No one can shoot a satellite down!

Was the title provocative enough for you? For the past several days headlines all over the web have read “US to shoot down satellite.” Ok, first off, that satellite is on its way down no matter what. That would be the problem. It doesn’t actually need shot “down.” Second, after...

Mercury & Venus: Understanding hot rocks & Greenhouse gases

The latest episode of The Universe focused on our solar system’s hottest two planets: Mercury and Venus. In looking at each of these worlds, scientists are faced with Sun related issues no other planet has: we can never study these planets when they are high in the sky well after sunset (the ideal time...

Panspermia is in the Air

Tonight I watched the latest installment of The History Channel’s “The Universe.” The week’s episode focused on Spaceship Earth (which re airs Sunday night). This episode addressed many different aspects of the Earth’s formation, how it gained a moon, and how the Earth+Moon...

The Universe: The Red Planet

I just finished watching this week’s episode of “The Universe.” As its name, The Red Planet, implies, this episode focused on the forth planet from the Sun: Mars. It took a systematic journey through our understanding of Mars that included historical perspectives and modern space based...

Death by a 1000 paper boxes

It all started back in the 1890s. Catalogues came to farmers. Farmers sent their money. Good arrived in boxes. Those goods — everything from watches to carriages to entire houses in kits — came from Sears, Roebuck and Company. The goods were often things that couldn’t be bought locally at...