The Big Leonid Show and Tin Foil
Nov 16 at 5:05pm by Aileen
I hope that readers are as eagerly looking forward to the big Leonid meteor shower show as I am. Planning to schlep a lawn chair to the railroad tracks where there is an unemcumbered view of the east/southeast sky and no light pollution to speak of, settle in with a blanket and toast to the solar system’s fireworks display.
It should be quite the spectacle if predictions are correct. It’s a new moon, so that source of light pollution won’t be an issue. They say we’ll only get 20 to 30 an hour, while Asia gets the really big boomers at 200-300 an hour, but I’m hoping they’ve miscalculated a bit. There should still be a few to see tonight. The Leonids put on their show every year as the planet travels through the remains of the Tempel-Tuttle comet. Our pass-through has the incoming debris originating from the direction of the constellation Leo, hence the name. This year, however, Mars is sitting right between us and the constellation, so it should look like our friendly neighborhood Martians are staging the show!
What I will not be doing is wearing a tin foil helmet to prevent those Martians from manipulating my brain waves. According to MIT research conducted in 2005, the metallic fashion statements actually amplify invasive radio frequencies reserved for use by the government in satellite communications rather than protect wearers from what they are most afraid of.
The abstract of On the Effectiveness of Aluminum Foil Helmets reads:
“Among a fringe community of paranoids, aluminum helmets serve as the protective measure of choice against invasive radio signals. We investigate the efficacy of three aluminum helmet designs on a sample group of four individuals. Using a $250,000 network analyser, we find that although on average all helmets attenuate invasive radio frequencies in either directions (either emanating from an outside source, or emanating from the cranium of the subject), certain frequencies are in fact greatly amplified. These amplified frequencies coincide with radio bands reserved for government use according to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC). Statistical evidence suggests the use of helmets may in fact enhance the government’s invasive abilities. We speculate that the government may in fact have started the helmet craze for this reason.”
Oh, well. Before some reader out there comes back with the obvious, yes I do know this is mostly tongue-in-cheek from a few undergrad CompSci geeks with way too much time on their hands. But it’s still pretty funny, so enjoy!
Major Scientific Developments That Changed The World
May 26 at 8:08pm by Ryan
The world we live in is a scientific world. But this world that we’ve inherited did not come cheaply. It came from millions of hours of research and commitment to the slow, steady progress of the scientific method. Here’s a post that documents the major scientific developments that have made our world the world it is today: 15 Scientific Discoveries that Developed the Modern World
Happy Birthday, International Space Station!
Nov 20 at 6:06pm by Aileen
SFWA
The International Space Station marks its 10th Anniversary this week, in commemoration of the launch of the first bus-sized component – Zarya – on November 20, 1998 from Kazakhstan. Happy Birthday to this great achievement in international cooperation for the exploration of space and the progression of space-based science!
A joint venture of the US’s NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency, Canadian Space Agency, Jaqpan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and 11 members of the European Space Agency – Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the UK. Do things come any more international than that?
The world’s space-based science conglomerate brags a total of more than 25,000 cubit feet of room after a decade of flights bringing more experiments and more modules, and the participation of 167 astronauts from 14 countries. Recently American astronauts were able to cast their ballots in the General Election from the station, making them the most “absent” of all absentee voters ever!
Estimated to cost around $100 billion over the life of its mission, consensus opinion is that the space station will go down in history as precursor to permanent moon bases, a first step in future journeys to the planet Mars. The station could be abandoned as early as 2011, but may, like several of the recent Mars rovers, end up living well past its life expectancy. Its future is tied to what happens with the US shuttle fleet, and whether or not other nations involved will develop their own fleets to service the station and transport supplies and experiments.
So raise a toast of your favorite to the night sky and consider for a few moments just how far we’ve come since Sputnik. Happy Birthday, ISS!
Links:
Nations Mark 10th Anniversary of ISS
NASA – International Space Station
Wikipedia: International Space Station
John McCain Finally Answers the Science Questions
Sep 15 at 3:03pm by Aileen
As the Excitement of the national party conventions fades and we move into the debate phase, Republican Presidential candidate John McCain has submitted his responses to the 14 questions posed by the crew at Science Debate 2008. Democrat Barack Obama submitted his responses previously, and the SD08 website now has the two candidate’s responses listed side by side for easy comparison.
It would be great to see some of these questions come up in the debates, so that follow-ups to the positions could be explored.
What Happens To Your Anti-Bacterial Soaps
May 20 at 5:05pm by Aileen
The “germ-free” craze not only contributes to a generation of homebound children who have no developed resistance to real world ‘germs’ or irritants, we’ve also been warned over and over again for more than a decade that those bacteria we’re fighting will themselves develop resistance to the anti-biotics we use against them. Now a study by the Biodesign Institute at Arizona State University has traced the active ingredients in antibacterial soaps to their final resting place in the shallow sediments of estuaries into which treated wastewater is dumped.
The active ingredients traced are triclosan (TCS), which is structurally similar to dioxin, and triclocarban (TCC), a closely related compound. Biodesign Institute researcher Rolf Halden and coworkers traced these compounds to the shallow sediments of New York City’s Jamaica Bay and the Chesapeake Bay, the world’s largest estuary. Both of these compounds operate as endocrine (hormone) disruptors in mammals, much as agricultural chemicals operate to disrupt the sexual development of amphibians in the midwest.
Halden made use of concentrations of radioactive fallout from nuclear testing in the last half of the 20th century to determine how long ago the antimicrobial residues were deposited (and thus how long they’re lasting in the environment). And while core samples determined that a 1978 improvement in a Baltimore waste treatment plant did drop the levels of deposited TCC, the upgraded technology just put more of the substance into the sewage sludge that is disposed of by being applied as “fertilizer” on agricultural cropland.
Halden is planning to continue his research and study body burdens and health effects in pregnant women, nursing mothers and infants. Ecologically speaking, we are probably better off living with a few germs, and hand washing with regular soap has been shown to be just as effective as with antimicrobial soaps in sanitizing hands. Yet another good reason to reconsider our fear of germs – sometimes, it seems, the cure is worse than the disease.
Holy Hitchcock, Batman!
May 14 at 6:06pm by Aileen
More ‘Weird Science News’ today. Seems that the burgeoning raven population in the UK – where ravens were once very rare and are still a protected species – has recently taken to forming large gangs and killing farm livestock in Scotland, Wales and some parts of England.
Now, ravens are the smartest of birds. According to scientific researchers, they’re right up there with dogs and primates on the intelligence scale, and like some parrots can even learn to speak human languages. Just ask Edgar Allen Poe! And while ravens are carrion-eaters mostly, they are known to be birds of prey that will attack rabbits and other small critters. Their beaks are sharp and sickle-shaped, their talons are muscular. They get to be about two feet long, and are extraordinary aerial acrobats. They are also the primary bad guys in Daphne du Mourier’s classic horror novel The Birds, as made into the film classic of the same name by Alfred Hitchcock. There have been some B-movie reprises too, though they shall remain nameless (so as not to reveal my personal addiction to B-grade horror movies).
We get raven gangs here in the southern Appalachians. During one memorable grandchild birthday party they descended to steal as many of a scattered bag of lemon drops as they possibly could, then became furious when those hard candies stuck their beaks together with a mass of yellow goo. We laughed and laughed, they didn’t think it was the least bit funny. Probably a good thing they didn’t decide to attack, now that I know they’re killers!
Check out the story from Britain’s Daily Mail about these killer raven gangs. Seems farmers are losing their newborn lambs as fast as they’re born, and now the ravens have started going after calves and even full-grown sheep!
While I suspect recent UK policies to immediately cremate dead livestock (imposed due to fears of Mad Cow and such) has led to some hungry ravens doing whatever they have to do to survive without ready carrion, I hope they don’t decide to decimate raven populations again. These really are spectacular birds.
ScienceDebate2008 Update
Apr 8 at 3:03pm by Aileen
The team at ScienceDebate2008 reports that this cycle’s Presidential candidates have declined to engage in a debate on science policy issues on April 18th in Philadelphia. While not surprising – these are professional politicians trying to sell themselves to a largely science-illiterate public – the importance of staging such a debate with national media coverage has not diminished in the least.
The next target will focus on the Oregon primary venue in May. For the effort ScienceDebate2008 has forged a working relationship with PBS’s NOVA science series and NOW on PBS weekly news program for cosponsorship. NOW host David Brancaccio will moderate, supported by a panel of internationally recognized scientists everyone can agree upon. Three possible dates have been proposed to the campaigns.
Because science is so important to our society and to the livability of our abused planet, it is hoped that the candidates will agree to debate the science issues on one of the possible dates. Again, due to personal ignorance of many of the issues, each candidate should be allowed to bring their primary on-staff science advisor and be able to consult that advisor about details. Simply reading position statements drafted by their campaigns should not be considered sufficient grasp of the issues for the next leader of the free world.
If you would support the effort you can contact the candidates’ campaigns in favor of the initiative. Letters to the editor of local and regional newspapers can also help drum up public interest. And you can contact the debate team from the initiative’s website at ScienceDebate2008.
Is It Magic or Is It Art?
Mar 4 at 7:07pm by Aileen
This is a photograph of 1,301 florescent light tubes arrayed in a field beneath standard high power electrical lines. The energy causing them to glow is the magnetic field produced by those high power electrical lines.
No, it’s not there to demonstrate that the fields do in fact have real effects (despite what the government and electrical power lobby tells you). It’s a very interesting art project by artist Richard Box.
You can purchase a DVD of the entire project, or just peruse the gallery of photographs at Richard Box’s project page.
Invitations Sent, Date to Be Announced…
Feb 21 at 11:11pm by Aileen
Will the Candidates Show?
Government leaders, university presidents, leading scientists, engineering leaders, business executives, American innovators have been making the call loudly and with some help from NPR, MSNBC, the New York Times and Time Magazine as well as increasing numbers of other media outlets. Now that both the Democratic and Republican fields of potential Presidential candidates are down to two apiece, it’s time for Science Debate 2008 to happen.
The invitations to the candidates have been sent, the debate will be held at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia before the Pennsylvania primary on April 22. Thus far none of the candidates have responded that they will commit. While we all know that issues of science and technology are usually handled by advisors who have knowledge of the subjects, it would be nice to get a feel for whether the candidates for our country’s highest office have a basic grasp of those issues and a defensible position on policy. Or find out if all they’re good for is to mouth sound bites their handlers feed them.
If you’re interested in what you may be able to do to help convince them, visit the Science Debate 2008 website and sign on. And it wouldn’t hurt to write to the campaigns and request the candidates’ participation while you’re at it.
50 Weird Science Tidbits – 5
Feb 15 at 6:06pm by Aileen
Part 5: Items 41-50
This is the final installment of our 50 Weird Science tidbits, odd factoids and strange-but-true trivia. There are of course more weird things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy. But these 50 should get you through at least one championship round down at the pub. By the way, the word “dreamt” is the only word in the English language that ends in “mt.” That’s a freebie!
41. Plants Have Family Values Too
Researchers from Canada found that plants can have complex social interactions despite being… um, vegetative. Plants will grow more aggressively near unrelated plants than when they grow near relatives from the same maternal family.
42. The World’s Most Dangerous Animal
The not-so humble mosquito wins this award hands down. Mosquitoes transmitting countless diseases kill more animals – including humans – than any other animal (or plant) on Earth.
Read the rest of this entry »
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