August 7, 2015 - Another great project from the Maker community, the Open Space Agency is looking for beta testers for a new 3D printed telescope. They are claiming that it is more powerful than any consumer telescope in the same price range, and from what they have released so far it looks to be true. Once refined they will put it up for sale, and hopefully it will live up to the hype.
July 23, 2015 - It seems that the Kepler mission has found yet another interesting planet, as the newly named Kepler-452b would appear to be the most Earth-like planet yet found. Does it support life? Who knows. But the fact that it would be a perfect home for alien life makes it just that much more interesting!
July 21, 2015 - There is a new competition for programmers with an interest in particle physics, with a $7000 prize. All entrants need to do is develop a program that can learn to interpret a set of data from the LHCb experiment, and learn how to differentiate one particular signal from all of the background noise. The signal that is being sought is of the rare "charged lepton flavour violation", in which an electron, muon, or tauon converts to another flavour. It should be an interesting competition.
July 14, 2015 - It has just been announced that the New Horizon probe has successfully completed its flyby of Pluto, and on the fiftieth anniversary of the first flyby of Mars by Mariner back in 1965. Congratulations guys!
July 14, 2015 - What an amazing day this is turning out to be! On the same day that the New Horizon probe does its flyby of the furthest of the classical planets, Pluto, the LHCb team are claiming evidence of a new state of quark matter known as a pentaquark! Experiments on two vastly different size scales are both producing interesting results on the same day.
July 12, 2015 - And more news from the New Horizon mission as it makes it final approach, as it has transmitted some great photos of the surface of Pluto displaying interesting geographical formations. The photos and information can be viewed here.
July 10, 2015 - On a more personal note, this summer marks the 20th anniversary of my high school graduation. If any of my former Esquimalt Secondary School classmates are interested in having a reunion, I am happy to organize something. Just let me know before July 20,2015 if there is sufficient interest so that I have time to make arrangements and let everyone know. I can be contacted through Facebook, Email, or my Contact Page.
July 9, 2015 - A fun piece of news from the New Horizon mission, as they have now converted their images of the surface of Pluto into a GoogleEarth format and are distributing it to anyone who is interested. The website is located here.
July 8, 2015 - I have been asked to help promote the new volunteercomputer.org website, so here is the link. It is a great way for amateur scientists to get involved in professional research.
July 7, 2015 - A few people have been asking me about an article that is spreading through the internet in which it is claimed that the Rosetta mission has found life on Comet 67P. I will just say that the person claiming this has a checkered history of alien life claims, and direct the interested reader to this excellent article on what was actually found.
July 2, 2015 - Over the past few years there have been many opportunities for average citizens to participate in scientific research, whether by classifying galaxies or hunting for supernovae, or watching the oceans and the grasslands for wildlife. However until recently there have been few opportunities to work with the particle physics community. However a new project has just started through the zooniverse website, in which users can help the MoEDaL (Monopole and Exotics Detector at LHC) team to hunt for rare particles that have been discussed by theorists for decades but which have never been observed in the lab. So why not join in, and perhaps make history as the person who discovered an exotic new particle species!
July 1, 2015 - HAPPY CANADA DAY!!
June 21, 2015 - HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!
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