Topics: Biology, Planetary Science, Research, Tardigrades They can survive temperatures close to absolute zero. They can withstand heat beyond the boiling point of water. They can shrug off the vacuum of space and doses of radiation that would be lethal to humans. Now, researchers have subjected tardigrades, microscopic creatures affectionately known as water bears, toContinue reading “Every Tank Has Its Limits…”
Author Archives: reginaldgoodwin
It’s Funny, Until It Isn’t…
Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Democracy, Existentialism, Fascism, Human Rights The Great Dictator—Charlie Chaplin’s masterful satire of Adolf Hitler—began filming in September 1939, right at the start of World War II. By the time it was released in 1940, the Axis had been formed, and Nazis were already occupying much of France. The threat was notContinue reading “It’s Funny, Until It Isn’t…”
FASER, Neutrinos, and Dark Matter…
Topics: CERN, Dark Matter, High Energy Physics, Neutrinos, Particle Physics Neutrinos are ubiquitous and notorious. Billions are passing through you at this moment. Occasionally described as a “ghost of a particle,” neutrinos are nearly massless, thereby making them extremely difficult to detect experimentally (“Neutrino,” meaning “little neutral one” in Italian, was first used by Enrico FermiContinue reading “FASER, Neutrinos, and Dark Matter…”
Sun Quake…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, ESA, Heliophysics, NASA For new Sun-watching spacecraft, the first solar eruption is always special. On February 12, 2021, a little more than a year from its launch, the European Space Agency and NASA’s Solar Orbiter caught sight of this coronal mass ejection, or CME. This view is from the mission’s SoloHI instrument —Continue reading “Sun Quake…”
Adversary, Friendly, or Neutral…
Topics: Aerodynamics, Applied Physics, Biology, Exoplanets, General Relativity, SETI May 17, 2019- No, little green men aren’t likely after the conquest of humanity. Boyd’s piece for Phys.org highlights the reason why the Pentagon wants to identify UFOs: they’re unidentified. If a warfighter on the ground or in the sky can’t ID an object, that creates aContinue reading “Adversary, Friendly, or Neutral…”
Ransomware, and Biofuels…
Topics: Biology, Biofuels, Climate Change, Dark Side, Economics, Environment The carbon footprint of corn ethanol shrunk by 23% between 2005 and 2019 as farmers and ethanol producers adopted new technologies and improved efficiency, according to a new analysis published in the academic journal Biofuels Bioproducts and Biorefining by scientists at the Department of Energy’s Argonne National Laboratory.Continue reading “Ransomware, and Biofuels…”
The Monster They Made…
Topics: Civics, Civil Rights, Existentialism, Fascism, Human Rights It’s the kind of floor speech that sets up a presidential run in 2024 when no one in her party has any illusions: the blogger in Florida will be in too much legal, and financial trouble to actually run for his old “executive time” job, plus, he’llContinue reading “The Monster They Made…”
Volume of Chaos…
Topics: Astronomy, Astrophysics, Cosmology Physicists have spent centuries grappling with an inconvenient truth about nature: Faced with three stars on a collision course, astronomers could measure their locations and velocities in nanometers and milliseconds and it wouldn’t be enough to predict the stars’ fates. But the cosmos frequently brings together trios of stars and black holes.Continue reading “Volume of Chaos…”
Biological Fukushima…
Topics: Biology, COVID-19, Existentialism, Pandemic Note: Many stories are coming out of Seychelles. It is the most vaccinated nation on earth that is seeing rising cases of the Coronavirus due to tourism by Indian elites. We’re not going to solve this piecemeal, nor treating each other in our backward, moribund tribal “traditions.” This fight isContinue reading “Biological Fukushima…”
Panspermia…
Topics: Astrobiology, Biology, Cosmology, SETI Life, for all its complexities, has a simple commonality: It spreads. Plants, animals, and bacteria have colonized almost every nook and cranny of our world. But why stop there? Some scientists speculate that biological matter may have proliferated across the cosmos itself, transported from planet to planet on wayward lumpsContinue reading “Panspermia…”
Physics and Nano 