The annual Perseid Meteor Shower will occur Saturday night and Sunday morning. If you're in the right spot, away from light pollution, you can see up to 100 meteors an hour! The Perseids have been observed for at least 2,000 years and are associated with the comet Swift-Tuttle, which orbits the sun once every 133 years. Each year in August, … Read More
Awesomeist Photo Is Awesomely Awesome
This is Curiosity descending to the surface Mars under its deployed parachute (enlarged at the right). The photo was taken by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter as it circled Mars.
Curiosity Lands
The NASA Mars Rover, Curiosity, successfully landed on Mars this morning, and sent back pictures of its shadow. Nobody knew if it would work. Even NASA billed it as the hardest mission ever done involving robots. Here's what had to be done — it's mindboggling complex: But they did it. So NASA chalks up a successful mission. Curiosity will … Read More
The Transit of Venus
It won't happen again for another 105 years — Venus crossing the Sun in a way viewable from Earth. So if you missed it yesterday, here it is:
The Republican Distrust Of Science
A new study by Gordon Gauchat takes a look at public trust in science and finds that it's unchanged over the past few decades for most groups. The one exception is conservatives, whose trust in science has plummeted: But here's the remarkable thing from the study not seen in the graph above: the more educated a conservative is, the less he trusts … Read More
The Solar Flare Disruption
The huge solar flare that ignited from the Sun earlier this week is hitting Earth now, and may cause disruptions to high frequency radio communication, global positioning systems (GPS) and power grids. Also, the northern lights might be more visible. Cool.
New Horizons
Russian scientists have finally reached Lake Vostok. That might not sound very interesting until you realize that Lake Vostok is a freshwater lake that has been sealed away for millions of years under two miles of thick Antarctic ice. Clean samples of the water from Lake Vostok, named after the scientific research station located on the ice sheet above it, will … Read More
Mars Is Throwing Rocks At Us
They found a rock from Mars in Africa. It's not the first time it has happened, but it's pretty rare. How did it happen? A meteor hit Mars millions of years ago, kicking up debris. Some of it — well, a few rocks of it — made it's way to Earth. Pretty cool. Full story.
Russian Satellite To Kill Us All
There's a lot of space debris in space, orbitting the Earth. When those orbits decay, as they do over time, the debris burns up upon re-entering the Earth's atmosphere. No biggie. Unless the debris is really big to begin with — like an out-of-use satellite. Some of the debris survives re-entry and crashes to Earth. We've seen a few of … Read More
Set Your Clocks
If you have trouble sleeping, or if you are into this sort of thing, try to step outside at 3 am. (You can of course go out earlier and later, but 3 am is peak time): Meteor watchers in North America can expect to see 60 to 200 meteors an hour streak across the sky early Wednesday. NASA says the … Read More
Android’s Response To Siri
Google's voice command has been around for a couple of years, but when the newest iPhone came out, it included Siri, a voice command app that responded to natural language requests. Most people agree that Siri was the coolest thing about the iPhone, and Siri has been highlighted in iPhone commercials. Google, of course, wasn't going to take that lying … Read More
What Is This Internet Thing?
From January 1994. Watch as Today show hosts Bryant Gumbel and Katie Couric become confused over this new "Internet" thing and the @ symbol. Incredible how quickly something can become widely known, accepted, and even necessary.
