Tag: Earth

Experience Earthrise with Apollo 8

When we think of Apollo missions, most people think about Apollo 11. But Apollo 8 was a major breakthrough mission, with humans going beyond low earth orbit for the first time, going hundreds of times further away from Earth than anyone had ever been, and orbiting another body (the moon) for the first time. Earthrise … Continue reading Experience Earthrise with Apollo 8 →

Attempts To Terraform Mars Could Fail – With No Chance To Try Again

Most science fiction and news stories describe Mars terraforming as a long term but simple process. You warm up the planet first, with greenhouse gases, giant mirrors, impacting comets or some such. You land humans on the surface right away and they introduce lifeforms designed to live on Mars. Over a period of a thousand … Continue reading Attempts To Terraform Mars Could Fail – With No Chance To Try Again →

Awe Increases Religious Belief | Matthew Hutson

In February 1971, Lunar Module pilot Edgar Mitchell was on his way back from the Moon when he had an epiphany. Staring out the window at the stars, he realized that everything is connected. The experience was so \"puzzling and powerful,\" he told me, that upon touchdown he launched a quest into what it was … Continue reading Awe Increases Religious Belief | Matthew Hutson →

When Will We Build the Starship Enterprise? | Seth Shostak

What if we could send humans anywhere at the speed of light, and at a rock-bottom price? That's eminently feasible if we send the information and not the protoplasm. No crew, just code. Consider: The human genome consists of about 3.3 billion base pairs. Since there are only four types of pair, that amounts to … Continue reading When Will We Build the Starship Enterprise? | Seth Shostak →

The self as brain: Disturbing implications of neuroexistentialism.

Patricia Churchland, a neurophilosopher at the University of California at San Diego, says our hopes, loves and very existence are just elaborate functions of a complicated mass of grey tissue. Accepting that can be hard, but what we know should inspire us, not scare us. Her most recent book is Touching a Nerve: The Self … Continue reading The self as brain: Disturbing implications of neuroexistentialism. →

Beasts or gods; why a War Of The Worlds is very unlikely

One of the scenarios that is often played out in science fiction is what would happen if we encountered an alien civilization.  Often, we are portrayed as defending Earth from an alien invasion or fighting battles with the aliens in a war.  Another scenario, commonly found in more culturally introspective fiction, focuses on what our … Continue reading Beasts or gods; why a War Of The Worlds is very unlikely →

Ask Ethan #12: How far is the distant Universe? – Starts With A Bang

Ethan Siegel's blog, Starts With a Bang, is one of the best science astrophysics blogs on the web. Ask Ethan #12: How far is the distant Universe? – Starts With A Bang. In this post, he tackles an issue I often see a lot of confusion over, even from science reporters.  When talking about extreme … Continue reading Ask Ethan #12: How far is the distant Universe? – Starts With A Bang →

Why extraterrestrial civilizations may be exceedingly rare

There's been a lot of news lately about the estimate of habitable planets in our galaxy.  It sounds like there may be 40 billion planets in the habitable zones around their stars.  This is cool stuff!  The nearest one might be only  12 light years away. It's very tempting from this news, to conclude that … Continue reading Why extraterrestrial civilizations may be exceedingly rare →