VSS Enterprise

December 7 is a day that will now live in a new kind of infamy. It was the day that Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic space company unveiled its new Space Ship 2 and almost blew 800 guests away — in hurricane-force winds — in the process.

Video of the destruction in the Mojave Desert where 105 mph winds ripped through site where VIPs celebrating the new spaceship had to be quickly evacuated.

Photo by: Alan Radecki, MojaveWest Media Works.

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 week. Here’s a breakdown of the winners in each category. The Ig Nobel goes to…

Economics:
Icelandic bank management and auditors–for demonstrating how to bankrupt a national economy.

Math:
Gideon Gono, governor of Zimbabwe’s Reserve Bank–for printing currency ranging from one cent to 100 trillion dollars.

Public Health:
Elena Bodnar–for inventing a bra that’s good during an emergency.

Physics:
Katherine Whitcome, Daniel Lieberman and Liza Shapiro–for answering the question: Why don’t pregnant women tip over?

Medicine:
Donald Unger–for proving his mother wrong and discovering that knuckle cracking doesn’t cause arthritis.

Veterinary Medicine:
Catherine Douglas and Peter Rowlinson–for discovering that cows with names give more milk at dairy farms.

Peace:
Stephan Bollinger–for determining that empty beer bottles will do more damage then full ones when smashed over someone’s head.

Chemistry:
Javier Morales, Miguel Apatiga and Victor Castano–for making diamonds out of tequila.

Biology:
Fumiaki Taguchi, Song Guofu and Zhang Guanglei–for finding a bacteria in panda poop that eats kitchen garbage.

Literature:
Ireland’s Police Service–for writing more than 50 traffic tickets to Prawo Jazdy, the most frequent driving offender in Ireland. The name in Polish means…”Driving License.”

Cast of ABC Television's Flash Forward, courtesy of ABC

When the ABC Television series FlashForward pushed the collective consciousness of the world (in the context of the show) forward six months, the book on which the action-adventure series is based flashed up the Amazon book ranking last week.

The content of the show is being closely guarded but to get a sense of what’s coming, look no further than FlashForward, the novel by Robert J. Sawyer.

Or to the real-world particle physics about to start at CERN below Switzerland.

Every year the brightest science minds head south in July–somewhat like the swallows to Capistrano. This is more like the string theorists to the world Google headquarters in Mountain View, California.

There, they meet in an unconference, trade brilliant notions and form collaborations to address real-world problems. Sponsored by Nature and O’Reilly Media, SciFoo ‘09 included a raft of science celebrities, scientists and interested looky-loos.

SciFoo attendee Dr. Shirley Wu was on the scene and gave REALscience a bird’s eye view. Dr. Kirsten “Kiki” Sanford (The Bird’s Brain blog) also gives a little report from SciBarCamp, another science unconference nearby and just before SciFoo. The host of This Week in Science (and good friend of REALscience) talked about “spinning science.”

Most of what happens at SciFoo stays at SciFoo. But a few things trickle out, once the excitement settles. Here’s the REALscience report from last year for reference.

Watch the video Science Foo Camp 2009: by Nature Video

Watch science comedian Brian Malow on Late Night with Craig Ferguson.

Photo of SciFoo courtesy of Duncan Hull

For the full SciFoo ‘09 report listen here.

The trash can smoke ring generator is a signature finale in Steve Spangler’s stage show… and was recently featured on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Everyone always wants to know how to make Steve’s classic giant smoke rings… now you can make them at home with a special Fourth of July twist!

The Big Apple, known for its art and theater, rolled out the red carpet to celebrate the crossroads of art and science at the 2nd annual World Science Festival.

The festivities got underway June 10 with a star-studded gala event at Lincoln Center, followed by a reception celebrating renowned naturalist E.O. Wilson’s 80th Birthday.

REALscience was there and Richard Romano reports from New York City. Listen to his story here.

Photos: World Science Festival board member Alan Alda, Gala co-chair Glenn Close, Dr. E.O Wilson, Dr. James Watson, Gala Reception, by Richard Romano

Famed mathematician Stephen Hawking has been rushed to a hospital and is seriously ill, Cambridge University said Monday.

Bear biologist Chris Morgan is one of the foremost experts on grizzly and other rare bears. He travels the world raising awareness about these feared and revered animals.

From the last remaining Cascade Grizzlies to the rare sun bear on the island of Borneo, Dr. Morgan is watching how people, the environment and the bears are all changing.

BEARTREK

BEARTREK Preview from Landon Acohido on Vimeo.

As the line between fact and fiction blurs in television and film productions, Hollywood is turning to the National Academies of Science for a much-needed dose of reality.

A new initiative, called the Science & Entertainment Exchange was announced yesterday and will match creative screenwriters and producers with scientists to keep the fiction realistic or at least scientifically accurate.

After a very private battle with cancer best-selling author Michael Crichton died in Los Angeles. The man who made a career of making scientists perpetually angry could not outwit a devastating disease.

He opened the minds of hundreds of millions of readers around the world to scientific possibilities. Unfortunately his what ifs were enough to terrorize and tantalize audiences.

But his nuggets of scientific truth were layered with intriguing fiction that often blurred the lines between the two. And that is what angered the scientific research community.

But I suspect even his most vocal critics will miss the fascinating machinations of this creative mind.

Einstein had a way with words, which confused many. His apparent contradictory opinions on science and religion allowed both the religious and non-religious to claim him as one of their scientists and great thinkers.

A new letter going up for auction sheds a little more light on the mystery of Einstein’s religious views.

Computer science is in a slump. Ask Microsoft. The software company is putting its money on Michael Buckley, a computer programming professor at University of Buffalo. He is “computing with a cause” in order to reinvigorate student interest in technology.

Dr. Michio Kaku examines the link between science fiction and real science. From the technological advances of teleportation in Star Trek and a death star in Star Wars, Kaku rates the impossibility of such realities in the future in his new book, Physics of the Impossible.