NASA Ares Test a Success
NASA is calling the test flight launch of its Ares 1-X rocket “the next step in human exploration.”
The 327-foot rocket launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida this week as the first in new rocket design since the 1970s. The Ares series of manned rockets is going to replace the space shuttle...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Ecology, Environment, Global Warming, Plants, SciClips on 10 29th, 2009 | No Comments
Open Data Opens Doors for Citizen Scientists
Members of the Surui tribe in Brazil test Open Data Kit, photo courtesy of Carl Hartung, UW
Cell phones are coming to the aid of international health workers, environmental monitors and even citizen scientists. Now loaded with a data collection tool, Open Data Kit is the brainchild of some doctoral students...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Adaptation and Extinction, Backyard Science, Books, Ecology, Environment, Global Warming, Physics and Chemistry, Video, Wind on 10 28th, 2009 | 3 Comments
The Boy Who Harnessed the Wind
They call William Kamkwamba “the boy who harnessed the wind.” At 14, after dropping out of school, the African boy in a rural Malawi village taught himself how electricity works, and built a windmill from scraps and pieces of a bicycle.
Now 22, Kamkwmaba has a book, detailing how he built...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Physics and Chemistry, SciClips, Science & Entertainment, Uncategorized on 10 27th, 2009 | No Comments
Balloon Boy Takes Us All for a Ride
The man behind the recent hoax captured our attention but smeared amateur science in the process. Fame-hungry Richard Heene used his son and some faked backyard science to launch his reality TV career.
Most people thought it was highly unlikely that a 40-pound boy stowed away in the balloon and floated...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Consumer Safety, Diseases, Health and Medicine, Video on 10 25th, 2009 | No Comments
H1N1 Flu Now a National Emergency
As the numbers of Americans sickened by the H1N1 swine flu skyrockets into the millions, President Obama declared the flu a national emergency.
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Adaptation and Extinction, Animals, Biology, Ecology, Endangered Species, Global Warming, New Species, SciClips on 10 23rd, 2009 | 1 Comment
Tiny Frog Now Big Hawaiian Pest
A little green frog is causing big problems across Hawaii, where the coqui has become the latest invasive species to get a strong foothold.
But Hawaii may be the only place experiencing a surging frog population. Around the world, frogs are dying in droves from a fungus called a chytrid.
What can we...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Astronomy, New Discoveries, Space, Video on 10 21st, 2009 | No Comments
32 New Extrasolar Planet
The European Space Agency has found 32 new planets orbiting around distant stars. And they did it not with a high-powered space telescope but with a very sensitive ground-based instrument located in South America.
Learn about how astronomers locate planets based on subtle wobbles in star movement.
Just...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Backyard Science, Math, SciClips, Uncategorized on 10 20th, 2009 | 1 Comment
Puzzle People Make Math Magic
Brilliant minds have been challenging people to embrace math for centuries. But one man made recreational math fun and has been inspiring legions of followers for decades.
His name? Martin Gardner. This mathemagician has been transforming frightening formulas into fun.
But recreational math doesn’t...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry, SciClips, Space on 10 20th, 2009 | No Comments
Moon Plume Kicks up Scientific Data
Cabeus Crater, impact zone for LCROSS mission
When NASA smashed an expensive satellite and rocket into the moon, many people wondered why the space agency would do such a thing.
Then on October 9, with hundreds of thousands of people watching, the big plume of dirt and ice that would indicate a successful...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Biochemistry, Ecology, Environment, Geology, Global Warming, Oceanography, Physics and Chemistry, SciClips on 10 16th, 2009 | No Comments
Arctic Tipping Point on the Horizon
Evidence of global warming is hitting the Arctic harder than anywhere else. The rate of climate change is twice that of the rest of the world.
And, now scientists are discovering the Arctic region plays an important role in capturing atmospheric carbon, both in the ocean and on land.
But that delicate...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Consumer Safety, Diseases, Health and Medicine, Video on 10 14th, 2009 | 2 Comments
Anti-swine Flu Suit
Japanese menswear company Haruyama Trading has developed a suit that it claims can protect wearers from the swine flu.
For only about $600, white-collar workers in Tokyo and other crowded Japanese cities will help reduce the spread of the H1N1 flu virus, which has already infected more than 350,000...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Animals, Anthropology, Astronomy, Biochemistry, Biology, Computer Science, Diseases, Ecology, Environment, Geology, Health and Medicine, Marine Science, Oceanography, Physics and Chemistry, Podcast, SciClips, Space on 10 13th, 2009 | No Comments
Science Sticks its Head in the Cloud
Visualization of a river bed created using VisTrails, a system developed by University of Utah computer scientists Photo by: Juliana Freire and Claudio Silva, University of Utah
A two-year experiment to build a framework to analyze the massive amount of data scientists are collecting will push research...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Astrobiology, Astronomy, New Discoveries, Space, Video on 10 8th, 2009 | No Comments
NASA Shoots the Moon
NASA’s Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite smashes into the south pole of the moon to kick up some dust and see if there is evidence of water on the moon.
See the mission live as the centaur rocket and observation satellite hit the moon just after 4:10 a.m. PDT.
Amateur astronomers...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Animals, Anthropology, Biochemistry, Health and Medicine, Math, Physics and Chemistry, SciClips, SciLebs, Science & Entertainment, economics on 10 8th, 2009 | No Comments
Ig Nobel Prizes Irreverent in Science
While most serious scientists are wringing their hands, wondering who will win the Nobel prizes, a different group of scientists is celebrating the lighter–but just as bona fide–side of science.
The 19th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize ceremony shined a silly look at science at Harvard last...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Biochemistry, Biology, Health and Medicine, Physics and Chemistry, SciClips on 10 7th, 2009 | No Comments
Nobel Prizes Crown Science Winners
Every year (since 1901) the Nobel Foundation has been honoring the final wish of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite.
This year the three science prizes went to nine scientists who overcame a big biology problem, harnessed light and unraveled the mechanism at the heart of a cell.
Nobel Prize for...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Anthropology, Geology, New Discoveries, New Species, Video on 10 6th, 2009 | 2 Comments
Ardi, the Oldest Hominid Found in Ethiopia
Last week, after 17 years of secrecy, scientists announced they had found the oldest example of the human lineage. Her name is Ardi, short for Ardipithecus ramidus, and she is a 4.4 million year old fossil.
Ardi was found in the famous Rift Valley of Ethiopia, where other fossils, like Lucy were discovered....
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Consumer Safety, Diseases, Health and Medicine, Podcast, SciClips on 10 5th, 2009 | No Comments
H1N1 Vaccine Brings Big Shot Program
After months of speculation and waiting for the vaccine to grow, the new swine flu virus killer is ready and rolling out across the country this week.
The CDC hopes that at least 150 million Americans will get the shot or nasal spray to fight the H1N1 flu virus that began its worldwide rampage in April.
Some...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Animals, Artificial Intelligence, Biology, Computer Science, SciClips on 10 2nd, 2009 | No Comments
Ant Security
When the ants go marching two by two, pay attention to what they are doing. Scientists are. And they are discovering clever ways to improve cyber security just by mimicking the behavior of ants.
The foraging insects use something called swarm intelligence to efficiently locate and gather food. Computer...
Posted by Michael Bradbury in Biochemistry, Climate, Diseases, Energy, Environment, Featured Articles, Global Warming, Health and Medicine, Marine Science, Oceanography, Politics and Science, SciClips on 10 1st, 2009 | No Comments
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Calls for Global Warming Trial
The biggest business lobby in the U.S. is pushing for the EPA to hold a public hearing to debate the science of global warming.
The move, calling for the Scopes monkey trial of the 21st Century, is proving too much for some chamber members, from big utilities to Nike and Johnson & Johnson.
Yesterday,...
