Category: Science
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The Coming Atlantic Mega-Tsunami
This one from Slashdot: It’s not news at all that scientists predict an eventual “mega-tsunami” that will sweep across the Atlantic that will still be anything from 60 to 150 ft high when it hits the U.S. Eastern seaboard. This Old News, however, suddenly seems fresh. Like an asteroid hit, it could be millenia away,…
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2004 MN4, Even Higher Probability
Unlucky for some maybe, put Friday April the 13th 2029 in your diary. The chance of this asteroid hitting earth is now 1 in 45. It is pretty small though – it would leave a crater about 4 miles wide, and would probably hit water, perhaps leading to a few million deaths. On the other…
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Giant Mars rover will search for life
Some great science to look forward to on Mars in 2009, if the massive thing successfully lands! NASA is planning a rover with three times the mass (600 kilograms) and twice the number of instruments (10) as those currently on Mars, the long-lived Spirit and Opportunity. These use remote sensing and instruments that can scratch…
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Climate change hits bottom line
It seems that even insurers are getting worried about global warming, I’ll quote the whole thing: The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) has announced that 2004 is expected to be the fourth warmest year worldwide since records began. And the insurance industry says this year will face unprecedented claims for damage from weather-related disasters. Both sets…
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NASA throws Deep Impact spacecraft at comet
I’m looking forward to the results from this mission. It should be quite a unique event.
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Fusion: Stepping closer to reality
Fusion is getting closer and closer, and will be achieved perhaps within my natural lifetime. “There have been dramatic advancements in our scientific understanding” over the past five to 10 years, Goldston notes. The basic conclusion: The “fire” in the type of reactor planned for ITER may not be as finicky to control as many…
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The Scientific Consensus on Climate Change: Naomi Oreskes
Naomi Oreskes, in Science Magazine, writes that global warming may now be a consensus theory among scientists. She notes: That hypothesis was tested by analyzing 928 abstracts, published in refereed scientific journals between 1993 and 2003, and listed in the ISI database with the keywords “climate change” (9). The 928 papers were divided into six…
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Reville's nonsense
My uncle, below, summed up my thoughts on Reville’s article pretty well. He is forever trying to reconcile religious belief with scientific advancement and understanding. It is an impossible task. I especially liked this : The main alternative to religion is secular humanism. This philosophy holds that nothing greater than mankind exists and we must…
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Relative responds to Reville
Uncle Anthony at it again, this time in response to William Reville article posted below. Madam, – In his attempt to reconcile science and religion Prof William Reville reduces Christianity to the all-encompassing formula, “Love God, love your neighbour, forgive your enemy and take responsibility for your actions” (Science Today, November 25th). With the omission…
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Responses to Reville
I think that many of the responses to Reville are good – I will publish them all. First: Madam, – My former colleague, the estimable William Reville, makes another of his occasional trips from the laboratory to the pulpit (Science Today, November 25th). In attacking Richard Dawkins’s crusading atheism, Prof Reville claims that religion by…