I admit it, I’m a sucker for future scenarios. No, not necessarily because I think they’re accurate (or expect them to be!), but because they can exercise the mind wonderfully, reveal much about our present. The best science-fiction is like this, too :) And yes, sometimes, they can absolutely be useful in preparing for the […]
Posts for November 2011
TOSP Episode 12: November 28th 2011
[Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] Welcome back to a very icy, buggy TOSP! This week, Elf and aimee talk about ice. Well, mostly ice. Brinicles, ice on Europa and even ice-related geoengineering in Mongolia. And undersea silk. Excitingly, however, they also talk with their first guest, Sciblogger Siouxsie Wiles of […]
Ulan Bator’s geoengineering scheme is THAT cool
Originally syndicated from the Lemur Attack Force blog (I’m doing the Mongol Rally next year, and we could use YOUR help!) As you quite possibly know, Ulan Bator is the capital of Mongolia. And, given that it’s going to suffer from the continentality effect as a result of its location (clue – it’s very landlocked […]
You don't like it? Go somewhere else.
Oh, Feynman - you never fail to do other than impress me :) I think this may well turn out to be one of my favourite videos of all time. In it, brilliant physicist Richard Feynman explains his attitude towards people who, well, doubt science. Any he explains why he has said attitude. The video […]
Brinicle!
UPDATE: Please note - the picture below is a picture, not the video :) The link to the video is later in the post… Yep, that is, indeed, a real word. The Beeb, bless their cotton socks, has released some excerpts from their new the new BBC/Attenborough series Frozen Planet. Frozen Planet deals, as one […]
TOSP Episode 11: November 21st 2011
[Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] And we’re back with another new episode of TOSP! This week, aimee and Elf talk of many things, including the winners of this year’s top NZ science award(s), the world’s lightest material, stem cell research, sexism in science (‘womanspace’), a nanocar, still-faster-than-light neutrinos, the casimir […]
The Case of the Mysterious Jellyfish
I love Wellington. On fine days, I can cycle from from town around the bays to get to work, which is a lovely . And last Friday was particularly exciting! In Evans Bay, only a meter or two from the pavement, a large jellyfish had come in to shore and was floating in the shallows. […]
5,000 posts on Sciblogs!
This post is, officially, the 5,001st blog post on Sciblogs. Since the inception of Sciblogs in October 2009 - a little over two years ago - we’ve been impressed with the quality of writing of our bloggers, and the growing stable of talent this network has attracted and continues to attract. And so, both Peter […]
TOSP Episode 10: November 14th 2011
[Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] We’re trying something new! Elf’s back safe and sound (yay!), and we decided after a strategy confab to try out something a bit new with the podcast. If you’re curious about what we changed, we explain the why and how in the first few minutes […]
TOSP Episode 9: November 7th 2011
[Original post on the Sciblogs The Official Sciblogs Podcast site] Greetings, dear listeners! This week, aimee was joined once again by Chelfyn Baxter, co-host of the g33k show, to talk through some of the science stories of the last week. They included using lasers to rip the universe a new one, Boeing building spacecraft, the […]