An interesting article by Nathan Seppa in the February 9 Science News reports that rates of nearsightedness have been on the increase in recent decades in North America and Europe. For example, in the United States among people ages 12 … Continue reading
A website promoting asteroid mining has a remarkable interactive moving map of a multitude of known asteroids. It might take a little while to get used to the interface, but it's a load of fun. The default appears to be … Continue reading
As you've no doubt already heard, on Friday an asteroid 150 feet across will pass closer to the Earth than our geosynchronous communications satellites, moving more than 17,000 miles per hour. There's no risk of a collision this time, but … Continue reading
According to an article published last week in The Guardian (based on a report by Bloomberg New Energy Finance for the Business Council for Sustainable Energy), U.S. carbon dioxide emissions are at their lowest level since 1994. (A separate report … Continue reading
I'm surprised that Minute Physics would get this wrong: Link: http://youtu.be/S9dqJRyk0YM It's true that there's no wavelength of light that's pink and that the color magenta is basically white light with the middle wavelengths omitted. But despite what Minute Physics … Continue reading
As noted in an earlier post, Duke scientists have named a genus of ferns for Lady Gaga, in part because the genus is characterized by a bit of DNA containing the sub-sequence G-A-G-A. Two of the species are called Gaga … Continue reading
Bodily functions don't stop just because you're on another world, and there are things you'd just as soon not bring home... Link: http://youtu.be/QNP8wy3S_kY … Continue reading
Here's something many of us ponder at some point: Do you get wetter walking through the rain or running, given that running causes you to hit more drops per second from the side? The answer isn't terribly surprising -- you're … Continue reading
I finally realized that I had missed one of the videos deleted by the WordPress 3.5 vanishing video bug. Better late than never and all that. I've restored it in the original post, and for sake of convenience, here it … Continue reading
The U.S, National Research Council has a quite good website explaining what is actually known about global warming and various approaches to dealing with the problem. The site is intended for the general public and presents the facts in a … Continue reading