By Miguel Oliveira Panão Why is entropy associated with disorder? When Ludwig Boltzmann mathematically expressed the reality that Rudolf Clausius called entropy, at the microscopic level, it corresponded with the number all the possible combinations among a number of elements, assuming those elements move freely in a particular space. What a mess, right? Can you imagine…
Author: Miguel Panão
The relational beauty of scientific communities
By Miguel Panão I looked at the most beautiful theorem in the world of mathematics and saw how we work in science, and understood why we only advance in our knowledge when we do it together as a community. In 2014, researchers from the UK subjected the brain of several mathematicians to an fMRI scan…
Transformed by Time
By Miguel Oliveira Panão Humans have a peculiar relationship with time. We all experience it but feel unable to define it. The sequence of events in our life is like traveling with time. But the aging we see in the mirror is like having time traveling through us. How elusive the understanding of time seems…
Imagination and Nature
By Miguel Oliveira Panão Although we still live in the Age of Information, we might be entering a new age: the Age of Imagination. “The tree which moves some to tears of joy is in the eyes of others only a green thing that stands in the way. Some see Nature all ridicule and deformity……
A principle hidden in Nature
By Miguel Oliveira Panão All life on Earth is possible because of the Sun’s energy. After capturing its energy, it is wasted, stored, transformed, and transferred. I’m intrigued by the last thing that happens – the transfer of heat. There are three basic ways of transferring heat. The first occurs at a molecular level between…
Droplets and Life
By Miguel Oliveira Panão Every physical phenomenon can teach us something which can change how we view the world. I invite you to wonder about droplets. Can we learn anything from small droplets impinging on a surface? Every droplet loses itself when it impacts on a surface. Whether the surface dry or has a pre-existing…
Wonderverse 