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Archive for the 'Science' Category

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Get into the Arizona Science Center for free this weekend

October 20th, 2009, 3:05 pm by Jayson Peters

Just as back in April, Fry’s Food Stores is sponsoring free general admission this weekend (Oct. 24-26) at the Arizona Science Center.

azscicenterSpecial discounted pricing will be offered on four of the Center’s ticketed experiences, including shows in the Dorrance Planetarium, movies in the IMAX Theater, a ride across the Evans Family SkyCycle and entrance into ROBOTS: The Interactive Exhibition.

The science center is also hosting a variety of hands-on demonstrations and activities throughout the weekend that include “Stomach This! A Digestion Demonstration,” “Elephants Toothpaste,” “Super Taster,” “Combustion,” “Static Electricity,” “Seeing Inside the Eye” and more.

In addition to free admission, guests will be able to try free samples of Fry’s products 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.

But be on your best behavior — or not — because recruiters from the TV reality show Supernanny will be on site each day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Posted in: Events • Free stuff • Science • • | Post a Comment »

The real reason behind the Large Hadron Collider’s woes?

October 14th, 2009, 5:55 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams

lhc

Is the future itself protecting mankind from its own hubris? I’m no physicist, so I have no idea if this is true or even possible, but I REALLY want it to be. The New York Times published an essay discussing a radical theory about why the Large Hadron Collider, with which scientists hope to discover new elementary particles, has had such a troubled road.

Physicists Holger Bech Nielsen and Masao Ninomiya have suggested that the existence of the particles the machine is designed to create are so abhorrent to the universe that it is reaching back in time to prevent the machine from ever coming online.

As crazy as it sounds, it’s not that much wilder than some other ideas hypothesized by advanced physics. Actually, it’s kind of comforting to think that the universe is looking out for itself. As long as the delays and mishaps the collider has gone through so far don’t escalate into cyborg killing machines sent back to alter mankind’s destiny.

Posted in: Science • | 1 Comment »

Nobel Prize in physics comes down to Earth

October 6th, 2009, 9:48 pm by Jayson Peters

20060528105901fibreopticNeutrinos … quarks … giant magnetoresistance. The Nobel Prize in physics is often awarded — rightfully so — for work that few of us can actually understand.

But this year is different. This year, three Americans are sharing the prize for their roles in creating things that most of us use every day without giving them a second thought: high-speed Internet and digital photography. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Awards • Science • Technology • | Post a Comment »

Thank God! American audiences safe from Darwin movie

September 17th, 2009, 10:37 am by Jayson Peters

darwinfish.jpgA British film about the life of Charles Darwin and the naturalist’s “struggle between faith and reason” will be shown in theaters across the world — but not here in the U.S.

Why? Because distributors here don’t think fundamentalist Christians would approve. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Huh? • Movies • Nerd rage • Science • • • • | 1 Comment »

Does ‘Super Mario Bros.’ compute?

August 17th, 2009, 11:31 am by Jayson Peters

super_mario_bros_boxResearchers in Denmark and London are trying to test the limits of artificial intelligence by seeing if a computer can beat the original Super Mario Bros. video game.

It won’t be quite the same as the Nintendo classic. They’re having to mixing it up with a random level generator because the original levels were deemed too easy for the AI. (Now that’s some content I’d like to see on the Wii’s Virtual Console!)

The real test will be whether the computer turns homicidal and destroys humanity when it beats Bowser, only to be told “Thank you Mario! But our princess is in another castle!”

Via Discovery News

Posted in: Gaming • Nintendo • Science • Technology • • | Post a Comment »

Fire good

August 13th, 2009, 1:01 pm by Jayson Peters

A report in Friday’s edition of the journal Science, co-authored by an ASU researcher, reveals that early humans somehow learned the secret of making stone tools sturdier by treating them in fire — 45,000 years before such technology was previously thought to exist.

Image: PhotoSpin

Image: PhotoSpin

Curtis Marean, a paleoanthropologist at the Institute of Human Origins at Arizona State University, described the importance of the discovery in a statement to the media, reported by The Associated Press: “Heat treatment technology begins with a genius moment — someone discovers that heating stone makes it easier to flake.”

The research, funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation, the Hyde Family Trust and ASU, was conducted at an archaeological site in South Africa’s Pinnacle Point, overlooking the Indian Ocean.

Posted in: Science • Technology • | Post a Comment »

Jurassic snark

August 5th, 2009, 9:57 pm by Jayson Peters

Apparently, snarky pseudoscience doesn’t pay the bills. That’s what the owners of a young-Earth creationist theme park in Pensacola, Fla., have found out.

Wikipedia Commons

Wikipedia Commons

Put another way: It doesn’t pay to preach deception.

Dinosaur Adventures Land — pictured at left and depicting humans and dinosaurs in pardoxical and scientifically impossible coexistence — is in the process of being seized by the federal government to pay nearly half a million dollars in payroll taxes.

The venture’s founder is serving 10 years in prison after nearly two decades of sparring with the IRS and claiming he and his ministers were employed by God and therefore not subject to payroll taxes. Didn’t render unto Caesar that which is Caesar’s.

Via io9

Posted in: Business • Science • Weird • | Post a Comment »

Moon madness Saturday in Tucson

July 16th, 2009, 11:06 pm by Jayson Peters
NASA

NASA

If you want to celebrate the 40th anniversary of mankind’s giant leap to the moon, you don’t have to travel the more than 230,000 miles the Apollo 11 astronauts did in 1969. You could just drive to Tucson.

That’s where the University of Arizona’s Lunar Planetary Laboratory will be hosting a public celebration packed with lectures, science activities for kids and interaction with UA scientists who worked on many Apollo missions for NASA.

Hit the jump for details — and be sure to check EastValleyTribune.com this weekend for exclusive content marking man’s first journey to the moon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Events • Free stuff • Science • Technology • • • • • | Post a Comment »

‘Mythbusters’ to prove Capt. Kirk kicks butt

July 12th, 2009, 8:51 pm by Chris "KeL" Adams

gorncannon-sizedThe always excellent Discovery Channel show, Mythbusters, is going to test the accuracy of one of the greatest episodes of Star Trek ever: “Arena”. This is the episode in which Captain Kirk is kidnapped by aliens and forced to face off against an implacable foe, the Gorn. He eventually defeats the creature by channeling his inner MacGyver and creating a makeshift cannon out of items in the local environment to blast the villainous lizard-creature. Mythbusters cast member Grant Imahara confirmed via his Twitter feed that crew will determine the plausibility of creating just such a cannon.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in: Sci-Fi & Fantasy • Science • Star Trek • Television • • • | Post a Comment »

Wormsign

July 11th, 2009, 8:20 pm by Jayson Peters
Ace Books

Ace Books

A giant worm that spits and smells like lilies.

Back up — I’m still on giant worm.

A group of researchers from the University of Idaho are using shovels, strainers, chemicals and even electricity to coax the elusive giant Palouse earthworm out of hiding in the rolling farmland of the American Northwest. One specimen found in 2005 and preserved under glass is 6 inches long, but sightings from the late 19th century describe worms up to 3 feet in length.

The Associated Press reports that conservationists want the Obama administration to put the little-studied species on the endangered list.

All I know is, these electricity-wielding monster hunters should take care not to make the worms angry. After all, the spice must flow.

See also:

Posted in: Science • • | Post a Comment »

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