Science | Science Addiction

August 24, 2006

Down to 8 Planets: Pluto Gets an Umbrella

The solar system has lost a planet today, as the International Astronomical Union decided to demote “pluto to Dwarf planet”:http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/08/24/pluto.ap/index.html?section=cnn_topstories status. So now “My Very Educated Mother Just Showed Us Nine” just doesn’t make any sense.

Although astronomers applauded after the vote, Jocelyn Bell Burnell — a specialist in neutron stars from Northern Ireland who oversaw the proceedings — urged those who might be “quite disappointed” to look on the bright side.

“It could be argued that we are creating an umbrella called ‘planet’ under which the dwarf planets exist,” she said, drawing laughter by waving a stuffed Pluto of Walt Disney fame beneath a real umbrella.

Well, at least they have a sense of humor about it.

June 7, 2006

From Environmental Skeptic to Global Warming Believer

“Scientific American”:http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa006&articleID=000B557A-71ED-146C-ADB783414B7F0000&colID=13 has an interesting article by Michael Shermer on how he has been _flipped_ from being a skeptic- that is, not entirely trusting the environmentalist’s take on global warming- to becoming a believer based on overwhelming and undisputable facts.

Nevertheless, data trump politics, and a convergence of evidence from numerous sources has led me to make a cognitive switch on the subject of anthropogenic global warming. My attention was piqued on February 8 when 86 leading evangelical Christians–the last cohort I expected to get on the environmental bandwagon–issued the Evangelical Climate Initiative calling for “national legislation requiring sufficient economy-wide reductions” in carbon emissions.

Then I attended the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) conference in Monterey, Calif., where former vice president Al Gore delivered the single finest summation of the evidence for global warming I have ever heard, based on the recent documentary film about his work in this area, An Inconvenient Truth. The striking before-and-after photographs showing the disappearance of glaciers around the world shocked me out of my doubting stance.

I saw _An Inconvenient Truth_ last weekend and it is a fantastic film. It is a powerful film and has the urgency that this tragedy demands.

If you do doubt that global warming is real, then let me put it to you this way: even if it was not true, would you rather not be prepared for the chance that it is? Are you so convinced that it is not true, that you would bet the future of the planet on it?

On a related note, “TreeHugger”:http://www.treehugger.com/files/2006/06/4_stages_denial.php has a great piece on the four stages of global warming denial- from _theory not fact_ to _what about the bottom-line_. Well put together.

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June 5, 2006

Mentos and Diet Coke Fountains

This is one of the great videos in the history of Internet viral videos- “the fountains of Bellagio recreated using Diet Coke and Mentos mints”:http://eepybird.com/dcm1.html (required Quicktime).

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May 21, 2006

124 mph Mountain

“This is fascinating”:http://www.livescience.com/forcesofnature/060519_moving_mountain.html

A mountain near the Montana-Wyoming border once moved 62 miles in a half-hour in a catastrophic scenario that could be repeated elsewhere, scientists say. Rock at the summit of Heart Mountain is 250 million years older than at its base. That suggests the top and the bottom have not always been together. The presumed migration to its present home has puzzled scientists for years. They have known the mountain moved, but no one has explained how it happened or how long it took.

April 1, 2006

Total Solar Eclipse of March 2006

Some cool things to check out regarding the total solar eclipse on the 29th of March.

Some interesting information from Scientific American:

Such a total eclipse is relatively rare–the next one for observers in the U.S. will not happen until August 21, 2017–because the moon must cross our planet’s orbital plane exactly when it, Earth and the sun are aligned, and its nighttime side faces us.
And then a lot of stuff from NASA– pictures, information, videos, audio.
And finally, some spectacular photographs of this (and past) solar eclipse at Flickr.

Some links via Accidental Blogger.

Tag: Science