Frequent readers of my blogs may recall back in February I wrote about a contest to name the two newly discovered moons of the planet Pluto (I don't care what the IAU says, Pluto deserves to be a planet). The results are in, but not without a measure of controversy.

The two moons have been named Kerberos and Styx. As the planet furthest from the Sun, Pluto was named for the Roman god of the underworld. The first three moons that were discovered were named Charon (the boatman who ferried the sp...
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By now most of the sort of people who read my blogs are aware of the rise of 3D printing. These are the new machines that use molten plastic (or other substances) to print objects layer-by-layer. They are already being used to produce everything from cable clips, to replacement parts, to toys, to sculptures, and as the prices are now dropping below the $1000 range they can be expected to be a common household item over the coming decade. 

However researchers at Princeton University have found...

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For those who are interested in serious science news, you may want to skip today's article. It is a fascinating paradox in science, but it is more than a bit philosophical as well. This is actually a well known paradox that has been discussed and debated for a long time, but it is still worth pondering.

The experimental method in science is very straightforward. A scientist develops a hypothesis, and then goes out into the world collecting data. That data might come from observing plants or an...
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This week the space sciences community has also announced new results from the Voyager 1 space probe, first launched more than 35 years ago and still a valuable scientific tool. The NASA probe has entered a new region on the edge of the solar system, right as it prepares to move through interstellar space.

It has been now revealed that Voyager sensors have detected a sudden drop in particles flowing from our own sun (in fact it is a drop of about 99.9%), and a 10% increase in galactic cosmic ...

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