Category Archives: Science

All things scientific.

Elon Musk Talks about Electric Cars, Colonizing Mars

Posted on April 24, 2011 by ErgoOne

Wall Street Journal reporter and pundit Alan Murray interviewed the founder and CEO of both Tesla (electric cars) and SpaceX, Elon Musk. In person Musk comes across as a rather understated engineer/geek with an accent that many Americans will mistake … Continue reading →

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High School Senior Pretends Pregnancy as Sociology Experiment

Posted on April 22, 2011 by ErgoOne

There’s no way I could summarize this story adequately, so please just read it here. I do have a couple of thoughts: She’s one of the more courageous high school kids I’ve ever heard about, and I’ve known a few. … Continue reading →

Posted in Anthropology, Culture, Education, Science | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

SpaceX Gets $75 Million NASA Grant for Manned Spaceflight

Posted on April 18, 2011 by ErgoOne

Congratulations to the SpaceX team for talking our badly overstretched government into shaking a few dollars loose to develop the next generation of manned spaceflight vehicles! Now, BUILD US A MANNED SPACE FLIGHT VEHICLE YESTERDAY, dammit! Or at least in … Continue reading →

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Is the Google Lunar X-Prize Breaking Rule #1?

Posted on April 3, 2011 by ErgoOne

I’m a space flight fanatic. I grew up watching the Apollo lunar missions on TV. My mother got me up for the Apollo 11 lunar landing in 1969; I still remember hearing the crackling live broadcast of Neil Armstrong’s famous … Continue reading →

Posted in Archaeology, Science, Space | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Removing Unreliable “Expert” Evidence from the Courtroom

Posted on March 22, 2011 by ErgoOne

The UK Law Commission has issued a report calling for greater scrutiny of expert evidence allowed in court, after a series of convictions were overturned (“declared unsafe” in UK legal language) because of shoddy or outright bogus evidence that was … Continue reading →

Posted in Law, Politics, Science | Leave a comment

The Strange Case of “Josef Oehmen”

Posted on March 16, 2011 by ErgoOne

Before you come to any conclusions whatsoever about anything said, or supposedly said by a researcher named Josef Oehmen on the earthquake, tsunami, and current nuclear plant problems in Japan, please read this link. It appears that he is not … Continue reading →

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Final Landing of Discovery

Posted on March 9, 2011 by ErgoOne

The space shuttle Discovery just landed for the last time. While it isn’t the Saturn 5 rocket, it has logged 27 years and almost 150,000 miles in space. That’s more than anything we’ve flown since the 1970s. Here’s a retrospective … Continue reading →

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Neil DeGrasse Tyson Gets a Present ;)

Posted on March 6, 2011 by ErgoOne

I have a bunch of friends’ kids whose birthdays and/or Christmases I attended, but I don’t think I’ve ever seen any kid happier to get a toy than Neil DeGrasse Tyson was to get this: Of course, Tyson is a … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, Space | Tagged , | 1 Comment

Ecological Lunchroom Fail: U.S. Congress Reverts

Posted on March 6, 2011 by ErgoOne

The dining room at the U.S. Capitol building, where both the Senate and House of Representatives meet, has given up after an experiment with ecologically sound, compostable, disposable forks, spoons, knives, plates and cups, and reverted to plastic and styrofoam. … Continue reading →

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U.S. Air Force X-37B Space Plan Flies on Friday^H^H^H^H^H^H *SATURDAY*

Posted on March 4, 2011 by ErgoOne

Or so we hope. The weather at Cape Canaveral didn’t cooperate. <sigh>

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