Random Analogies

Earth's Drafty Magnetic Field

a: Magnetic Field ~
b: a house with a window stuck open during a storm

What: "We've discovered that our magnetic shield is drafty, like a house with a window stuck open during a storm," says Harald Frey of the University of California, Berkeley, lead author of a paper on this research published Dec. 4 in Nature. "The house deflects most of the storm, but the couch is ruined. Similarly, our magnetic shield takes the brunt of space storms, but some energy slips through its cracks, sometimes enough to cause problems with satellites, radio communication, and power systems."

Useful?
Writer: Harald Frey
LCC:
Where:
Date: Jun 4 2011 2:47 AM


Music Is Good....

a: Music motif ~
b: a hook

What: "But there is another element related to the hook, called the motif. Like the hook, a motif is a short, repeated idea. But while a hook tends to repeat the same way each time, and is very noticeable, a motif serves as a starting point - a building block - for other ideas that appear in a song, and does its work mainly in the background. Think of a motif as being similar to a certain shade of green that's used as the main wall colour in the kitchen, but also serves as the colour of the mat in the bathroom."

Useful?
Writer: garyewer
LCC:
Where:
Date: May 10 2013 5:11 PM



a: Hybrid vigor ~
b: a smoothing out of the damage

What:

"Hybrid vigor is like a smoothing out of the damage which is
done by inbreeding. It's a genome wide phenomena which is
like a shot in the arm, an amelioration of the detrimental
effects of prolonged inbreeding/purebreeding."


Useful?
Writer: Not Stated
LCC:
Where:
Date: Jul 10 2014 5:58 PM



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