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gregladen | November 2, 2012If this does not lose a LOT of votes for Romney in Ohio than everyone in Ohio will have some 'splainin' to do.
gregladen | November 1, 2012
I'll vote for Brian and I think he's make a great Congress person, but I will be speaking to him about dissing the stone age!
If you want to help get rid of a Michele Bachmann clone, click here!
And this too:
gregladen | November 1, 2012The Carnival of Evolution is up and running HERE at Sorting out Science. Catch up with the latest and greatest from the blogosphere on Evolution!
gregladen | November 1, 2012Live at 9:30 AM Eastern THIS MORNING:
Featuring Obama campaign surrogate Kevin Knobloch and former Republican congressman and Delaware governor Mike Castle.
Moderated by ScienceDebate.org's Shawn Otto and ClimateDesk Live's Chris Mooney.
TUNE IN HERE FOR LIVESTREAM
Thursday, November 1, 2012
The Mott House, Capitol Hill
9:30a.m.-11:00a.m. Eastern US Time Zone
Please consider a donation to support this broadcast, its archive, and our similar efforts.
Thank you,
-Shawn Otto and the team at ScienceDebate.Org
lbock | October 31, 2012Gregorio Zara -- Filipino physicist and aeronautical engineer
Creator of the first videophone ( a forerunner of such video telecommunication applications as Skype, Webcam and videoconferencing) and discoverer of the physical law known as the "Zara Effect."
PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ARE INSPIRED BY THIS STORY!
Back in the 1950's, the videophone -- a telephone device that allows you to see the individual you are speaking with in real (or near-real) time -- was a mere dream of science fiction. But physicist and aeronautical engineer Gregorio Zara, one of the Philippines' most celebrated inventors,…
gregladen | October 31, 2012I know elections are stressful and even annoying, and this year it is worse than ever because there is so much at stake, especially here in Minnesota where we have two boneheaded ballot amendments to deal with. Sometimes it just feels like this:
I'm hoping Bronco Bamma wins!
gregladen | October 31, 2012Storms of My Grandchildren is a book by James Hansen that outlines the science behind increasing storminess associated with global warming, and covers key events in the recent history of the politics of climate change science denialism. It is a good book. The National Center for Science Education is now giving away a preview exerpt of the book, in a PDF file, which you can have by clicking here and it will be magically delivered to your computer. So there you go!
When you're done with that and you have this feeling that you want to keep reading, go ahead and check out this novella!
gregladen | October 30, 2012... Continued ...
Well, we were living with this ghost who would walk up and down the hall in the middle of the night, invisibly leaving behind only the sound of its footsteps. But before I tell you how this all came out, I want to tell you a related side story.
As I had mentioned, I had the "hallway extension" room. Let me explain.
To get into the apartment, you would walk up a set of stairs and through a lockable doorway. Then to the right was a bedroom, and to the left a bathroom. Moving on ahead down the hallway were two more bedrooms on the right for a total of three. On the…
mspringer | October 30, 2012There was an xkcd feature a while back which asked the question "If everyone in the world shined a laser pointer at the moon at the same time, would we be able to see it?"
The answer was no. A laser pointer doesn't put out much light, and even seven billion of them doesn't represent a whole lot when spread over vast areas of the lunar surface a quarter million miles away. Even if you ramp up the light source to those helicopter-grade searchlights, no dice.
On the other hand, it's asking a lot for a beam of light to make it to the moon, bounce off in all directions including mostly into empty…
lbock | October 30, 2012Carlos Juan Finlay -- Cuban physician
He was the first to theorize that the deadly yellow fever virus was transmitted through the bite of one species of mosquito, however it would take years before his theory would be deemed correct.
We know today that yellow fever -- which is most common in Latin America and tropical areas of Africa -- is a viral infection spread to humans by infected mosquitoes. Yellow fever (the name "yellow" refers to the jaundice that affects some patients) is thought to have originated in Africa and was likely brought to the Americas on ships during the slave trade,…
hrynyshyn | October 30, 2012Did Climate Change Supersize Hurricane Sandy? asks Chris Mooney in Mother Jones.
Look. We know there's more moisture in the atmosphere because when you warm a gas it holds more vapor. So that means there's more precipitation when a storm blows in. And we know the sea level is rising because when you heat water, it expands. More importantly, melting ice from Greenland is pouring incredible volumes of water into the northern Atlantic. This is all elementary physics. So for anyone to argue that Sandy isn't at least in part a product of climate change is just plain silly.
illconsidered | October 30, 2012See Wind Map for real time animation. Also, do you notice anything over on the east coast??
(h/t to P3)
gregladen | October 29, 2012Reports from Lower Manhattan are sketchy, but the tide gauge shows that the Atlantic Ocean is receding, but not before filling the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel with several feet of water, probably flooding several subways, and covering the New York Stock Exchange floor with a few feet of water.
So far five or so people in the New York City area and one person in Maryland have been killed, including the very tragic case of two kids killed instantly when a large tree crashed through their house, where they were inside playing.
The power outages are extensive and the storm is not anywhere near…
gregladen | October 29, 2012Sandy was originally scheduled to pass over the Gulf Sream, intensify, then back off a bit in intensity as it spun closer to the cost, with the midpoint of the thousand mile wide tropical storm passing over the coast in the wee hours of the morning, Tuesday. Instead, Sandy has sped up and is heaving itself landward as a full blown Category One hurricane of unbelievable extent. Since the hurricane is hitting New Jersey, it's right punch is heading for New York City, and as I write this, the storm surge at The Battery (that's the lower, southernmost tip of Manhattan, where you catch the Staten…
lbock | October 29, 2012Ada Byron (later Countes of Lovelace) -- British mathematician
The daughter of poet Lord Byron, her key collaborations in the 1880's with British inventor Charles Babbage led to the earliest computer; she is considered the first computer programmer.
Born Augusta Ada Byron in London in 1815, Ada Byron (who would also later be known as the Countess of Lovelace) was the daughter of a brief marriage between the famous Romantic Age poet Lord Byron and Anne Isabelle Milbanke. Ada's mother (known as Lady Byron) separated from Lord Byron just a month after Ada was born. Four months later, her poet…
gregladen | October 29, 2012Teen Skephchick has just announced that they have a podcast, starting now. From Mindy:
I’m excited to announce the very first episode of the Teen Skepchick Blog Show. In this episode, Eddy, Ali, and I discuss Ali’s piece on going to college. You will, for the first time, hear my 12-year-old girl voice, Eddy’s charming English accent, and Ali just trying to keep us on topic.
Details are here.
lbock | October 28, 2012PLEASE SHARE IF YOU ARE INSPIRED BY THIS STORY!
(Send us your opinion today: Think of the various ways you can combine your hobbies and other interests into a possible career in science! Stephanie merged her love of chemistry with her penchant for textiles and fabrics -- resulting in a life-saving invention! Tell us what you think about that!)
The next time you ride in a car, cross a suspension bridge, or wear a safety helmet or see a bullet-proof vest, think of chemist Stephanie Kwolek. Her scientific achievements are perfect examples of how chemistry plays a vital role each day in…