"Murphy was an optimist!"
SCIENCE! That planets are aligning in the sky April 29, 2011 10:43 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Science, Space, TechnologyThis is a great week to wake your children early and peer into the sky. Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter are visible to the naked eye. Binoculars or a small telescope will allow you to see Uranus and Neptune. Any camera with a telephoto lens should be able to capture all 6 at once.
For the last two months, almost all the planets have been hiding behind the sun, but this week they all emerge and are arrayed in a grand line above the rising sun.
[Source, LiveScience, Six Planets Now Aligned in the Dawn Sky by Geoff Gaherty]
Picture credit: Starry Night Software. Picture borrowed from LiveScience
Inspire your children. Awe them with the wonders of the universe. Arise early. Hear the birds. See the planets.
If you get confused looking at objects in the sky, consider the iPhone/iPad app "GoSkyWatch" It is undeniably one of my favorite applications. I spent most of my life with astronomy books unsure if I was correctly identifying objects in the sky. GoSkyWatch removes all doubt, adds factoids, and makes star gazing so much more fun. [Link to app]
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NASA Plays God March 29, 2011 2:49 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Of Interest, Science, Space, TechnologyI learn something new every day. Today I learned how to make my neighbors move.
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The sun rose 48 hours early in Greenland and, yes Virginia, there is global warming January 14, 2011 3:09 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Environment, Science, Touchy Subjects
For a month and a half, there’s absolutely no Sun in Greenland because of Earth’s angle in relation to our home star. People there eagerly await for January 13, when the Sun rises again, every year. Except this one. This year, the Sun rose 48 hours ahead of its projected date. … [Source, Gizmodo]
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Our Brains Are Shrinking January 3, 2011 9:52 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Health, Mental, Of Interest, Politics, Science, Technology, Touchy SubjectsA scientific explanation for the tea party.
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I do dance with the Devil in the pale moonlight December 20, 2010 3:32 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Science, TechnologyI know some of you get twitches in your toes with the weather is changing, or migraines when the storm is approaching. The full moon sets me off. Perhaps there’s a little werewolf in me. As Luna grows large, I am struck with insomnia, passionate energy, and animalism. Tonight promises to be quite sleepless.
This lunar eclipse falls on the date of the northern winter solstice. How rare is that? Total lunar eclipses in northern winter are fairly common. There have been three of them in the past ten years alone. A lunar eclipse smack-dab on the date of the solstice, however, is unusual. Geoff Chester of the US Naval Observatory inspected a list of eclipses going back 2000 years. "Since Year 1, I can only find one previous instance of an eclipse matching the same calendar date as the solstice, and that is 1638 DEC 21," says Chester. "Fortunately we won’t have to wait 372 years for the next one…that will be on 2094 DEC 21." [Source, NASA Science, Solstice Lunar Eclipse]
Blessed be!
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DC Universe Merges with Reality November 16, 2010 3:57 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Science, TechnologyThis sounds like the stuff of comic books but it’s real. Designer Bacteria Can Heal Cracks in Concrete Buildings
The genetically modified microbe has been programmed to swim down fine cracks in concrete and once at the bottom it produces a mixture of calcium carbonate and a bacterial glue. This glue combines with the filamentous bacterial cells, ultimately hardening to the same strength as the surrounding concrete and essentially “knitting” the building back together. [Source, LiveScience, Designer Bacteria Can Heal Cracks in Concrete Buildings]
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CRS disease related to 20-30 years of stress October 22, 2010 1:02 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Health, Mental, Of Interest, Science, TechnologyStress hurts memory. And my memory is undeniably in a less than adequate state. The memories are there. The recollection is poor. After feeding me a few clues, the memories surface. Clues can be reminding me of your name or where we last bumped into each other etc.
An experimental drug developed by researchers at the University of Edinburgh reverses age-related memory decline in mice, returning their brains to a more youthful state of cognitive function. The compound is designed to dampen the production of glucocorticoids, stress hormones that are thought to damage the brain’s learning and memory centers over time. [Source, Technology Review, Experimental Drug Preserves Memory in Rodents]
"What’s most surprising is that even short-term inhibition was able to reverse memory loss in old mice. I don’t think people had realized this was so reversible. It takes [the animals] back to being relatively young." Sign me up! I hereby declare my readiness to be a human subject in this testing of this drug!
h/t Kurzweilai.net
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Rare East Coast rocket launch tonight at 7:35 May 19, 2009 3:52 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Science, Space, TechnologyLaunch currently scheduled for 7:35pm tonight.Launch completed successfully! No sign of it in the sky from Knoxville but live stream was beautiful. Friend in Delaware was able to see the 2nd stage separation.
NASA is again going to attempt to launch an Air Force Minotaur I rocket carrying the Air Force Research Laboratory’s TacSat-3 satellite, NASA’s PharmaSat microsatellite, and NASA’s CubeSat Technology Demonstration experiments, which includes three four-inch cubed satellites, developed by universities and industry. [Source] The launch will be from the NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. I read that if the skies are clear, the launch will be visible up to 800 miles away (but I could be misinformed). Knoxville is roughly 450 miles as the crow flies. If you don’t want to leave the house, NASA has the most exceptional webcasts available. The Wallops launch is already streaming live. Read more at the Wallops site or follow @NASA_Wallops on Twitter. Be sure to also follow @ATKRocketNews Trina Patterson of ATK who gives additional Twitter commentary on the launch.
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Space! … blast where’s Nimoy? May 16, 2009 11:09 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Science, Space, TechnologyIt doesn’t get cooler than NASA! I would have loved to have been an astronaut! Space walkin’.
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2nd Place: “Women Were Designed For Homemaking” April 13, 2009 9:03 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Religion / Spirituality, Science, Touchy SubjectsMaybe the Creationists are onto something!
Jonathan Goode (grade 7) applied findings from many fields of science to support his conclusion that God designed women for homemaking: physics shows that women have a lower center of gravity than men, making them more suited to carrying groceries and laundry baskets; biology shows that women were designed to carry un-born babies in their wombs and to feed born babies milk, making them the natural choice for child rearing; social sciences show that the wages for women workers are lower than for normal workers, meaning that they are unable to work as well and thus earn equal pay; and exegetics shows that God created Eve as a companion for Adam, not as a co-worker. [Source, OBJECTIVE: Ministries, Fellowship Baptist Creation Science Fair 2001 Article by Dr. Richard Paley & FBCSF Staff]
Other winners:
- Elementary School Level
- 1st Place: "My Uncle Is A Man Named Steve (Not A Monkey)"
- 2nd Place: "Pine Cones Are Complicated"
- Middle School Level
- 1st Place: "Life Doesn’t Come From Non-Life"
- 2nd Place: "Women Were Designed For Homemaking"
- High School Level
- 1st Place: "Using Prayer To Microevolve Latent Antibiotic Resistance In Bacteria"
- 2nd Place: "Maximal Packing Of Rodentia Kinds: A Feasibility Study"
The Creation Science Fair honorable mentions are equally as great with my favorite being a tie between "Pokemon Prove Evolutionism Is False" and "Thermodynamics Of Hell Fire."
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And I made a cloud January 15, 2009 7:51 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Amy, Daily Life, Family, Noah, Of Being Dad, Science, TechnologyCold. -4°C outside. Brrr. So I took Amy and Noah out on the porch and threw a pot of boiling water into the air. Both children enjoyed seeing the water turn to vapor and float across the yard like a scene from a Scooby Doo swamp. I let them have their moment and did not bother with the science lesson.
Temperature conversion by OnlineConversion.com.
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My college experience finally explained December 22, 2008 10:16 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Education, Health, History, Mental, ScienceSmart kids are more likely to be heavy drinkers "There’s a link between a high IQ and developing alcohol problems"
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In 10 years, TSA will display your thoughts on screen December 12, 2008 10:54 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Science, Security, Technology, Touchy SubjectsIn 10 years, TSA will be scanning your brain. Just saying..
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Is 9V too much for a 6V device? September 19, 2008 8:51 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Gadgets, Science, TechnologyIf I have a device that requests 6V input and I have an a/c adapter that outputs 9V, will the device draw only the 6V it needs or will it try to take all 9V and burn itself out? In this case the circuit is simply a light. It has the switch and the bulb with an optio of being powered by 4 AA batteries or 6V input. No amp requirement specified.
Watt’s it matter?
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LHC Achieves Blackhole! September 17, 2008 9:52 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Science, TechnologyAnd it has formed in my house! Last night I set my glasses down and they instantly vanished. This morning the same thing happened to some ointment I pulled out for one of the children. When I say vanished, I mean blink and it is gone! I hope this hole doesn’t grow too large. So far it has only eaten objects about the size of 2 decks of cards. Now I’ll allow it to eat the cat but any larger than that the children are at risk and there will none of that!
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