tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-46376974133735533802024-03-19T00:56:48.781-07:00Conspiracy FactoryAlas, to wear the mantle of Galileo it is not enough that you be persecuted by an unkind establishment, you must also be right. - Robert ParkThe Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.comBlogger334125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-10149699958544130482009-05-29T17:45:00.001-07:002009-05-29T17:53:30.409-07:00Friday beautiful scienceThis is the inside of the National Ignition Facility, a wicked cool new fusion research facility dedicated today. They've got FRICKEN' LAZER BEAMS! 192 of 'em.The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-66664919265247734412009-05-22T17:50:00.001-07:002009-05-22T17:51:03.432-07:00Friday beautiful scienceIn honor of the Hubble servicing mission:The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-3754670704152629112009-04-15T19:07:00.000-07:002009-04-15T19:08:45.547-07:00Oh my...This is Conspiracy Factory business of the highest order. You can tell by the call for bookburning towards the end:The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-28010113744160670992008-12-28T09:13:00.000-08:002008-12-28T09:30:03.933-08:00Miracle on 34th Street - or Merry XmasI've been gone a while, I apologize to anyone who may have missed me. I've had a number of major life changes in the last few months, and I had a hard time deciding how to write about them. So I didn't.But it's the holiday, and I'm finding I have a little extra time in between cooking extravagant meals, and playing with my now near three year-old son. (Wow, he's nearly three already?!?) I The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-37904513027879373662008-08-16T17:21:00.000-07:002008-08-16T17:24:14.482-07:00Reporters "skeptical". Bah.And CNN is supposed to be the "serious" news channel.The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-52103677680089690962008-07-04T13:05:00.000-07:002008-11-13T12:48:00.872-08:00Friday beautiful scienceI was alerted about this image from Bad Astronomy. Check this out: It shows a ribbon of gas, compressed and glowing due to a shock wave that slammed into it. The shock came from Supernova 1006, a star that detonated 7000 light years away from us. This was not a massive star that exploded, but a low-mass white dwarf, the dense core left over when a star like the Sun runs out of fuel. Still, theThe Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-83325435864521695192008-06-27T05:52:00.001-07:002008-11-13T12:48:00.999-08:00Friday beautiful scienceToday's Friday beautiful science comes from The Vector Site. They have a nice primer for young students on how evolution by natural selection works. One of the photos they show is of the leafy sea dragon. They look like kelp, but they're sea dragons. Look again?I've seen these in tanks at an aquarium before, and they are truly stunning to behold. As much as I hate to admit it, Wikipedia has The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-21616987860724049322008-06-23T06:18:00.000-07:002008-06-23T06:20:18.196-07:00George Carlin, 1937-2008George Carlin died of a heart attack yesterday. He was 71.The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-73336575866924473772008-06-20T11:48:00.001-07:002008-11-13T12:48:01.171-08:00Friday beautiful scienceToday's Friday beautiful science shows the construction of a Buckeyball in action. From the News Release: heating bends single-atomic-layer carbon sheets into nano bowls, and then adds more carbon atoms to the edge of the bowls until the formation of giant fullerenes — larger, less stable versions of the C-60 molecule. Continued application of heat reduces these fullerenes — “shrink-wrapping” The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-67331933949053947932008-06-13T06:20:00.000-07:002008-06-13T06:42:07.401-07:00Don't let it happen againThis gave me chills. Carl Sagan contemplates the possibility of the loss of past discoveries. While on the surface of it, it seems unlikely, and most people will say, "That could only happen in Islamic fundamentalist cultures", keep in mind that there are organizations here in the U.S. devoted to rolling back the Enlightenment.Hat tip: PharyngulaThe Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-57913162898262615332008-06-13T06:07:00.000-07:002008-06-13T06:09:50.337-07:00Friday beautiful scienceToday's Friday beautiful science comes a bit late. It's a picture of the Phoenix lander, landing on Mars. Check it out: This amazing image was captured as Phoenix came in for its Mars landing on May 25, 2008. The HiRISE camera on Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter pointed at Phoenix, which is seen here against the background of a 10-kilometer-diameter crater called Heimdall. The dramatic view makes The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-76367684726344866462008-06-12T09:12:00.001-07:002008-06-12T09:12:27.200-07:00Sucked out into space!OnePlusYou Quizzes and WidgetsThe Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-13013892321894943482008-06-05T14:26:00.000-07:002008-06-05T14:27:06.779-07:00Yum!New Wearable Feedbags Let Americans Eat More, Move LessThe Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-36275612530631243002008-05-31T05:04:00.000-07:002008-05-31T05:11:37.842-07:00Life changesWell, it's official. I have become a paid shill of the biotech industry. This week I accepted a job at a biotech company in California, and will be leaving my post-doctoral position at a medical school. For the next few weeks posting will likely be lighter than normal, as I have to move my family across the country and get settled. I'm going to try to keep the Friday beautiful sciences comingThe Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-90088397261432124172008-05-29T11:37:00.001-07:002008-11-13T12:48:01.459-08:00Science: You're doing it wrongHat tip to Orac.The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-6296711602181556702008-05-27T14:23:00.000-07:002008-05-27T14:28:35.583-07:00How big is big?This cool video shows size scales. It's a useful and entertaining description of powers of 10.As it turns out, we're very small...The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-2181946391109967592008-05-22T08:20:00.001-07:002008-05-22T08:21:22.753-07:0087th Skeptics' CircleThe 87th Skeptics' Circle is up at Action Skeptics. Go have a gander.The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-24998278754024116262008-05-16T09:53:00.000-07:002008-05-16T09:57:21.191-07:00American Association for the Advancement of Science on ExpelledFolks may have already seen this statement about the Expelled movie, but here it is to reiterate the position of the American Association for the Advancement of Science:AAAS further decries the profound dishonesty and lack of civility demonstrated by this effort. The movie includes interviews with scientists who report that they were deceived into appearing as part of such a production, and The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-86324347017834618102008-05-16T07:17:00.000-07:002008-11-13T12:48:01.844-08:00Friday beautiful scienceSorry I've been quiet for a while. Various personal issues have kept me fairly occupied (including flying out to California for a job interview at a biotech company).Today's Friday beautiful science is something I've lusted after ever since I first saw it. It's a 3-dimensional map of our best data about the Milky Way galaxy, mapped out in painstaking detail inside of a cube of glass. It's The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-64245092490668639362008-05-13T12:11:00.001-07:002008-05-13T12:11:28.569-07:00Colbert in space.The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-74027866802584897472008-05-06T11:34:00.000-07:002008-05-06T11:35:42.357-07:00I have a job interview.And for what it's worth, I hope they have pizza. ;)The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-16474812751792617022008-05-05T10:25:00.001-07:002008-05-06T19:46:11.462-07:00Where do they come from?As a funny aside post, I've been getting more visits lately. Really, in the last month, I've seen a pretty large increase in what has been otherwise a relative trickle of traffic, compared to some of my science blogging compadres.And where are these people headed? To this post. Yep, in the last month, 2/3 of my traffic is headed to my Leap Year Skeptics' Circle post. I admit, I was a little The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-39291565584693994032008-05-02T07:29:00.001-07:002008-05-02T07:31:43.797-07:00Friday beautiful scienceToday's Friday beautiful science comes from a shot taken of a Saudi Arabian lava field from the International Space Station:Harrat Khaybar, Saudi Arabia is featured in this image photographed by an Expedition 16 crewmember on the International Space Station. The western half of the Arabian peninsula contains not only large expanses of sand and gravel, but extensive lava fields known as haraat (The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-73798649519389570522008-05-01T09:57:00.000-07:002008-05-01T15:35:11.771-07:00Be mindful of a plant's dignity.This from Nature: The Swiss federal government's ethics committee on non-human biotechnology has mapped out guidelines to help granting agencies decide which research applications deeply offend the dignity of plants — and hence become unfundable. Ummm... dignity of plants? Oy. When I eat plants, do I offend their dignity? Although most people might be bewildered that a discussion on how to The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4637697413373553380.post-83086238100337905222008-05-01T06:59:00.001-07:002008-05-01T07:09:04.332-07:00Dishonesty from the producers of Expelled? Say it ain't so!!!Recently, someone tried to impersonate the Office of Research Integrity, a branch of the National Institutes of Health. They sent e-mails to the biology faculty of Vanderbilt University, expecting to be able to con them into seeing the creationist movie Expelled. Can you believe it? From the e-mail: Intelligent design is widely regarded as the idiot-savant stepchild of creationism. Well, I The Facticianhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09982867322659167014noreply@blogger.com2