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December 2007 Archives
Reflections: XX and science
by As the year draws to a close, Clifford reflects on top science stories. What were some highlights of 2007 when it comes to women in science?
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Aliens on Earth or Name that Creature
by There are so many wonderously bizarre creatures on earth that even sci-fi depictions of aliens pale in comparison. So for fun today, I thought we could play a game. Below are images (none photoshopped to my knowledge) of real insects & animals. Click on the image to enlarge it and see if you can name them all.
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Reflection
by It's time to do that other thing that people do at this time of year: Reflect upon the year that is coming to an end. People start doing highlight programs on the radio and tv, surveying the year of blog posts on blogs, and so forth. Also, various science editors start doing their lists of "top science stories" of the year. What does it all mean? What stories caught your eye?
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Happy New Year. Sort Of.
by Many of us will spend the fleeting moments of 2007 toasting something that arguably rivals an odometer ticking over to a round number. Completely arbitrary. For even if space and time do exist, who's counting and to what end?
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Film, Rockets & New Years Eve
Today there are seemingly endless countdown clocks, all ticking off time toward disparate events. There's the countdown to the 2010 Olympics, the countdown to George Bush's days left in office, the countdown to Keanu Reeves' birthday, and even Life countdown clocks if you want a reminder of how many hours you have left before the proverbial bell tolls. So since tomorrow signals the world's largest en masse countdown, I've been wondering just when this idea of a public countdown began?
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Save the Earth, Sacrifice a Tree!
by Can carbon capture work? Yes, it seems unlikely, but think about it. This is actually what plants do. They capture carbon from atmospheric CO2 when they grow. The problem is that they release it when they die and decay back into earth. Chopping down a forest puts CO2 into the air. Regrowing a forest takes CO2 out of the air. A mature unmanaged forest breaks even. So, what if we buried some of the fastest growing plants before they decayed?
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Unicorns of the Future
I was at the bookstore this afternoon and came across Zoologia Fantastica by Jorges Luis Borges, a book on imaginary creatures in culture & mythology. The title itself got me to thinking about how different it must be for children to go to zoos today, knowing that so many of the creatures before them will soon cease to exist; how "the wild" is on the brink of becoming a landscape of the imaginary.
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A Big Bang for 2008?
There's an asteroid on its way to a close approach to the planet Mars. New data on its trajectory have helped scientists announce today that the chances of a collision have increased from 1 in 75 to 1 in 25. Happily, there's quite a bit of Earth-originated traffic in the Mars area these days, and so if the collision does happen, we're bound to learn a lot of exciting new science.
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Essence
Both Science and Art are part of our everyday culture. Or at least they should be. Do you think of them as related, sharing some common goals, or quite different? Do you go to one as relief from the other, or for inspiration for the other? It is interesting to explore some common themes in art and science.
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She Swallowed the Spider to Catch the Fly
Some people look at how volcanoes episodically cool the planet and see the possibility of artificial volcanoes as a potential cure for global warming. Is there hope for this idea?
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Greg Bear Interview Part 3: Analogy Collisions
by Science Fiction Friday has finally cooled its jet and settled into orbit around this holiday weekend. So comes to an end Mission: Ursa Major. In this third and final installment of my conversation with Greg Bear, we talk about: predicting the future, law enforcement as an immune response, and the kinds of complications - both real and fictional - science can create.
Fun With π
Patterns exist that establish themselves out of disorder. So could it be that a higher order of some kind constructed a universe ascribing to specified geometrical axioms that result in early trajectories forward? And what if these single points of origin determine not only where we came from, but where we are headed?
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Earth as Alien Planet
The field of astronomy and planetary science devoted to the study of planets in other star systems is a young and exciting one. Soon, it is hoped, we will be able to learn about planets not so different from ours, but orbiting about other stars. Will there be life on those other planets? Will there be intelligent life? To learn that will require detection tools currently unavailable, but currently being developed. In preparing for such remarkable telescopes, some scientists have been wondering about what an alien species (perhaps on one of those very planets we might find one day) might see if looking back at our very own planet earth? What can they learn about our planet using telescopes of the sort we might build soon?
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Influenza viruses--why are they such a concern?
Influenza is a major killer every year. Why don't we have it under better control? And what's the deal with "bird flu," anyway?
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Greg Bear Interview Part 2: The Bullet You Don't Hear
Science Fiction Friday is so big this week that it can't be contained by just one day. As SFF expands beyond the day of Venus and into the weekend, Greg Bear opens up about his writing process, the longstanding tradition of science fiction writers consulting with the government, and how we better learn how to dodge the bullets we won't hear.
The Humpbacks Are Spared... For Now
The world was up in arms last month as Japan launched its whaling fleet in the first major hunt of humpbacks since the 1960s. The move wasn't great for public relations, and would you know it... turns out all the hullabaloo has made a difference.
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Science Fiction Friday: Greg Bear
Welcome to the very first installment of Science Fiction Friday! I am thrilled that we have one of the great SF writers of his generation, Greg Bear, for our conversation today. I've admired Greg's work for years and now, after having chatted with him, I can say that he's as interesting to talk to as he is to read.
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The Sirens of Titan
Sometimes it isn't obvious why scientists study the things we study. Usually we have more reasons than meets the eye. A study of one of Saturn's moons, for instance, has managed to shed a great deal of light on the climate of the earth.
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Adam Rogers Labs Out Loud!
by I just wanted to throw out a quick plug for my good friend, Adam Rogers, who also happens to be my editor at Wired Mag as well as our delightful roving field geek on Wired Science. He recently chatted with the National Science Teachers Association on their podcast, Lab Out Loud. The NSTA is located in Virginia and boasts a 55,000+ membership. Their main goal involves promoting not just science literacy but scientific excellence in our schools. They also advise Congress on relevant education issues involving science, and help focus attention on the scientific questions that society and its educators need to be asking.
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A Black Hole Death Ray?
Another supermassive black hole at the center of a galaxy makes the news. This time, this sort of violent activity affects a neighbouring galaxy. And it's been caught on film. While a great story in itself, showing the immense power of black holes, another interesting story that lurks is how we went from black holes being exotic solutions to exotic equations to the commonplace objects that they are in today's astrophysics.
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Science Fiction Friday Draws Nigh!
Hi everybody. I have a fun announcement. I am instituting a new, recurring feature on my blog. It's called Science Fiction Friday. On the third Friday of the month I will interview a different writer about his or her current work. The inaugural installment will be a chat with science fiction legend GREG BEAR!!! He's an author, illustrator, government advisor, and so much more. Dare I call him a polymath? I dare, I dare.
A Holiday Gift Guide for Science Geeks
If there's one thing that I've learned from working on this show, it's that science nerds truly are a diverse & colorful bunch. So this year, instead of re-gifting that "one-size-fits-all" pocket protector, here's a handy little guide to finding that perfect science-inspired present for geeks of all persuasions.
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Science Debate 2008
So what's all the hullabaloo about a presidential Science Debate?
In short - It's something entirely new, exciting, and in my humble opinion - something extraordinary! Let me explain how I got involved...
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Free To Be M.I.T.
Want to learn about statistical methods in the brain sciences? How about brush up on your single variable calculus? Well, you can do all of this and more without ever getting out of your pajamas. Sound too good to be true? How about if I throw in a bunch of M.I.T. professors to teach it all to you. . . for free!?!
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The Sideshow (and also the circus)
The American Geophysics Union meeting got a fair amount of press coverage, notably for a deliberately high-profile talk by Jim Hansen, and a couple of other climate change related talks by Lonnie Thompson and Richard Alley. Each of these talks took place in huge and packed rooms, and the speakers certainly had interesting points to make. The problem with this sort of thing is that it may leave people with the wrong idea of what a scientific conference is and what it is for.
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Missionairies of Macintosh
Mac or PC? And if I commit to Mac, will I too be Saved? Do I need to be? Will I become a Mac fundamentalist scorning the others at Monday staff meetings? Will I begin to preach the gospel of Apple? I'm not sure I'm ready for that kind of responsibility...
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Over to you...
by Find out anything you want to know about Antarctic life and science... from how long you have to wait to book your Antarctic beach holiday to how we go to the toilet when camping in temperatures of -40 Farenheit. All you have to do is ask!
Sign of the Times
The Society of the German Language has chosen its word of the year. While there were numerous consonant-rich options, I think their choice (along with some other recent news) is reason for optimism. And the winner is. . .
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The Beauty of Old Science
Science of the 1800's always seems filtered to us through a sepia-colored imagination. There's a warmth & beauty to the feel of the time that is so different from the cold and clinical aesthetic of modern science. It's that whole romantic image of manuscripts, mechanical tinkering & taxidermied falcons, that you just don't get sitting in front of a laptop in a lab today.
The Morning After
So last night WIRED Science had its wrap party and, from what I'm told, I was in attendance. You see, the night is a little fuzzy in my memory. To be honest, the world is a little fuzzy today. I am nursing a hangover that I could sell to science. It's got me thinking - what exactly is a hangover?
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A different kind of "behind the scenes"
Teacher, public speaker, writer, lab rat...my job changes every day.
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Science is Life.
How do we pursue a collective push for improving the state of things? As a nation, there are some major decisions to be thinking about over the coming year and right now is the greatest opportunity to emphasize our national priorities while everyone is paying attention.
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Opting In
So in the last entry I began a discussion of just how much more energy those of us living in the industrialized world use to eat what we want to eat, buy whatever we want to buy, live where we want to live, and go where we want to go. Considering the strain this lifestyle puts on global resources it seems it could better be described as eating too much, buying too often, living where we shouldn't, and just generally going too far.
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How to Say When
So I'm back from an extended Thanksgiving holiday and I've been thinking about overconsuming. The percentage of my wardrobe that I can wear without feeling as though it's an act of mortification seems to be decreasing at alarming rate, but that's just the beginning.
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Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow
Viewed from space, we see various white, frozen parts of the Earth's surface, but they are very different in nature. Understanding the past and the future of the world involves understanding these forms.
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Ebola: beyond the hype
Ebola. The name conjures mental images of death and sickness unlike any other. Much like "Black plague" or "AIDS," "Ebola" is a disease which has transcended medicine to become a part of our popular culture. And like AIDS, it has done this in a remarkably short period of time.
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Simple is Beautiful: Why I love my science
So we've admitted human induced climate change is real. We've seen the sharp rise in carbon dioxide levels over the last few decades and we've accepted that the evidence is now overwhelming. But how many of us have stopped to think how we know all these things?
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