Archive for the ‘science’ Category
Why private spacecraft will be successful for NASA
Thursday, May 13th, 2010New jobs from commercializing space
Wednesday, May 12th, 2010How to clean up lower-Earth orbit
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010Looks like a big hurdle to further space commercialization has been cleared – Laser “tractor beams” to tidy up space junk.
Obama pushes for new space movement
Monday, May 10th, 2010I wish the dates were moved up – Obama Vows Renewed Space Program.
Trust in Government Starts by Lowering Stress in Citizens
Thursday, April 29th, 2010Fascinating story on NPR about the “trust” hormone (oxytocin) and one researcher’s findings that trust in the government is related to the amount of stress someone feels at the time. According to the study, trust in the government is at an all time low because of the stress people feel due to the recession. When college students were given a squirt of oxytocin they reported feeling more trusting of other people. From this trust, they also reported less distrust in the government.
So, by promoting wellness and lowering the national stress level, could the government also be promoting better citizen engagement?
Why Leave Out the Moon? Questioning President Obama’s Vision for the Space Program
Friday, April 16th, 2010President Obama laid out an ambitious vision for American space exploration that included missions to an asteroid and to Mars while opening up routine launches to low-Earth orbit by private industries. It is a great vision and I especially like the mission to an asteroid because of the vast mineral wealth from Near-Earth Objects and to develop an ability to protect against asteroid impacting on Earth. It also appears that the plan has widespread support in the space community.
I do disagree with leaving out a mission to the Moon. The Moon is a great base for launching missions to the asteroids and to Mars. We know we can reach it within a few days, it has mineral resources, water, and an energy source for fusion. The Moon’s gravity well is much smaller than the Earth’s gravity well and thus it easier to build bigger craft and launch them with less fuel. Building a base on the Moon allows us to test out technologies and methods that can help us explore Mars.
This is not an argument for reestablishing the Constellation program. Canceling Constellation was the right call as is the push to leave Low-Earth Orbit. But skipping past such an obvious asset in our mission to Mars just doesn’t make sense.
Stephen Colbert’s Cosmos: Science Reporting
Friday, March 26th, 2010The major intellectual influence in my life was Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. I remember reading the preview for the series in Science Digest and seeing the very first episode. I must have checked out the Cosmos book hundreds of times and I spent weekend afternoon devouring the science magazines down at the public library. I watched all the NOVA programs and hung out with other kids in high school who were science and computer enthusiasts. I was a geek and quite proud of it.
So it was with a bit of sadness when I read the following in Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum’s Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future:
“Arguably, the most important news-oriented science communication today occurs via Comedy Central’s The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report, popular public-affairs-slash-comedy programs that manage to integrate a surprising amount of scientific content and treat it very sympathetically overall – as long as the scientists who go on air can laugh at themselves, and their profession, a little.”
I like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert but a seven-minute science segment is no substitute for the effect Cosmos had on a generation.
Hot Tub Nuclear Reactor
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010Bill Gates backs innovative reactor design. To me, the best way to get off oil-dependency is a combination of solar, wind, and nuclear.
Simulating Cultural Dynamics
Wednesday, March 10th, 2010Along the same lines of my own research – simulation of cultural change. Computational social science is going to revolutionize the social sciences as simulation revolutionized the hard sciences.