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August 24, 2015
Celebrate the Spitzer Space Telescope’s 12th Anniversary With These Stunning Images
Photo credit:
Twelve photos from 12 years of the telescopes mission. NASA
Originally launched in 2003, the Spitzer Space Telescope was only expected to work for around five years, but NASA has just celebrated the clever bit of kit’s 12th anniversary with a new digital calendar.
Why Is The Sun’s Outer Layer 200 Times Hotter Than Its Surface?
Photo credit:
A solar prominence erupting into space. NASA/SDO/Steele Hill.
The "coronal heating problem" stumped scientists for more than 70 years. Instinctively, the corona, the outermost layer of the Sun, should be the coolest since it is farthest away from the intense nuclear reactions producing heat in the core. However, this couldn't be farther from the truth. Instead of being the coolest layer, the corona is around 200 times hotter than the layer beneath it, the photosphere.
Informed Consent For Stem Cell Research: Why It Matters And What You Should Know
Photo credit:
Shutterstock
Ongoing developments in stem cell science mean that researchers often have no idea how, one year down the line, they will use specimens of human biological material.
But when a scientist takes a swab of your saliva, a sample of your blood or a piece of your skin to research a particular disease, how do you know that it’s going to be used for the intended purpose? And when it is used for research in a different condition, can you take any action? This is where informed consent comes in.
Five Reasons To Put The Kettle On And Have A Cup Of Tea
Photo credit:
Around the world, tea is the most common drink after water. jurek d./Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND
Growing up, tea drinking was reserved for my grandmother’s visits. Making it followed a strict and fascinating ritual. Take scalding hot water. Warm the tea pot. Add one spoon of tea leaves for each person and one for the pot. Cover with a tea cosy. Turn the pot three times to the left, three to the right, then three to the left. Leave to brew. Warm the cups; milk in first, pour through a tea strainer.
Water, Water, Everywhere – Where To Drink In The Solar System
Photo credit:
A frozen lake of water-ice on the floor of a 35 km wide impact crater on Mars. Copyright ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum)
Science fiction movies about aliens threatening the Earth routinely ascribe them the motive of coming here to steal our resources, most often our water. This is ill thought-out, as water is actually extremely common.
Southern Stars: The Decade Ahead For Australian Astronomy
Photo credit:
Australian astronomers have their eyes on the skies. Star cluster near Arches Cluster. NASA/Hubble telescope
Astronomy is entering an exciting new era of exploration.
Extremely large optical telescopes, including the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT), which is due to be built in Chile in 2021, will allow studies of stars and galaxies at the dawn of the universe, and will peer at planets similar to ours around distant stars.
What Is Bitcoin? It Is Not That Complicated If You Ignore The Geek Speak
Photo credit:
It is just money. Xuan Che/flickr, CC BY-SA
Bitcoin has been declared the “end of money as we know it” and as a currency for our times; decentralised, and created specifically for seamless exchange on the Internet. That is, it would be, if everyone knew exactly what it was and was actually prepared to use it.
August 23, 2015
Atheist Experience #932:
The Atheist Experience #932 for Aug 23, 2015, with Russell Glasser and Martin Wagner.
We welcome your comments on the open blog thread for this show.
► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/
YouTube comments are at present disabled in our channel, to the displeasure of some. However, each video has a prominent link to the associated open thread that appears on our blog. In the past we’ve tried opening up the channel to comments, but we found that a very high number of episodes wound up being flooded with a combination of spam, long winded apologists, and various obscene or misogynistic comments directed at various hosts by people with an axe to grind. This seems to be the nature of YouTube comment sections, in our experience.
We do moderate the blog, the same way that we moderate chat during the show, as well as comments on our Facebook group. For comment sections that are “officially” associated with our show (and, to a much lesser extent, channels that may give the unintended appearance of being official), we prefer not to play host to straight up ad hominem attacks and bigotry. As a general policy we do not block commenters simply on the basis of disagreement with our point of view. However, we do prefer discussion environments that don’t actively chase off more reasonable contributors.
——-
The most up to date Atheist Experience videos can be found by visiting http://atheist-experience.com/archive/
You can read more about this show on the Atheist Experience blog:
► http://freethoughtblogs.com/axp/
WHAT IS THE ATHEIST EXPERIENCE?
The Atheist Experience is a weekly cable access television show in Austin, Texas geared at a non-atheist audience. The Atheist Experience is produced by the Atheist Community of Austin.
The Atheist Community of Austin is organized as a nonprofit educational corporation to develop and support the atheist community, to provide opportunities for socializing and friendship, to promote secular viewpoints, to encourage positive atheist culture, to defend the first amendment principle of state-church separation, to oppose discrimination against atheists and to work with other organizations in pursuit of common goals.
We define atheism as the lack of belief in gods. This definition also encompasses what most people call agnosticism.
VISIT THE ACA’S OFFICIAL WEB SITES
► http://www.atheist-community.org (The Atheist Community of Austin)
► http://www.atheist-experience.com (The Atheist Experience TV Show)
More shows and video clips can be found in the archive:
► http://www.atheist-experience.com/archive
DVDs of the Atheist Experience can be purchased via:
► http://www.atheist-community.org/products
MUSIC CREDITS
Theme song: “Listen to Reason,” written and performed by Bryan Steeksma.
► http://www.youtube.com/bryansteeksma
► http://www.myspace.com/bryansteeksma
NOTES
TheAtheistExperience is the official channel of The Atheist Experience. “The Atheist Experience” is a trademark of the ACA.
Copyright © 2015 Atheist Community of Austin. All rights reserved.
August 22, 2015
Gray Wolf Pack Spotted In California For The First Time In 90 Years
Photo credit:
California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
After the heartbreaking tale of the famous lone Grand Canyon wolf, the first one in the area for 70 years, that was shot dead around Christmas last year, it’s time we had some good news. A pack of wolves has managed to establish itself in California. Whoop!
How Do Snakes Climb Trees?
Photo credit:
YouTube screen capture/Cosmopolitans.
As children, we saw the mean Kaa slithering about in trees in Jungle Book - but did you ever wonder how a huge and heavy animal devoid of limbs could could climb up a tree trunk in the first place? The following video posted on YouTube by Cosmopolitans clears the mystery up.
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