The Woman Who "Sees" Time

Posted by Alex in Medicine on September 14, 2009 at 3:15 am

Space time continuum may be the stuff of Star Trek, but it’s not mere fiction to Holly Branigan. The Edinburgh University psychologist can actually "see" time:

"I thought everyone thought like I did, says Holly Branigan, also a scientist at Edinburgh University, and someone with time-space synaesthesia.

"I found out when I attended a talk in the department that Julia was giving. She said that some synaesthetes can see time. And I thought, ‘Oh my god, that means I’ve got synaesthesia’."

So what exactly does she see?

"For me it’s a bit like a running track," she says.

"The track is organised around the academic year. The short ends are the summer and Christmas holidays – the summer holiday is slightly longer.

"It’s as if I’m in the centre and I’m turning around slowly as the year goes by. If I think ahead to the future, my perspective will shift."

BBC News science reporter Victoria Gill has the story: Link

 
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How Americans Spend Their Time

Posted by Miss Cellania in Everything Else on August 4, 2009 at 12:04 pm


This interactive graphic from the New York Times shows what activities Americans over age 15 are engaged in at different times of the day. It may look confusing at first, but if you go to the link, just run your mouse over the graph for help and explanations. Link -via Metafilter

 
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The World's Most Influential Person

Posted by Miss Cellania in Blog & Internet on April 27, 2009 at 2:05 pm

TIME magazine has announced the winner of their World’s Most Influential Person poll.

In a stunning result, the winner of the third annual TIME 100 poll, and new owner of the title world’s most influential person, is Moot. The 21-year-old college student and founder of the online community 4chan.org, whose real name is Christopher Poole, received 16,794,368 votes and an average influence rating of 90 (out of a possible 100) to handily beat the likes of Barack Obama, Vladimir Putin and Oprah Winfrey. To put the magnitude of the upset in perspective, it’s worth noting that everyone Moot beat out actually has a job.

Link

 
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Leap Second

Posted by Miss Cellania in Science & Tech on December 12, 2008 at 11:55 am

December 31st will be a long day this year. One second longer, to be exact. The earth’s trip around the sun doesn’t exactly correspond to our calendar, as it takes 365.2422 days. That’s why we add a day for leap year every four years, but it still doesn’t come out even, so every once in a while, another second is added to the last day of the year.

The International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service is the organization that monitors the difference in the two timescales and calls for leap seconds to be inserted or removed when necessary. Since 1972, leap seconds have been added at intervals varying from six months to seven years — the most recent was inserted on Dec. 31, 2005.

Link -via Metafilter

(image credit: Flickr user slack12)

 
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