May 2008 - Posts
msnbc.com |
Click for video: Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports
on the beta release of the WorldWide Telescope.
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After years of thinking and months of internal testing (and occasional tears), Microsoft Research is releasing its WorldWide Telescope software for the public to download and play with. The program requires more computer firepower than other free online astronomy guides, such as Google Sky or Stellarium. But the payoff for the eyes, ears and mind is high enough to make me think about upgrading my hardware.
The last time I caught upgrade fever, the motivation was to watch online video without the computer going into a stall. This time, I'll need to get more memory for my home computer so I don't miss out on the audio and text as I take a tour of the final frontier.
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Today marks the sixth anniversary of Cosmic Log's founding. In the past year, we've set new records for visitors and comments, thanks in part to those darn glowing cats and other scientific weirdness. In honor of the birthday, I'll point you to the same old quiz I've run over the past few years. How well do you know your Cosmic Log lore? Take the quiz and find out. Then check out these links to some of my favorite subjects:
You can't always judge a quake by its numbers. Two of the magnitude-7-plus quakes recorded in the past six months illustrate the complexities behind scientific statistics. As terrible as it was, last November's magnitude-7.7 quake in Chile ended up killing two people. In contrast, the estimated death toll from today's magnitude-7.9 quake in China, which doesn't sound as if it should be that much stronger, is at 8,500 and rapidly rising.
Although magnitude figures are an easy way to quantify the power of a quake in a headline, it takes something more to tell the whole story of an earthquake's strength.
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Perimeter Institute |
During a presentation on big-bang physics, cosmologist Neil Turok stands in front
of a slide showing Raphael's painting of ancient thinkers, "The School of Athens."
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A theoretical physics institute must be a bit like a science-fiction starship, in that you actually have to take concepts like extradimensional wormholes and inflationary multiverses seriously. If that's the case, then give a "Star Trek" salute to the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics' new captain: cosmologist Neil Turok.
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Univ. of Mich. |
Click for video: An
artist's conception shows
a dust devil on Mars. Click
on the image to watch
time-lapse imagery of
a dust devil from 2007.
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Images from NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter are providing an advance peek at what the Phoenix Mars Lander will be running up against when it lands near the planet's north pole later this month: The spacecraft will be coming down in the middle of a spring thaw, and based on the pictures released this week, there just might be some Martian mini-tornadoes swirling through the scene.
Two of the twisters, known as dust devils, show up on an April 20 image of Phoenix's projected landing area, taken by MRO's Context Camera. The Martian whirlwinds are similar to the desert mini-twisters often seen on Earth - and have previously been caught on camera by the Mars Pathfinder lander as well as NASA's Spirit rover. You can watch a dust devil spin through Spirit's line of sight in this year-old video clip.
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NBC News' Tim Russert isn't the only one selling Hillary Clinton short today: In the wake of the North Carolina and Indiana primaries, her shares on the Iowa Electronic Markets have fallen to the lowest point ever. The market lets online investors put real money down on the candidates’ prospects, as a science experiment on the "wisdom of crowds." The shares are worth $1 each if the investor's candidate wins the nomination, but they're worthless if the candidate loses.
Today, Clinton’s shares for the Democratic nomination were trading at less than 10 cents on the IEM - and the situation was pretty much the same at the InTrade prediction market.
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The catastrophic cyclone that hit Myanmar hints at the shape of things to come in a warming world — but probably not for the reason you think. Chris Mooney, the author of "Storm World," argues that the tragedy says more about the sad state of infrastructure in the developing world than it does about the raw impact of climate change. However, shifts in climate will likely accentuate that global rich-vs.-poor split.
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Courtesy of Cal Orey |
Cal Orey says her Brittany spaniels, Simon
and Seth, help her predict seismic events.
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Tiny earthquakes have been swarming near Reno for weeks, and seismic experts are trying to gauge whether things are settling down or heading toward a bigger rumble. All this is making some of the region's residents jittery - including Cal Orey, who lives near Lake Tahoe and issues earthquake predictions based on such things as headaches, pet behavior and moon phases.
Orey made headlines when she called the current wave of shakers in advance - and now she thinks a stronger quake could hit by the end of this month. To be specific, she's predicting a 70 percent chance of a magnitude-5 to magnitude-6 quake in the Reno/Tahoe/Sierra region by the end of May.
"I'm not saying 100 percent," she told me today. "But it's likely."
Seismologists don't tend to put stock in such predictions, as I explained in a report about quake forecasting a couple of years ago. However, the practical effect of what the experts are saying is pretty much the same: Be prepared for a Bigger One.
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UW-Madison |
Ions glow inside an electrostatic fusion reactor at the University of Wisconsin.
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One of the nation's top fusion researchers is worried that America is already falling behind in an energy race that won't start for 30 or 40 years.
"We're losing our lead to other countries in the world," Gerald Kulcinski, director of the Fusion Technology Institute at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, told me in his office last week.
How can that be, when most of the world's top technological powers are working together on a $13 billion nuclear fusion research project that hasn't even started construction yet? Kulcinski's answer demonstrates why an "Apollo-scale" effort to solve America's energy woes just might require more thought and time than the original Apollo moon effort.
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NASA |
Put your name on NASA's
next lunar probe.
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Now's the time to send your name on a trip to the moon ... or find the bright star in the sky known as the international space station ... or catch a meteor shower ... or tune in to the past and the future of space exploration on your computer.
All of these opportunities are available over the next few days, and any one would serve as a fitting celebration of Space Day.
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