcast How To Do Everything (episode 91) on my way to work I learned something very interesting. I learned that frogs and carbosilicate amorphs have something in common. First, what is a carbosilicate amorph I hear you ask?

This is.

Meet Sargent Schlock of Tagon's Toughs from www.schlockmercenary.com. Schlock was my first descent into webcomics and I'm glad I started with him because Howard Tayler, the creator of this wonderful "pile of poo" started on June 12 / 2000 and hasn't missed a day yet, which means that the archive is very large. Never fear, dear reader. If you want to read Schlock Mercenary you can start any of the storylines easily through the archive link, or simply purchase the physical books. I highly endorse this comic if you are looking for daily comedic epic science fiction.

If you don't know what a frog is, here is one of my favorite ones: Dendrobates azureus a.k.a. the Blue Poison Tree Frog 

These guys are about the size of a paper clip and are deadly poisonous (not venomous - venom needs to be injected, poison is ingested). They live in the Amazon and over the course of many years have had themselves removed the the inner workings of the food chain by the simple fact that anything that eats them dies. While many animals are not very bright, most have learned to steer clear of these little guys. They are often called poison dart frogs because aboriginal tribes apparently use their poison for hunting and warfare.

Anyway on to my musing. According to Albert Lebedev of Moscow State University frogs can secrete different solutions through their skin. Since frogs do not have other defensive measures (teeth, spines, claws, etc) they had to develop something to protect themselves. This is the reason Poison Tree Frogs have the name they do. Apparently frogs can secrete many other kinds of cocktails that are used in killing everything from microbes to viruses and in the podcast he even mentions tumors. Something else he mentions is a vomit inducing mixture that makes it hard to swallow the given frog. There is an article here that give an overview of his research if you want more.

Here is where the connection lies - Schlock also is a chemical plant looking for place to spill over. As seen here (strip from July 5 / 2003) Schlock's chemicals cause the carnivorousness plant to spit him out. Or here (strip from Aug 18 / 2007) Schlock's immune system (visualized by his plasma cannon) expels blood nanies (nanorobots designed to function, interact with, and in this case try to take over physical and mental capacities) from his system. This sounds a lot like what Albert Lebedev was discussing on the podcast. The biggest difference is the Schlock is not from around here and is a lot bigger than any frog on earth.

So the question I have: is this Science fiction mimicking reality or a mad genius just coming up with something cool that happens to be true in reality?

Now isn't that interesting?