August 25, 2012
This week on Skeptically Speaking:
This week, we’re discussing some fascinating science focused on the liquid portions of our big blue planet. We’re joined by graduate researcher Andrew David Thaler, founder of Southern Fried Science, to talk about the weird and wonderful networks of life that…
August 24, 2012
Here's the last few news reports:
August 21:
NASA's Curiosity Studies Mars Surroundings, Nears Drive
NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has been investigating the Martian weather around it and the soil beneath it, as its controllers prepare for the car-size vehicle's first drive on Mars.
The rover's…
August 24, 2012
According to data just now available, the total surface area of the summertime Arctic Sea that is covered in ice has reached the lowest point ever recorded.
Every (northern) summer the sea ice in the Arctic melts to some degree, reaching a minimum around the middle of September. Over the last…
August 23, 2012
Soon To Be Hurricane Isaac
Isaac is a tropical storm currently located south of Puerto Rico and heading for Haiti and Cuba. After rolling over those land areas for several hours, and reaching the southeastern Gulf of Mexico, Isaac is expected to become a modest hurricane, likely to menace the west…
August 23, 2012
There is a relationship between how much CO2 is in the atmosphere and sea level. More CO2 means a warmer atmosphere and that means less long term (glacial) ice and that means more sea water. Also, a warmer planet means the ocean water is warmer, and thus it expands, and that also contributes to sea…
August 22, 2012
The State Fair is about to start up here in Minnesota, and the top epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota has very clearly stated that the swine should be excluded this year in order to avoid swine to human transmission of a flu virus that has been showing up in increasing numbers lately. I’…
August 21, 2012
Mimicry is when one species has changed over time via Natural Selection to look like another species. Three commonly defined forms of mimicry are:
Batesian mimicry, named after Henry Walter Bates, a 19th century Natural Historian, where one species is poisonous or otherwise dangerous to a predator…
August 19, 2012
... goes down, compared to other forms of insemination, because "the female body has ways to shut that down." That's according to Missouri Congressman Todd Akin. But this only works, according to him, if the rape is "legitimate." From this we can easily develop a sort of Witch Hunt method to…
August 19, 2012
Never mind the heat shield, the parachute, the thruster-guided landing, all of that. Curiosity went to Mars to carry out experiments using Big Science Gear and now it is confirmed that at least one set of gear works!
The method is laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy, in which very high power…
August 19, 2012
Henry Gee, the Nature editor, has a novel in three parts ... Siege of Stars: Book One of The Sigil Trilogy ... that I found hit home very closely like maybe Henry was me reincarnated and then transported back through time so his, er, our timeline would cross. This is not surprising since Henry and…
August 18, 2012
Not so fast …
85% of Americans want more funding for research renewable energy such as wind power.
In Iowa, a state leading in wind energy production, 85% of voters view tax credits for wind production as positive.
Also in Iowa, 57% of all voters would oppose a presidential candidate who wanted…
August 18, 2012
The Angry Red Planet just gut a little angrier:
This sequence of images shows the heat shield from NASA's Mars Science Laboratory hitting the ground on Mars and raising a cloud of dust.
From NASA
August 18, 2012
You all know about CONvergence, and by now you've probably heard about or even seen or heard on the Internet one or more of the many panels that were done this year. But those recordings were impromptu and while useful, they are unpolished.
Also, the panels at CONvergence themselves tend to be…
August 18, 2012
"World Wide Mind: The Coming Integration of Humanity, Machines, and the Internet" by Michael Chorost will be the subject of discussion, with the author himself, on this week's Skeptically Speaking. The show airs live before an Internt Audience on Sunday, with the podcast coming out later in the…
August 15, 2012
We are becoming aware of two very important changes in the Arctic that you need to know about. These are separate thing but related, and both are almost certainly the outcome of anthropogenic global warming (AGW). They are:
The sea ice that covers much of the Arctic Sea during the winter is…
August 14, 2012
Atheist Voices of Minnesota: an Anthology of Personal Stories will be officially released on August 28th, though you can of course get it now if you click on this secret link (or this secret link for the Kindle edition).
I just received a press release for the book, and thought I'd pass it on to…
August 12, 2012
I just wanted to remind you to check The X Blog.
Being Sunday, there are Sunday Funnies.
Also, a post-Mr. Paul Aints commentary is HERE.
August 11, 2012
In late November, 1899, a British military unit which included an embedded reporter was ambushed by an Afrikaner unit in what is now Natal Province, South Africa. This was during the Anglo-Boer war, which was to be the largest military adventure to date in the history of the United Kingdom. The…
August 11, 2012
Barbara Forest Wrote Creationism's Trojan Horse: The Wedge of Intelligent Design. Here is a recent talk by her:
August 11, 2012
G is for Galaxy: An Out of This World Alphabet (Alphabet Books) is one of a series of kid's alphabet books with an interesting twist. The pages have the usual big letter, a picture of something that starts with that letter, and a short sentence or two referring to that word. But on the same page…
August 11, 2012
Two days ago, according to the NCSE, Missouri voters overwhelmingly approved Amendment 2 which protects the right of citizens to pray and express religious beliefs, which was already the case because of the US Constitution. However, the Amendment will have other effects that were not mentioned at…
August 11, 2012
Romney's choice of Paul Ryan to be his running mate does little more than changing one aspect of the election dynamic for the Presidency. But it an important change.
Have you been to an even any time over the last several months at which a Federal level Democratic candidate gave a speech? Unless…
August 10, 2012
NASA did an amazing thing a few days ago, landing a big giant amazing Science Robot on the Angry Red Planet, Mars. But to get to that point, to have The Ultimate Omelette, as it were, you've got to break a few eggs.
Here is what an egg looks like when NASA breaks it:
It doesn't just sit there…
August 10, 2012
Atheist Voices of Minnesota: an Anthology of Personal Stories, a book that I have a chapter in, is now available for the Kindle and the Nook.
August 7, 2012
A whole bunch of photographs rom Mars have bee posted by NASA, here. I thought the following one was pretty cool because it shows how accommodating the Martians are, cleaning the dust off the lens and all.
This image comparison shows a view through a Hazard-Avoidance camera on NASA's Curiosity…
August 7, 2012
If corporations are people, there is an argument that Scripps News Service should have a restraining order placed on it. The news service repeatedly took down the hourly postings by NASA, made by NASA, on the NASA YouTube channel, because they thought somehow, by mistake, that NASA was violating…
August 6, 2012
Curiosity landed on Mars last night (I assume you were watching). Well, the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter managed to take a picture of Curiosity with its parachute! This is so cool. Look:
NASA's Curiosity rover and its parachute were spotted by…
August 5, 2012
OK, I only have a minute to watch while I'm having lunch.
A women's basketball game has just ended.
Americans playing Olympic basketball is like kids pulling the legs off grasshoppers.
"So, are you ready for your next game, do you have any strategy?"
"I don't even know who we're playing. I only…
August 5, 2012
This evening, Skeptically Speaking will have Sam Kean, author of The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements and The Violinist's Thumb: And Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius, as Written by Our Genetic…
August 5, 2012
You can watch along with NASA and see briefings and stuff on Curiosity Cam. The Exploratorium also has a page with a web case and various videos.
In case you haven't seen the Seven Minutes of Terror video, here it is:
Updates and a countdown clock will be found here on the NASA site.
