The harmony of the universe

Artists and ar­chi­tects have have used the gold­en ra­tio for cen­turies—for ex­am­ple, rectan­gles 1.618 times high­er than they are wide—be­cause it sup­posedly pro­vides es­thet­ic­ally pleas­ing forms. The gold­en ra­tio is irra­t­ional, like pi, mean­ing its dec­i­mals go on for­ev­er.

In the “quan­tum un­cer­tain” state of mat­ter, the ra­tio “re­flects a beau­ti­ful prop­er­ty of the quan­tum sys­tem – a hid­den sym­me­try,” Col­dea said. It is “ac­tually quite a spe­cial one called E8 by math­e­mati­cians, and this is its first ob­serva­t­ion in a ma­te­ri­al.” The find­ings dra­mat­ic­ally il­lus­trate how math­e­mat­i­cal the­o­ries de­vel­oped for par­t­i­cle phys­ics may find ap­plica­t­ion in sci­ence at the nano­scale—the scale of a few at­oms—and ul­ti­mately in fu­ture tech­nol­o­gy, he added.

Read all about it in the article "Golden ratio" hints at hidden atomic symmetry.

To experience the emotional effect of pi you can listen to 

It's a small world after all!

Very small, and if you know anything about quantum mechanics, you know how small I mean. The field of quantum mechanics studies the behaviour of subatomic particles, and up to now the world science has looked at it with awe and wonder. Even though the quantum world can be considered to be the basic building blocks of the universe, what we have observed up to now defies the laws of physics. But a recent discovery in new Mexico has recently observed that the quantum weirness we observe when studying subatomic particles may not be so wierd after all, and that the physical universe display much of the same characteristics of these quantum particles. Like the fact that they exist in more than one 'space' at the same time!

"This is a milestone," says Wojciech Zurek, a theorist at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. "It confirms what many of us believe, but some continue to resist—that our universe is 'quantum to the core'."

Macro-Weirdness: "Quantum Microphone" Puts Naked-Eye Object in 2 Places at Once: Scientific American

Study identifies confusion about sex

Is oral sex considered sex? It wasn't to around 30 percent of the study participants. How about anal sex? For around 20 percent of the participants, no. A surprising number of older men did not consider penile-vaginal intercourse to be sex. More than idle gossip, the answers to questions about sex can inform -- or misinform -- research, medical advice and health education efforts.

A recent study shows how decades of sex in the dark has resulted in such a global confusion in the act of procreation that we have lost consensus for what constitutes sex. 

To be, or not to be happy

That is the choice...

With research finding more and more clues about the power of our mood, and the recent development of fRMI turning our understanding of the mind on its head, I guess it should come as no surprise that the value of happiness be questioned.

I can understand why, but that does not detract from my amusement at the fact that a significant number of scientists seem to be involved in a campaign that question the value of happiness. With the discovery that happiness is a choice more often than not, that happy people are less interested in things like financial markets, news or advertisements I guess it's no surprise.

According to the article in New Scientist called Happiness ain't all it's cracked up to be:

"a wealth of data suggesting that being happy isn't all it's cracked up to be. In previous studies, Forgas has found that happy people are less able to develop a persuasive argument, more gullible and worse at remembering objects in a shop window than their unhappy fellows."

By the look of it these prophets of doom and gloom are fighting dirty as well, since the article goes on to mention that "in another study, happy non-Muslim Australians were more likely to make snap negative judgments about – and even to shoot – computer images of people in traditional Muslim dress."

Being a South African I cannot claim to have any understanding of relationships between Muslim and non-Muslim Australians, but citing happy Australians taking pot-shots at people dressed like Muslims doesn't sound like happy to me in the least.

With speculation rife about what's it all about, what is want and what is meant, what is value and what worth, I'd suggest you give the chance a choice. The worst that could happen is you're back where you are right now. Think about what you gain.

Word is out, and its happiness. Nothing more than a choice, nothing less than a life-changing event. You can try it any time you want. If you don't like it you can always change your mind. Set a reminder if you want.

From personal experience it is something I highly recommend.

Dolphins, brain size and intelligence

Dolphin cognitive abilities raise ethical questions, says Emory neuroscientist

Some dolphin brains exhibit features correlated with complex intelligence, she says, including a large expanse of neocortical volume that is more convoluted than our own, extensive insular and cingulated regions, and highly differentiated cellular regions.

"Dolphins are sophisticated, self-aware, highly intelligent beings with individual personalities, autonomy and an inner life. They are vulnerable to tremendous suffering and psychological trauma," Marino says.

Group flow experience

BPS RESEARCH DIGEST: Social flow - how doing it together beats doing it alone

Ever had that wonderful, timeless feeling that arises when you're absorbed in a challenging task, one that stretches your abilities but doesn't exceed them? Pioneering psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi called this state 'flow'. Countless studies have shown that flow is highly rewarding and usually provokes feelings of joy afterwards. Little researched until now, however, is the idea of 'social flow', which can arise when a group of people are absorbed together in a challenging task. In a new study, Charles Walker finds that social flow is associated with more joy than solitary flow - 'that doing it together is better than doing it alone'.

Resisting temptation

According to a new study by Michelle vanDellen, a psychologist at the University of Georgia, self-control contains a large social component; the ability to resist temptation is contagious. The paper consists of five clever studies, each of which demonstrates the influence of our peer group on our self-control decisions.

In one study 71 undergraduates watched a stranger exert self-control by choosing a carrot instead of a cookie, while others watched people eat the cookie instead of the carrot. That's all that happened: the volunteers had no other interaction with the eaters.

Nevertheless, the performance of the subjects was significantly altered on a subsequent test of self-control. People who watched the carrot-eaters had more discipline than those who watched the cookie-eaters.