This is a general category for items about science, scientists or scientific discoveries.
Take one preconceived notion and grasp it strongly. Bake this idea into your mind until well seared. If necessary, run around shouting it at the top of your lungs with your ears plugged and eyes shut so as to drown out any competing notions.
Read moreDespite the fact that the Big Bang has sort of been going on for billions and billions of years, Janna Levin, a professor of physics and astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University, explains it in this two-minute video about The Big Bang. This is part of a new series called the Briefly series. Taking theory and presenting it in it’s most concise form.The producers started with the Big Bang because the theory is important and amazing, but often misunderstood.
Read moreMore than 100 years ago a salt shaker sized object made of platinum and iridium was forged in London. This was then shipped to Paris where it was shaped and polished and carefully weighed until it was exactly one kilogram (about 2.2 pounds). By international treaty, this then became the international for the exact weight of a kilogram. The problem is, the mass of the cylinder may be changing.
Read moreIt seems the patients have once again taken over the asylum that is the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. HHS is reviewing a draft regulation that would deny federal funding to any hospital, clinic, health plan or other entity that does not accommodate employees who want to opt out of participating in care that runs counter to their personal convictions, including providing birth-control pills, IUDs and the Plan B emergency contraceptive.
Read moreHere’s our last installment of the weekly tid bits for 2007. We’ve got a guy stuck in his septic tank on Christmas Eve. And leave it to Fred Phelps to end the year on some wing-nuttery as he blames the tiger attack in San Francisco on gay people. A wyoming woman stabbed her husband for opening presents early, and a bluetooth headset and cell phone foiled a robbery in Columbus, Ohio. We also have some Spanish scientists postulating that time might be slowing down.
Read more