I was talking with an amateur astronomer this morning who, in reference to another astronomer and blogger I mentioned, said “He’s great… except that he believes in black holes.” The comment caught me off guard. Up until that moment I had no idea that “black holes” was a topic of controversy. I dug into research [...]
There is a lot of hub-bub about a neutrino that was witnessed moving faster than the speed of light, a feat which was deemed impossible by Albert Einstein’s theory of relativity. The science community is working overtime to figure out if the experiment can be repeated and confirmed, as it would have a major impact [...]
Dear LSNED, Why do I always burn my mouth when eating potatoes? Why do they stay so hot? -Hot Tater Dear Ms. Tater, It is true that, long after the asparagus has gone cold, your baked potato will be deliciously, or perhaps dangerously warm. The reason behind this is the high heat capacity of a [...]
It’s easy to shrug off electricity as a mundane part of life, but the more I think about it, the more it seems like magic. Electricity is the passing of electrons, the tiniest part of an individual atom, down the line from one atom to another like a hot potato. This electron flow is what [...]
When you mix regular off-the-shelf cornstarch with regular from-the-tap water you get yourself a physical anomaly. A substance that can be both a liquid and a solid at the same temperature. It’s called a non-Newtonian fluid because it doesn’t behave according to the what Sir Isaac Newton discovered about the viscosity (flow) of liquids. In [...]
Nuclear power has a bad reputation. Chernobyl, Three Mile Island, and now Fukushima in Japan bring up the worst fears of tapping atomic energy. However, I feel optimistic about the future of nuclear power generators as a solution to our energy and pollution woes. So does France, apparently, which is generating 77% of its electricity [...]
Fun Fact: If the movie Rocky had been about wheelchair boxing (yes, it does exist!) then, according to the guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the famous training montage would have climaxed with a dramatic roll up a 672 foot long wheelchair ramp to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Okay everybody, get yourself a [...]