A smart scientist is a frugal scientist. The Frugal Scientist is a series of articles focusing on frugality with special attention to the fundamentals of science.

When it comes to saving money on heating and cooling costs in the household, the frugal scientist must remember these tenets of Thermodynamics: 1) Heat/Thermal Conduction and 2) Closed Systems vs Open Systems.

Heat conduction or Thermal conduction

Heat conduction is the spontaneous transfer of thermal energy from a region of higher temperature to a region of lower temperature, which acts to equalize temperature differences.

BEATNIKS   &   DREAMACHINES

Almost fifty years ago, the beat poet Brion Gysin (1916 - 1986), described a visual hallucination that he experienced while riding a bus:

For those of you who are interested in Brion Gysin's Dreamachine, the following was borrowed from our friends at Wikipedia:

In its original form, a dreamachine is made from a cylinder with slits cut in the sides. The cylinder is placed on a record turntable and rotated at 78 or 45 revolutions per minute. A light bulb is suspended in the center of the cylinder and the rotation speed allows the light to come out from the holes at a constant frequency, situated between 8 and 13 pulses per second. This frequency range corresponds to alpha waves, electrical oscillations normally present in the human brain while relaxing.

The first time I experienced migraine with aura, I was shopping. I remember looking up at the fluorescent lighting overhead and wondering where that weird triangle rainbow was coming from. An hour later, I was in tears and curled up in my bed with all the lights out--I have a low threshold for pain.

After that, Excedrin became my constant companion, along with nausea and a nagging pain pushing down on my skull. I started a headache diary in an effort to avoid "triggers" that might cause my migraines: bacon, poor sleep habits, strong odors. I even kept a cold pack in the freezer just in case.

Let’s suspend logical thinking for just a moment, and imagine the act of baking chocolate chip cookies from scratch. In a bowl, mix flour, brown sugar, vanilla, eggs and chocolate chips with a bit of elbow grease and love. Thumb the plops of dough onto a pan and wait.     Wait.     Pad around the kitchen. Peek in your oven window and watch the dough begin to rise. Finally, when the cookies are  finished, wait some more for them to cool because you've burned your tongue before.  Expecting that first batch can be excruciating--painful even.

Awww. Isn't this squirrel just so cute? You might think that now, but stare long enough at the beady eye of this Eastern Fox Squirrel (Family Sciuridae : Sciurus niger Linnaeus), and you'll see that it's actually a reproducing nightmare overrunning a campus or orchard near you. In fact, the Eastern Fox Squirrel is reproducing so quickly that researchers at the University of California Davis are putting them on birth control.

You've had the flu three years in a row. The first year, you got it from Bob, the IT guy, who sneezed while updating your computer. The second year, you got it from Harry, who touched the tab on the water cooler after sneezing into his hand. The third year, you got it from Linda because she made out with Harry, and Harry's wife got the flu from their kids. Gross.

Scientists know how to have a good time. Just ask Yahoo Serious about when he played Young Einstein. That guy really knew how to par-tay! To see for yourself this Halloween, host your very own Mad Scientist Halloween Party. Check out these ideas to really get your party started. You'll be amazed at how easily you can transform your digs into a Spooky Laboratory!

Just last month, Hubble Space Telescope's main instruments were idled by a computer failure, but not to worry, thanks to NASA engineers, who successfully transferred the work of the failed science data downlink computer to a backup system, Hubble is up and running just a couple of days after the orbiting observatory was brought back online.

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