Dave O’Reilly’s Blog

Very interesting BBC documentary about the differences in the brains and brain chemistry of men and women.

Interesting talk from the TED conference by Brian Greene, who is a string theorist. He describes string theory and provides a nice explanation of the extra dimensions of space required by string theory. He also provides some ways in which string theory can be tested. It’s interesting to hear this, because before hearing this talk I wasn’t aware of any ways in which string theory could be tested. If something can’t be tested, it’s not science it’s philosophy.

Back again to the large hadron collider, where these proposed tests could take place. The idea is that some energy from collisions in the LHC will eject particles into the proposed extra spatial dimensions which would be detectable as “missing” energy. Watch the video for a better explanation.

The scale of this experiment just boggles the mind!

	Blasphemy Author: Douglas Preston Rating:
Buy this on Amazon right now.
The world’s biggest supercollider, locked in an Arizona mountain, was built to reveal the secrets of the very moment of creation: the Big Bang itself. The Torus is the most expensive machine ever created by humankind, run by the world’s most powerful supercomputer. It is the brainchild of Nobel Laureate William North Hazelius. Will the Torus divulge the mysteries of the creation of the universe? Or will it, as some predict, suck the earth into a mini black hole? Or is the Torus a Satanic attempt, as a powerful televangelist decries, to challenge God Almighty on the very throne of Heaven? Twelve scientists under the leadership of Hazelius are sent to the remote mountain to turn it on, and what they discover must be hidden from the world at all costs. Wyman Ford, ex-monk and CIA operative, is tapped to wrest their secret, a secret that will either destroy the world…or save it. The countdown begins…

I don’t remember the last novel that I enjoyed as much as this one.

I’d seen another version of this video, but this one is quite well animated, and visually impressive. Remember while watching this that some people believe that God made the entire universe to facilitate our puny existence on earth. You can’t even see the earth by the end of this video!! That’s probably part of the global conspiracy by the ungodly scientists though.

Here’s the complete Jason Beghe interview, where he talks about his experiences with the cult of scientology.

	God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything Author: Christopher Hitchens Rating:
Buy this on Amazon right now.

A fantastic book. Everyone should read it.

Very interesting short documentary about Andrew Wiles and the proof of Fermat’s last theorem.