Science is Drokking Fantastic Because...

[The Legendary Shark]

Phytoplankton bloom in the Barents Sea. Credit: NASA/Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on the Aqua satellite

Universe Today

[The Legendary Shark]

"The chances of anything coming from Mars..."

Collapse pit on Mars reveals opening to an underground cave.

[radiator]

This seems as good a place as any to get this off my chest. Been becoming increasingly irritated recently by friends of friends and acquaintances posting science-related stuff on Facebook, whether it's news about the lhc or a Carl Sagan quote.

Before I get torn to shreds, I don't think there's anything wrong with taking an interest in science, its admirable. But what annoys me is these people are mostly arts graduates and I know for a fact they only have an extremely rudimentary grasp of the basics of physics. If they were to actually talk to a genuine scientist or mathematician they'd be hopelessly out of they're depth within seconds.

So it's the pseud-ish posturing and pretension that gets my goat, the smug 'look how intelligent I am' of it. Sorry, but watching a couple of BBC4/Brian Cox documentaries doesn't mean you know what the he'll you're talking about!

Aah, I feel better now!

[JOE SOAP]

I don't like Brian Cox...there, I said it.

[The Doctor Alt 8]

 

Yeah jelousy is terrible, ain't it?

[Proudhuff]

The UK has formally joined forces with a US laser lab in a bid to develop clean energy from nuclear fusion.

Unlike fission plants, the process uses lasers to compress atomic nuclei until they join, releasing energy.

The National Ignition Facility (Nif) in the US is drawing closer to producing a surplus of energy from the idea.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14842720

claims of no nasty side effects!!

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

So it's the pseud-ish posturing and pretension that gets my goat, the smug 'look how intelligent I am' of it. Sorry, but watching a couple of BBC4/Brian Cox documentaries doesn't mean you know what the he'll you're talking about!

Yes, I get this. All the bloody time. There are slight variations on this theme too. Militant Atheists for example. Just replace Brian Cox with Dick Dawkins.

If they were to actually talk to a genuine scientist or mathematician they'd be hopelessly out of they're depth within seconds.

Exactly

Exempli Gratia:

Me (being polite): 'That's a very interesting idea. How would you go about testing that hypothesis?'
Them:

[johnnystress]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-agl0pOQfs

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_-agl0pOQfs

Insane Clown Posse, an arguement against the existence of God that is more compelling than the entirety of The Richard Dawkins is God Delusion.

*Edit
Maybe I'm being a bit hard on oul Dawkins. I've a lot of respect for everything he has contributed to his chosen field. My main beef with him, is the way he has hijacked Science in the name of Atheism. Not all Scientists are Atheists. Three of my professors would declare their Theism at the beginning of every new lecture course (though one of them said the main reason he believed in God was because of the interesting arguements this caused with his peers).

For the record, I'm an agnostic, so there's not really much point in debating the existence of a deity with me. I haven't a bloody clue, and don't see the point in worrying.

[johnnystress]

this is nice. And also sad

http://youtu.be/ziT3XYE2xSA

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Dinosaur 'feathers' found in amber...

Cool.

[Mardroid]

Dinosaur 'feathers' found in amber...

Interesting. I wonder if they were just the smaller raptor type dinosaurs which are known to have feathers, or a large species. I'm curious how widespread the feathers were.

[O Lucky Stevie!]

Tatooine schmatooine -- Nasa have discovered Solaris.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-14940885?ref=nf

[Mardroid]

Named Kepler-16b, it is thought to be an uninhabitable cold gas giant, like Saturn.

The planet orbits its two suns every 229 days at a distance of 65m miles (104m km) - about the same distance out as Venus.

Shouldn't that make it a HOT gas giant? Or does the sheer mass of the planet cancel that out? (Or maybe I'm just reading that wrong.)

Interesting though.

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

Named Kepler-16b, it is thought to be an uninhabitable cold gas giant, like Saturn.

The planet orbits its two suns every 229 days at a distance of 65m miles (104m km) - about the same distance out as Venus.

Shouldn't that make it a HOT gas giant? Or does the sheer mass of the planet cancel that out? (Or maybe I'm just reading that wrong.)

Interesting though.

It's to do with nomenclature and atmospheric pressures. A Hot Gas Giant emits more heat than it recieves from its sun by a process called the Kelvin–Helmholtz mechanism. Jupiter and Saturn are hot gas giants.

A cold gas giant absorbs most of the heat from its suns. That doesn't neccessarily mean the surface temperature is cold.