#stochasticity

“Stochasticity is the center of creativity in organisms”

they harness it, and ride…

Dickie Dawkins, unsurprisingly, remains unimpressed…

When asked for comment, Dawkins responded, “I have a whole chapter dealing with Denis Noble in my next book, The Genetic Book of the Dead. It will be available in September.”

After all, he does have a science degree…

Stochasticity–inherent fluctuations in materials merit exploration

Scientists and engineers who work with materials – metals, polymers, ceramics, composites, and glasses – know that at some scale, predictive ability breaks down amid the fluctuations known as "stochasticity." On the atomic scale for example, even the most perfect crystal has thermodynamic fluctuations, in the form of "point defects" – atoms missing from the crystal lattice. In another example, the atoms within an alloy material may distribute in many ways: an alloy made of silicon germanium, may be half and half of each element overall, but with stochastic fluctuations the ratio in which those elements are found varies at different length scales throughout the material.

In a paper published in Applied Physics Reviews, a group of researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, pointing to four underlying causes of such fluctuations that span materials, argue that stochasticity is inherent to all materials and merits greater exploration as a field of study.

"We propose a new framework for understanding stochasticity as an important unifying phenomenon across materials," said Robert Hull, the Henry Burlage Professor of Engineering and director of the Rensselaer Center for Materials, Devices, and Integrated Systems, and lead author of the paper. "There is an opportunity in taking a larger view of stochasticity – in expanding our view from individual observations based on a sole class of materials to a broader perspective across materials – for greater control over both the challenges and potential benefits it offers in materials science and engineering."

...what happened to the two Laura Buxtons from the Radiolab episode “Stochasticity”? Did they go off and fight crime together? I feel like that’s exactly what they did. Two people randomly meet, with their complementary lives and decide to fight crime.  It seems reasonable.

Preview: Stone Stochasticity Project – Hibiscusicity

There are beers in the world that can be pronounced no matter how drunk you are. “Bud”, “Coors” or even “Pabst” can be yelled at the noisiest of bars by the sloppiest of drunks and a fizzy yellow beer will slide across the bar in a frosty mug. With Stone’s Stochasticity Hibiscusicity, MIT students might even stumble. Hell, for the last project release of the Quadrotriticale I asked a bartender…