Aliens exist, there’s no two ways about it. There are so many billions of stars out there in the universe that there must be all sorts of different forms of life. Will they be like you and me, made up of carbon and nitrogen? Maybe not. It’s possible they’re here right now and we simply … Continue reading On Aliens
Category: Science
Spaying and Neutering Dogs
Well this is an eye-opening piece that has caused me to reconsider lots of presuppositions... In other words, to solve the problem of our unwillingness to keep track of our dogs, we do not address our own unwillingness. To address the overpopulation of unwanted dogs, we do not address the overpopulation. Instead, we non sequitur: … Continue reading Spaying and Neutering Dogs
Chernobyl on the Seine
In 1933 nuclear physicist Marie Curie had outgrown her lab in the Latin Quarter in central Paris. To give her the space needed for the messy task of extracting radioactive elements such as radium from truckloads of ore, the University of Paris built a research center in Arcueil, a village south of the city. Today … Continue reading Chernobyl on the Seine
“Change within a lifetime”
Climate change is the ghosts of impacts future.... And so the most effective guard against climate breakdown may not be technological solutions, but a more fundamental reimagining of what constitutes a good life on this particular planet. We may be critically constrained in our abilities to change and rework the technosphere, but we should be … Continue reading “Change within a lifetime”
Pipes of Infinity
In the end, that data was the “equivalent to 5000 years of mp3 files” according to Dan Marrone, an astronomer and co-investigator of Event Horizon Telescope. It was recorded onto half a ton of hard drives and then physically sent to centralized locations where it was analyzed by supercomputers for months in order to get … Continue reading Pipes of Infinity
Stitching together reality
The reason why we experience reality as a movie when it’s only a collection of pictures can be at least partially explained by our rhythms of attention. About four times every second, the brain stops taking snapshots of individual points of focus — like your friend on the corner in Times Square — and collects … Continue reading Stitching together reality
Neil Armstrong’s Man Bag
I love this story (not just because I have an unhealthy obsession with bags and man purses)... For whatever reason, Armstrong seemingly kept the bag a secret for more than four decades. Even when questioned about mementos by his authorized biographer, Armstrong made no mention of the historic artifacts that were tucked away in his … Continue reading Neil Armstrong’s Man Bag
Our Toddler Memories May Not Be Permanently Lost
Hmm... being the parent of a current toddler, I'm going to take an initial pass on this upgrade offer. Still, the results provide an interesting look into how the brain can store and 'forget' memories from childhood - and it's tantalising to think that our very earliest moments in life might really be locked up … Continue reading Our Toddler Memories May Not Be Permanently Lost
Stephen Hawking Laid to Rest Between Newton and Darwin
It's safe to say that Hawking inspired so many people of my generation (and generations after us, hopefully) with his wit and humor along with his insights into the workings of black holes and the cosmos. As a teenager who dove into the world of astronomy and cosmology as an escape from my small rural … Continue reading Stephen Hawking Laid to Rest Between Newton and Darwin
“friction from touching the walls of our mother’s womb”
🤯 This is beautiful. Why didn't I know this already? Fingerprints are formed by friction from touching the walls of our mother’s womb. Sometimes they are called “chanced impressions.” By Week 19, about four months before we are issued into the world, they are set. Gorillas, chimpanzees, and koalas also possess exclusive prints. — Read … Continue reading “friction from touching the walls of our mother’s womb”
What is real? Forking universes, equalities, and religion
When scientists search for meaning in quantum physics, they may be straying into a no-man’s-land between philosophy and religion. But they can’t help themselves. They’re only human. “If you were to watch me by day, you would see me sitting at my desk solving Schrödinger’s equation...exactly like my colleagues,” says Sir Anthony Leggett, a Nobel … Continue reading What is real? Forking universes, equalities, and religion
One Step Closer to Quantum Computing
20 qubits have been entangled together and put into one network. Huge... computing is about to get "spooky" as Einstein would have said. In high school physics, electrons bounce between two layers, like a car changing lanes. But in reality, electrons don't exist in one place or one layer — they exist in many at … Continue reading One Step Closer to Quantum Computing
NASA receives response from Voyager 1
Build things that last... “The Voyager flight team dug up decades-old data and examined the software that was coded in an outdated assembler language, to make sure we could safely test the thrusters,” said Jones, chief engineer at JPL. Source: NASA receives response from Voyager 1 spacecraft 13 billion miles away after 37 years of inactivity … Continue reading NASA receives response from Voyager 1
“Still discovering new things”
On board each Voyager is a golden record -- and record player -- that is built to last one billion years or more and contains key information about humanity and life on planet Earth, in case of an alien encounter. The sounds include the calls of humpback whales, the Chuck Berry song "Johnny B. Goode," … Continue reading “Still discovering new things”
Stephen Hawking is backing a project to send tiny spacecraft to another star system within a generation
The concept is to reduce the size of the spacecraft to about the size of a chip used in electronic devices. The idea is to launch a thousand of these mini-spacecraft into the Earth's orbit. Each would have a solar sail. This is like a sail on a boat - but it is pushed along … Continue reading Stephen Hawking is backing a project to send tiny spacecraft to another star system within a generation
“Random” prime numbers and human projections
"So just what has got mathematicians spooked? Apart from 2 and 5, all prime numbers end in 1, 3, 7 or 9 – they have to, else they would be divisible by 2 or 5 – and each of the four endings is equally likely. But while searching through the primes, the pair noticed that … Continue reading “Random” prime numbers and human projections
Religion’s smart-people problem
Religion’s smart-people problem: The shaky intellectual foundations of absolute faith - Salon.com: "But we shouldn’t be deceived. Although there are many educated religious believers, including some philosophers and scientists, religious belief declines with educational attainment, particularly with scientific education. Studies also show that religious belief declines among those with higher IQs. Hawking, Dennett and Dawkins are not outliers, and neither is … Continue reading Religion’s smart-people problem
This is the perfect opening to a scifi novel…
"With the help of James Jubilee, a former American arms control officer and now a senior science and technology coordinator for health issues in Kazakhstan, Dr. LaPorte tracked down Mr. Dey through the State Department, and his images and documentation quickly convinced them of the earthworks’ authenticity and importance." Source: NASA Adds to Evidence of … Continue reading This is the perfect opening to a scifi novel…
On Invoking Galileo and Columbus in Your Arguments
"If you are arguing against climate change, vaccines, evolution, etc. you do not get to invoke Galileo because in any accurate analogy, you are the religious fanatics (or the astronomers who blindly clung to Aristotle)." Source: No one thought that Galileo was crazy, and everyone in Columbus’s day knew that the earth was round | … Continue reading On Invoking Galileo and Columbus in Your Arguments
Polynomial Codes Over Certain Finite Fields, or Why Things You Don’t Think Matter Actually Matter
"Whatever new technologies are on the horizon, history has taught us that Reed-Solomon-based coding will probably still be there, behind the scenes, safeguarding our data against errors. Like the genes within an organism, the codes have been passed down to subsequent generations, slightly adjusted and optimized for their new environment. They have a proven track … Continue reading Polynomial Codes Over Certain Finite Fields, or Why Things You Don’t Think Matter Actually Matter