Physical Science
Mobility on 2+2 Wheels
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 12, 2013 SteelyKid has a new prize possession: a training-wheel bike! You can’t quite hear what she says at the end of this, when she stops the bike, but it’s “That should be a full video!” She knows her fan base. On the way back, she wiped out (the first bad crash on the new bike) and…
The Last Time Atmospheric CO2 was at 400 parts per million Humans Didn’t Exist
Posted by Peter Gleick on May 10, 2013 The planet has passed a disturbing landmark, a marker on a continuing highway to climate disruption. On May 9th, the NOAA and the Mauna Loa observatory reported that atmospheric CO2 levels touched 400 parts per million. Before humans started burning fossil fuels, they were around 280 parts per million. The last time atmospheric CO2…
NASA Astrobiology Roadmap 2 and 3: Prebiotic Evolution and Evolution of Advanced Life
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson on May 10, 2013 The future of Astrobiology research within NASA is being set now. Next week there are further opportunities for community input. The online discussion for Solar System Exploration wraps up today! If you are an active researcher, a student planning on getting into astrobiology, or an interested member of the community, this is your chance to…
Where does an earthquake’s energy come from?
Posted by Ethan on May 10, 2013 
“As seismologists gained more experience from earthquake records, it became obvious that the problem could not be reduced to a single peak acceleration. In fact, a full frequency of vibrations occurs.” -Charles Francis Richter You’ve all been around long enough to be familiar with the severe damage that earthquakes can cause, rattling and cracking the…
Wolfgang Pauli, Father of the arXiv
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 10, 2013 The book-in-progress (which is coming along, albeit slowly, thanks for asking) is built around making analogies between scientific discoveries and ordinary activities. This necessarily means telling a lot of historical stories, which is both good and bad. The bad part is that actual history is way messier than the streamlined version you get to use…
The Far Future of our Solar System
Posted by Ethan on May 9, 2013 
“No valid plans for the future can be made by those who have no capacity for living now.” -Alan Watts “They do not see what lies ahead, when Sun has faded and Moon is dead.” -J.R.R. Tolkien One of the most amazing facts about the Universe is that, despite only having spent a few hundred years…
NASA Astrobiology Roadmap 1: Solar System Exploration
Posted by Steinn Sigurðsson on May 8, 2013 It is critically important that the community participate in the current ongoing discussion for the NASA roadmaps. Particularly if you are an early career researcher. This is your opportunity to make the case for what you think is interesting and important. NASA is going through a series of Roadmap exercises by the different directorates, trying…
Rocketships Don’t Have Hands
Posted by Chad Orzel on May 8, 2013 An astute observation from SteelyKid, as part of her jumping game: With bonus photobombing by The Pip toward the end.
Ruled by Relativity
Posted by Wesley Dodson on May 7, 2013 
Walking on two legs, time and space seem universal, but take a good look at the universe, and things start to get mushy. Chad Orzel defines time in terms that sound circular, writing “there isn’t a giant master clock at the center of the universe that everybody sets their watches by.” Although time can only…
Clinging tightly
Posted by Dr. Dolittle on May 7, 2013 Live Science posted a story recently on the sticking power of clingfish. Northern clingfish, like the one shown in the image above, live in turbulent waters off the Pacific Coast of North America. In order to cling to surfaces, the animals have what are called adhesion discs on their bellies that they use to hold…
