LHC Webcams. There's been a lot of LHC news lately but a less-publicized series of
Compact Muon Solenoid proton collision tests is scheduled for today, and CERN has been kind enough to set up a
live streaming webcam to watch the CMS in action. (There's also a view of the parking lot but I think that's more so underground-bunkered LHC staff can see the weather.) It's fairly dull viewing but if you're interested in the science of it all, it's great nerdy fun. Maybe you'll even see a black hole or two. ;)
posted by brownpau
on Sep 11, 2008 -
22 comments
Breaking the Science-Atheism Bond. "When I was growing up in Belfast, Northern Ireland, during the 1960s, I came to the view that God was an infantile illusion, suitable for the elderly, the intellectually feeble, and the fraudulently religious."
posted by brownpau
on Jan 24, 2006 -
160 comments
The Pioneer Anomaly. Something's up in deep space: the
Pioneer spacecraft, now out of contact, have shown an unexplained Doppler drift, indicating sunward acceleration, effectively decelerating the probes cumulatively. The effect may be be nongravitational, and could be explained by any number of factors: an undiscovered twist in Newtonian physics, localized cosmological contraction issues, or just venting gas. Other deep space probes may have experienced the anomaly as well, and
a new mission could explore the puzzle; but for now, all we have is past Pioneer data, and that's stored on old
9 track tape which can only be read by antique readers. What's to be done? (Also see
Pioneer Odyssey for a nostalgic romp through those early days of deep space exploration. And NASA, bring back the
original Pioneer home page plz, kthx.)
posted by brownpau
on Jun 13, 2005 -
21 comments
10.5 If you're like me, you probably just finished watching
10.5, and are still giggling at the "disastrous" screenplay and campy drama. Well, the science is in:
Magnitude 10.5 is impossible,
brick buildings would collapse long before the Space Needle,
fault lines don't follow train tracks, California will not slide into the sea,
bottomless pits do not swallow up unfortunate red-shirted extras, and for crying out loud, Lex, don't use nuclear warheads either to blow the tectonic plates apart
or weld them shut.
posted by brownpau
on May 3, 2004 -
28 comments
Just FYI, it's entirely possible for a human to survive
exposure to the vacuum of space for a limited time without any permanent damage -- as long as you expel all the breath from your lungs to avoid an embolism. Horrifying scenes of sudden explosive decompression or immediate freezing are, as far as I can tell, a myth. (In other words,
Mission to Mars got it wrong,
2001 got it mostly right. But that's no surprise now, is it?)
Link via BadAstronomy. Love that site.
posted by brownpau
on Aug 23, 2001 -
16 comments
