jewel July 11th, 2010
I know I’ve been heavy on the video sharing of late and light on actual blogging. I’m in my summer “not much to say” thing, but I enjoy Symphony of Science and wanted to share. I hope you enjoy!
jewel July 8th, 2010
jewel June 19th, 2010
Here is (yet another) brilliant talk by my favorite particle physicist, Brian Cox, on why we need to fund curiosity driven science & exploration, even in difficult economic times. It’s 17 minutes very well spent. I watched this video over at Bad Astronomy, which is one of my favorite places on these interwebs. I do hope you enjoy this video as much as I.
jewel February 27th, 2010
There’s a new Symphony of Science video out, so here it is. If you haven’t seen any of the Symphony of Science video’s, they are gorgeous celebrations of science. You should really check them out:
jewel November 9th, 2009
Today is Carl Sagan’s 75th birthday. I wish he were still around so that I could tell him just how important his life was to me and many others like me. You see, it was reading his books that got me interested in science and skepticism and critical thinking. His books that made me see the real wonder of the universe. I would not be the person I am today if it weren’t for Dr. Sagan.
I never got to meet him, never got to thank him for everything he did for his fellow humans. Everything he did for me.
If you’ve never read any of his books, I recommend them all, but particularly The Demon Haunted World. If you’ve never seen Cosmos, it’s on Hulu, you should check it out.
For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring.
~~ Carl Sagan, The Demon-Haunted World: Science As a Candle in the Dark
jewel October 6th, 2009
I’m probably the last person on the interwebs to see this, but I really enjoyed it and wanted to share. Carl Sagan is one of my heroes and this tribute is fitting and quite beautiful. I hope you enjoy it.
jewel July 20th, 2009
Is it 20 July 2009 already?!? Where does the time go?
I took my first breath 10 months after Apollo 11 touched down on the moon, so I obviously do not remember that momentous event. Still, when I learned about it in school my imagination soared. We had already been to the moon — where would we go next? Well, sadly, humans haven’t ventured that far again – yet anyway – but with machines we’ve built, we’ve reached so much further and learned so much more and there is no end in sight.
Thank you Neil Armstrong, Michael Collins, ‘Buzz’ Aldrin, Jr., and everyone who made Apollo 11 possible and inspiring generations of children. Whether you believe it or not, you are heroes.
jewel July 18th, 2009
Last night a I and a group of friends were having a conversation (sometimes argument or debate) about what science is and what constitutes proof. It kind of went in circles for a while, but I enjoyed the process none the less. One of the group, who is actually pretty scientifically literate, made a statement that I knew to be false, but I couldn’t really explain the difference at the time. He said that in science a theory, once proven, became a law. I knew that was not right.
Today, I decided to do some Googling and find the answer and commit it to memory for next time. In short, scientific laws are a description of an observation. Laws don’t tell you why or how something happens, though. That is where theories come in. A theory is the real meat of science, explaining the observed phenomena. If anything, a theory actually holds more weight than a law because the theory actually explains what is happening. And a theory never becomes a law.
Here are a few websites that go into a bit more detail on this:
Scientific Laws, Hypotheses, and Theories – The Scientific Method
Scientific Laws and Theories
Scientific Law Wiki
Not Just a Theory
