Browsing Archive: December, 2014

Year in Review

Posted by on Wednesday, December 31, 2014,

The year 2014 is coming to a close, and what an amazing year it has been for the scientific community.

January started off with a bang - literally - as a supernova was spotted in the night sky that was visible with the naked eye. It is rare to have one in our local part of the galaxy, and this was spectacular even without a telescope. The year continued to be a fun one for amateur astronomers, with April seeing a lunar eclipse, an evening of meteor showers, and Mars in opposition. Through the ...
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Merry Christmas!

Posted by on Thursday, December 25, 2014,

Merry Christmas to all of my friends and family, and to all of the many friends I have made online through my various ventures. You are all very special people, and I am honoured to know all of you.

Merry Christmas, and have a Happy New Year!
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Organic Mars

Posted by on Friday, December 19, 2014, In : Astronomy

The team running the NASA Curiosity probe has made an amazing announcement this week, with the confirmation that the little rover has discovered organic compounds on the planet Mars. (Scientists thought they had found similar compounds two years ago, but at the time there was uncertainty whether the tests were correct)

And while this is still a long way from claiming there is life on Mars, it is worth noting that these compounds on Earth were required to form primordial life. Most likely they ...
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The Geminids

Posted by on Sunday, December 14, 2014, In : Astronomy

For those of you in areas with clear skies tonight, there is another celestial show happening. Sometime overnight the Geminid Meteor shower will reach its peak.

The Geminid were first observed in 1862, and are believed to have originated with debris cast off by the Palladian asteroid known as 3200 Phaethon, making them one of only two major showers not caused by comets. If conditions are right, viewers can expect up to 150 meteors per hour. And because it is in the winter sky, it should be eas...
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New Horizons

Posted by on Saturday, December 6, 2014, In : Astronomy

It is another exciting day for the space sciences community. After almost nine years in transit, today the New Horizon probe will be sent the wake-up signal and will prepare for its mission to Pluto. Let us hope that it goes better than the last long distance space probe...

The New Horizon probe was launched in January 2006. Once it started on its journey to the outer solar system, its electronics systems were shut down to avoid wear and power usage and to avoid the need to monitor it constant...
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Quantum Immortality

Posted by on Friday, December 5, 2014, In : Philosophy

A friend of mine asked me a few days about something that he had heard in a quantum physics lecture, feeling that he had surely misunderstood the lecturer's comments. And being quantum mechanics, which is bizarre at the best of times, that is always a possibility. However the comment in question is in fact an interesting aspect of quantum physics which is still hotly debated by the experts.

According to quantum mechanics, you are immortal and will never die.

Now that the quantum physicists have...
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Dr. Christopher Bird