Monday, August 31, 2009

Molecular Pic



You've no doubt read about the first picture of a molecule...

Single molecule, one million times smaller than a grain of sand, pictured for first time

I still remember thinking how cool the first "picture" of a molecule I ever saw from my copy of George Gamow's 1974 book, "One, Two, Three... Infinity: Facts And Speculations Of Science," which shows this photo of a hexamethylbenzene molecule...



Of course, molecules are very tricky to photograph, and my old photograph wasn't taken with one click of a camera, but involving multiple overlapping x-ray banding patterns that came together on one piece of photographic paper.

It's been a long time between these two photographs.

My point is that real science moves very slowly. I don't trust "science" that moves very quickly and without adequate peer review.

**cough** globalwarming **cough**

14 comments:

Jan said...

Marketing schemes, on the other hand, don't need much time or verification.

Brooke said...

What Jan said!

Cool pic, Cube!

RightKlik said...

Amazing pictures.

And yes, too much science is being manipulated by "evil mongers" like Harry Reid.

cary said...

Waittwaitwait - you mean this whole "Global Warming" thing isn't based on real, scientific, peer-reviewed FACTS?

I am shocked. Shocked, and dismayed.

Wait, isn't Gore in charge of that?

On second thought, I'm not so shocked...

Chuck said...

I thought this was cool. I thought about posting on it but had other things I've wanted to post on. I did wonder if you would though.

DaBlade said...

cube, I do believe your molecule has a fever. There was not one polar bear in either photograph!

Anonymous said...

It does speak to the "In the fullness of time" approach to scientific endeavor.

Does this mean Reagan may not have caused AIDS?

Anonymous said...

That last was me Cube :)

Queequeg

Z said...

had never seen either....
cool that you're into this science stuff; I'm glad to learn!

Ananda girl said...

Neat! I think many things worth having make you wait for them.

nanc said...

okay - this is the slot where i call cube a "geek" in the most loving manner i can muster!

article of the day!

cube said...

Jan: True. Marketing schemes just need a bunch of greedy salesmen and a gullible, undereducated public.

Brooke: Glad you liked it.

RightKlik: Real science is amazing. Harry Reid wouldn't know real science if it smacked him up the side of his sorry head.

Cary: Yeah. Al Gore is a despicable opportunist.

Chuck: I couldn't let something like this go without a mention. Plus, I really enjoyed browsing through my old copy of Gamow's book in preparation, so it worked out well for me.

cube said...

DaBlade: lol. I should call the video professor & learn Photoshop once & for all. Inserting polar bears shouldn't be too hard ;-)

QQ: Ah yes, before the liberals blamed Bush for everything, they used to blame Reagan. The liberal playbook remains the same.

Z: Glad to help. Science is cool. Pass it on :-)

Ananda Girl: I agree.

Nanc: I lovingly reply with :-P

cube said...

Nanc: Great article. I don't think the old witch has as much against
patriotic music as she does against the patriotism that it inspires in Americans. Generally, patriotic Americans tend to disagree with her loony liberal notions.