http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/ The Wired Science Blog en Copyright 2008 Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:28:49 -0800 http://www.sixapart.com/movabletype/ http://www.rssboard.org/rss-specification ]]> http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/07/time-to-say-goodbye.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/07/time-to-say-goodbye.html Correlations blogging correlations tv Mon, 07 Jul 2008 11:28:49 -0800 It seems like just yesterday I was making a science television show and writing a blog that would go the distance.  Ah, my salad days, when I was green in judgment.

I'm sad to say that the blog (by)line ends here, but I've enjoyed the ride.  From shining a little light on the great production staff that brought you WIRED Science, to inciting a little science fiction community infighting - writing on Correlations has been a great experience for me. 

Thanks to the KCET staff for all of the support (big ups Liz, Will, Phillip and Jackie) and a huge thank you to my co-bloggers.  Those of you from the show - I truly enjoyed working with you.  To the scientists - thank you for supporting me and challlenging me to get it right.  I hope the dialogue continues.

Anyone interested in keeping up with my (future canceled) film and television projects, I encourage you to check in on me at my website.   Also - look for my next blogging effort on The Huffington Post.

And thank you, the readers.  Really.   It's an audacious undertaking to make things that demand people's attention.  It's particularly audacious when someone like me takes on the task of communicating science to the public.  It's a responsibilty with real weight.  Sometimes I gave my work a little levity, but I never took it lightly.

 

 
]]> http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/the-short-goodbye.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/the-short-goodbye.html Correlations Correlations Damon Gambuto Mon, 30 Jun 2008 19:35:18 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/ciao.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/ciao.html Correlations Mon, 30 Jun 2008 17:31:30 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/its-been-an-interesting-experi.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/its-been-an-interesting-experi.html Science & Society science and society Mon, 30 Jun 2008 11:03:40 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/dont-be-a-stranger.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/dont-be-a-stranger.html Correlations correlations Mon, 30 Jun 2008 00:20:00 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/summer-reading.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/summer-reading.html Health & Life Sciences Science & Society Book reviews infectious disease intelligent design microbiology Sun, 29 Jun 2008 22:00:00 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/out-of-balance.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/out-of-balance.html Earth climate ocean Sun, 29 Jun 2008 18:14:15 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/the-river-of-energy.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/the-river-of-energy.html Earth global warmin Fri, 27 Jun 2008 21:41:09 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/plight-of-the-postdoc-1.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/plight-of-the-postdoc-1.html Culture Health & Life Sciences Physics & Chemistry Science & Society education funding research Fri, 27 Jun 2008 10:39:22 -0800 I've throttled back on the Mars Lander news updates of late, but I can spare you my astrophilia no longer.  The latest from the Red Planet is that Phoenix has dug its robotic hand into the dirt and come out with a fistful of chemical data that points toward - you guessed it - water.  A lot of water.

The Phoenix Mars Lander performed its first wet-chemical analysis on Mars and it has left the scientists here on Earth - in the words of Michael Hecht - 'awash in chemistry data."  Hecht, it should be noted, heads up yet another fantastically acronymed branch of the research team called the Microscopy, Electrochemistry and Conductivity Analyzer, or MECA.  MECA is an instrument on Phoenix that aids in soil analysis.  As Hecht explained, "we're trying to understand what is the chemistry of wet soil on Mars, what's dissolved in it, how acidic or alkaline it is. With the results we received from Phoenix yesterday, we could begin to tell what aspects of the soil might support life."

Here's a look at the soil sample being analyzed.

Phoenix co-investigator and lead scientist for the wet-chemical investigation Sam Kounaves explained the significance of Phoenix's soil work:  "This is the first wet-chemical analysis ever done on Mars or any planet, other than Earth... This soil appears to be a close analog to surface soils found in the upper dry valleys in Antarctica.  The alkalinity of the soil at this location is definitely striking. At this specific location, one-inch into the surface layer, the soil is very basic, with a pH of between eight and nine. We also found a variety of components of salts that we haven't had time to analyze and identify yet, but that include magnesium, sodium, potassium and chloride... This is more evidence for water because salts are there. We also found a reasonable number of nutrients, or chemicals needed by life as we know it."

But Damon, you ask, is this such a big deal?  Umm, YES!  I mean, it's not like we're gonna be headed to Mars on space cruise holidays that reveal our suppressed secret agent identities and the discovery of the subterranean, alien-constructed, atmosphere-building, ice-core melters anytime soon.  But the science doesn't need to be fiction to make for good spectacle.  Just ask the experts.

Hey there, Phoenix co-investigator and lead Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) scientist William Boynton, what do you think?

"The scientific data coming out of the instrument have been just spectacular...At this point, we can say that the soil has clearly interacted with water in the past"

Indeed.  And you, Professor Kounaves, to what conclusions have you come?

"Over time, I've come to the conclusion that the amazing thing about Mars is not that it's an alien world, but that in many aspects, like mineralogy, it's very much like Earth."

Space tourism may not get to Mars in my lifetime, but just in case - dibs on the window seat. ]]> http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/mars-lander-awash-in-data.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/mars-lander-awash-in-data.html JPL Mars Mars Lander MECA NASA Phoenix TEGA Fri, 27 Jun 2008 09:58:27 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/after-the-floodstarting-to-ass.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/after-the-floodstarting-to-ass.html Health & Life Sciences arboviruses Iowa midwest flooding mold Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:30:00 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/bucky.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/bucky.html Culture Science & Society Technology Buckminster Fuller fullerene Mon, 23 Jun 2008 00:23:02 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/microbeauty.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/microbeauty.html Correlations Science & Society art beauty Felice Frankel Lennart Nilsson photography science Ziya Tong Sun, 22 Jun 2008 15:29:42 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/the-black-mallet-mathematical.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/the-black-mallet-mathematical.html Correlations Andrew Wiles Black Mallet Fermat mathematics puzzle Ziya Tong Sun, 22 Jun 2008 13:43:35 -0800 http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/journey-to-south-africa.html http://www.pbs.org/kcet/wiredscience/blogs/2008/06/journey-to-south-africa.html Culture Health & Life Sciences Science & Society lion photography south africa Sun, 22 Jun 2008 09:34:35 -0800