Science Party

Getting late (unless you live east of the Atlantic, in which case it's *really* early), so just a quick link: Popular Mechanics has announced their Breakthrough Awards for 2010.

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IF HISTORY'S TOP SCIENTISTS WERE ALL INVITED TO A PARTY....

Ampere would worry that he wasn't current.

Darwin would wait to see how the party evolved.

Dr. Jekyll would decline on the basis that he hadn't been feeling himself lately.

Edison would think the idea was illuminating.

Einstein would have a relatively easy time finding the place.

Gauss would be invited for his magnetic personality.

Heisenberg would be uncertain that he could make it.

Hertz would wait until the parties were held with greater frequency.

Ohm would resist the idea.

Pavlov would be drooling with anticipation.

Wilbur and Orville Wright would be there, if they could get a flight out of town.

[Alan Smith via JokeMaster]

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WORD for YOUR WEEK: Let's do a science-y word this week: microcosm (my-kro-ko-sim). It's a compound made up of two Greek words: "mikros" and "kosmos" -- literally, "small world." It is generally used these days to describe a very small system or reality that is used to explain or describe a larger one. As in, "the television show Lost was a microcosm of society in general."

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