When Cosmos showed the asteroid belt Sunday night, I noticed that, taking some artistic license to quickly get a point across, they showed it as crammed with asteroids. Anyone familiar with the real asteroid belt knows that's not accurate. Even in the belt, asteroids are lonely rocks. When you think of the asteroid belt, you … Continue reading Why the Asteroid Belt Doesn’t Threaten Spacecraft
Month: March 2014
The phrase “is an illusion” is overused
The March 6 episode of the Inquiring Minds podcast interviewed Jennifer Oullette to talk about her latest book, 'Me, Myself, and Why: Searching for the Science of Self '. During the interview, Chris Mooney asked her if the self is an illusion. I was impressed that Oullette downplayed the phrase. The self is not what … Continue reading The phrase “is an illusion” is overused
Project Morpheus test flights
If you've ever read in any old time science fiction, you probably encountered a lot of stories where the characters took off vertically in a rocket ship, and later landed in the same rocket ship, vertically. Vertical take off and landing (VTOL) is an old dream. But it's turned out to be brutally difficult in … Continue reading Project Morpheus test flights
Did “Cosmos” Pick the Wrong Hero?
As I suspected, there's consternation about Cosmos's highlighting of Giordano Bruno, and not all of it is coming from religious apologists. In Cosmos, Tyson does carefully say that Bruno was not a scientist, and instead describes that picture of infinite worlds as a “guess.” But Bruno was not guessing. He was advancing his own, heretical … Continue reading Did “Cosmos” Pick the Wrong Hero?
How Scientists Are Learning to Read Our Minds
An interesting, if at points disturbing, article which is an excerpt from Michio Kaku's book, 'The Future of the Mind'. Kaku never fails to deliver wonder. Houdini believed that true telepathy was impossible. But science is proving Houdini wrong. Telepathy is now the subject of intense research at universities around the world where scientists have … Continue reading How Scientists Are Learning to Read Our Minds
The Unexpected Way Philosophy Majors Are Changing The World Of Business
Dr. Damon Horowitz quit his technology job and got a Ph.D. in philosophy -- and he thinks you should too. "If you are at all disposed to question what's around you, you'll start to see that there appear to be cracks in the bubble," Horowitz said in a 2011 talk at Stanford. "So about a … Continue reading The Unexpected Way Philosophy Majors Are Changing The World Of Business
Cosmos is a winner
I have to say I enjoyed it. There's some grousing online about all the glitz, but it should be remembered what the target audience is here, people who aren't necessarily science literate yet. You also have to remember that the original Cosmos had its share of glitz. It might not look like it by today's … Continue reading Cosmos is a winner
NASA planning a robotic mission to Europa
Related to my last post on Europa Report, a movie I discovered when I read these articles earlier today, and also in the category of things I somehow missed, NASA is planning a robotic mission to Europa. This is exciting since, as I noted in the movie review, Europa's underground ocean makes it currently the … Continue reading NASA planning a robotic mission to Europa
Europa Report, a review
Somehow I completely missed the release of this movie. It seems to represent the beginning of something I've hoped to see for a while: small independent productions that make use of the lowering cost of CG technology to make narrow genre films. Most film science fiction is, unfortunately, garbage scientifically. The cost and risk of … Continue reading Europa Report, a review
The web is 25 years old!
The Guardian has a nice article up about the web, its creation, and its creator Tim Berners-Lee, who I think it's definitely accurate now to call Johannes Gutenberg's heir. It sprang from the brain of one man, Tim Berners-Lee, and is the fastest-growing communication medium of all time. A quarter-century on, we examine how the … Continue reading The web is 25 years old!
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