Dr. Christopher Bird

More Evidence of Martian Life?

March 12, 2013

The team working with the NASA Curiosity rover has released an interesting new result today. The robotic rover has drilled into rocks on the surface of Mars, and its Sample Analysis at Mars and Chemistry and Mineralogy instruments have determined that at some point in history the surface could have supported microbial life.

In the ground up sample, the scientists identified sulfur, nitrogen, hydrogen, oxygen, phosphorus and carbon - all of which are considered chemical ingredients for life. The sample was taken in the Gale Crate, in the Yellowknife Bay area, which appears to be a former river bed or possibly an ancient lake. Furthermore, the experiments found both clay and calcium sulfate, which tends to indicate that the water was not overly acidic or overly alkaline, and that it wasn't overly salty, all of which would be necessary for life.

However it is important to mention that none of this proves the existence of life, but it has proven that at some point in the past the surface of Mars had the correct conditions to support the development of primordial life forms. Much more research will be needed before we can truly claim extraterrestrial life.

The official release is located here.

Raspberry Pi

March 4, 2013

A couple of days ago I posted a comment about the one year anniversary of the official launch of the Raspberry Pi project, and the replies from some associates made me realize that not everyone is aware of this fascinating device. And so, for those who are curious but too lazy to check Wikipedia, here is a brief summary.

The Raspberry Pi is a basic computer system that fits on a single circuit board about the size of a credit card. It was developed in Britain as a means of promoting the teachi...

Name That Moon!

February 12, 2013

As some of you may already be aware, astronomers working with the Hubble Space Telescope over the past two years have discovered two new moons of the planet Pluto. (Yes, I said planet!) So far, the best they can do for names for these two is P4 and P5, which are not really catchy names for astronomical objects residing in our own solar system.

And so they have now opened it up to the general public to suggest names and vote on them. For reference, the existing moons are Charon (the largest moo...
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Two Tech Deaths

January 14, 2013

This post will be slightly different than most on this blog. Normally we focus only on science and technology advances and interesting research or theories. However these two gentlemen who died this week had such an impact on the world of technology that they deserve mention.

The first is internet activist and pioneer, Aaron Swartz. As a child he learned computer programming and software development from his father, who operated a software company. By age 14 he was part of the working group th...
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Subatomic Spacetime

January 14, 2013

One of the leading fields of research in theoretical physics at present is the search for a quantum theory gravity. I have written before in this blog about this unsolved problem, but here is a brief recap: Of the four fundamental forces of nature, all but gravity are explained by quantum theories. We know that gravity must also be compatible with quantum theory at high energies and small scales, but every attempt to combine the two most successful theories in science have met with either tec...
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2012 - A Year in Review

December 31, 2012

Here we are at the start of a new year and the end of an old one, and what an amazing year it has been for the scientific community.

I suppose that, as I am a particle physicist by training, the top story of the year must be the discovery of the decade, the Higgs Boson which was finally found last July. I have already written a dozen reviews and summaries of this event and the theory behind it, so I won't write too much now, but I will say that this finishes off the Standard Model as predic...

Merry Christmas!!

December 24, 2012

To all of my friends, colleagues, fellow scientists both amateur and professional, and my readers in general, may you all have a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year!
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Ice on Mercury

November 30, 2012

As some of you are already aware, there have been rumors for the past month that NASA was preparing to announce something big. Much of the rumor focused on the Curiosity probe on Mars, with speculation that it had discovered organic molecules or some form of life on the red planet. Meanwhile NASA kept the information to themselves, as they wanted to confirm it before releasing any results.

Today the results were released, and it wasn't what anyone was expecting. It wasn't the Curiosity probe, ...
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Coma Communications

November 13, 2012

There is an interesting new research study in the field of neuroscience that I thought deserved a comment. (I must admit as well that I haven't read all the details yet, so I could be incorrect or inaccurate - anyone who is seriously interested in this subject should read the original work instead of relying on my summary)

Scientists have finally been able to communicate indirectly with patients who are in a vegetative state. The method involves placing patients inside of an fMRI machine, whi...
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Posted In : Medical

Searching for the Cure

October 25, 2012

For those who would like to help with the search for a cure for cancer, but lack the PhD and million-dollar laboratory, there is a new project online called ClicktoCure. After a brief tutorial online, users look at microscope images of tumor samples and identify different types of cells. Then the scientists running the project can compile the data to analyze trends and hopefully find improved methods of treating cancers.
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