The “Shoppie Awards”
Saturday, May 10th, 2008Our email in-boxes have all been touched by them. Some are so blatently obvious that we must wonder at the gullability of the ones who earnestly forwarded them to us. Sporting subject titles such as “Really Amazing Pictures” and “Winner of the National Geographic Picture of the Year Award”, these images have long circulated in cyberspace without receiving […]
BigDog
Thursday, May 1st, 2008
He might not have Rosie the Robot’s charm and personality, but Boston Dynamics’ “packbot” BigDog is billed as the most advanced quadruped robot on earth.
BigDog is powered by a gasoline engine that drives a hydraulic actuation system. His legs are articulated like an animal’s, and have compliant elements that absorb shock and recycle energy from […]
Dubai is Tomorrowland!
Monday, April 28th, 2008I believe that if Walt Disney had lived to see the amazing land development projects currently taking form in Dubai, he would have declared that his vision of tomorrowland had come to pass.
Take a look at some of these concept drawings of actual buildings and projects. Some have already been completed. Others are still in […]
Shake Rattle & Roll
Monday, April 21st, 2008In the predawn hours of this last Friday Morning (4/18/08) I awoke in confusion. At first I thought I had overloaded the washing machine and imagined that the unbalanced spin cycle was causing the house to vibrate. As I began to shake off sleep I remembered that I hadn’t turned on the washing machine - […]
Fuel Cells - The Basics
Sunday, April 20th, 2008I’m getting rather tired of saying it but the price of oil has again reached a new record high. This week’s “Science Word of the Week” looks at another up-and-coming alternative fuel source; Fuel Cells.
What is a Fuel Cell?
Fuel cells are devices that produce electrical power by converting chemical energy directly to electrical current rather […]
Ethanol
Sunday, April 6th, 2008With record oil prices once again topping the headlines, today’s “Science Word of the Week” is “Ethanol”.
Ethanol is a colorless volatile flammable liquid. It is a form of alcohol, C2H5OH, found in alcoholic beverages and also used as an additive in gasoline to produce gasohol. Ethanol is used as an oxygenate in reformulated gasoline. It is also […]
Meanwhile in Middle Earth…
Wednesday, March 26th, 2008A pair of caves on the South Pacific island of Palau has yielded thousands of bones, including the skull of an extinct three-foot-tall people. Excavated in 2006 and 2007, these remains belonged to a race that lived between 2,900 and 1,400 years ago as evidenced by radiocarbon measurements.
The Palau find has fueled much debate within the archaeological community on the relationship the […]
Arthur C. Clarke (1917 - 2008)
Wednesday, March 19th, 2008Sad news yesterday - Arthur C. Clarke, science fiction visionary, and collaborator with Stanley Kubrick on the iconic movie 2001 A Space Odyssey, has passed away at the age of 90. He leaves behind a prolific record of accomplishment, with more than 70 novels, short story collections, and nonfiction books, as well as a science fiction award […]
Daylight Savings Time
Saturday, March 8th, 2008The Science Word of the Week: “Daylight Savings Time”
This Sunday morning (03/09/08) at 2:00 a.m., most of us in the Continental United States will move our clocks forward one hour to 3:00 a.m.. This twice-a-year practice of shifting between “standard time” and “daylight time” began for most of the U.S. and Europe during World […]
You’ll catch your Death!
Tuesday, March 4th, 2008Being that it’s cold and flu season, I thought it a timely opportunity to spread something other than germs - some knowledge!
A Cold Virus
Here are some common questions and answers about colds and flu (influenza):
What’s the difference between a cold and the flu?
A. Although both illnesses are caused by viruses, their symptoms and severity differ […]
