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Should NASA fake an interplanetary holy war?
by Robert Lamb | September 22, 2011
Neil deGrasse Tyson is probably the last person to suggest NASA falsify the threat of alien invasion to play on humanity’s fears. I also doubt he’d suggest that the space agency exploit America’s religious conservative movement with “proof” that said aliens are governed by demons.
But just for the sake of argument, let’s you and I go there.
The Genetic Basis of Type A and Type B Personalities
by Josh Clark | August 25, 2011
I’m a bit jaded by science. Yes, there’s substantial evidence that life can travel from one planet to another, or at least from Mars to Earth, which strongly suggests that life on Earth came from Mars. What’s more, there may be life on Mars still! Yes, but those are just microbes, so… Also, if life on Earth started on Mars, how did life on Mars start? Psychology as a field and a science is almost entirely underwhelming. Virtually every recent finding using MRI machines is deductive at best and maybe even borderline fraudulent, as, really, MRIs just track the infusion of oxygen from one region of the brain to another.
Cool article here from Popular Science, a great site if you haven’t checked it out. A “friend” of the Web site decided to separate scotch whiskey into it’s different components so he could taste the individual notes. Pretty cool if you ask me, but how would you do such a thing you ask? They cranked up an evaporator that “uses a process of vacuum distillation at room temperature to separate liquids based on their relative volatility.”
In the last few weeks, we’ve seen a number of GOP presidential hopefuls sign all manner of pledges regarding tax increases, the federal budget, marriage, sexuality, religion and reproductive rights. All this in the midst of a final space shuttle mission and the James Webb Telescope’s likely death at the hands of Congress. So what about an “In Defense of Science Pledge” for U.S. elected officials? I think it might go something like this:
I love collisions of science and art, especially when they speculate on the future of the human race. Thus, as brought to my attention by HowStuffWorks’ Jonathan Strickland, the Science Gallery in Dublin, Ireland is currently hosting the exhibit “HUMAN+” about the future of our species.
News here out of the science world — apparently the date of the Last Supper, the final meal Jesus took with his disciples before he was crucified, is wrong. Professor Colin Humphreys, a scientist at the University of Cambridge, claims that the actual date was the Wednesday before the crucifixion took place, not the Thursday before. Turns out that the four Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John have never been on the same page in the Bible about the date.
The intricacy of the design, the number of creative ideas, the time invested and the cost of the parts all together are mind boggling. If you love Legos it is definitely worth a look: For some reason I am reminded of this video once again: Were he collecting and measuring and categorizing species of ants [...]
I like to think that anyone who follows this blog or listens to the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast probably listens to WNYC’s Radiolab as well. The show tackles an array of cranium-expanding topics, so I thought it fitting to interview one of the show’s hosts, Jad Abumrad.
Here’s how the interview went down:
Natalie Portman’s been in the news a lot since Sunday, what with her Oscar win for “Black Swan” and the Dior/Galliano situation. Was her wardrobe a last-minute decision? Had she really been planning to wear a Christian Dior gown before deciding on that stunning Rodarte? As much as I like fashion (and I loved that Rodarte), I found a much more interesting Portman read. Among all the buzz, was a gem pointing out Portman’s other accomplishments.
A hard core science test from NewScientist: New Scientist 2010 holiday quiz You have to have been paying attention to ace this one. See also: More info: – How Movie Screens Work – How to make real, authentic movie-theater popcorn at home [[[Jump to previous - Test yourself – Learn about the United States Federal [...]
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