Science Schmoozing

Dear science fans, Storm Ciarán bashed England and left many thousands without power across Western Europe last week.  The Panama Canal is restricting shipping since a drought left the region without enough fresh water to operate the locks for normal ship traffic. Some container ships had to off-load enough containers to meet weight restrictions. The containers … Read more

Dear science fan, The above Quantum Squeeze Apparatus made me laugh. It looks like a far more complex version of one of my goofy grammar school inventions that i assembled from bottles, cans, defunct car parts, light bulbs, wires, and batteries. My inventions didn’t ever do anything – but i always hoped they would lead to some … Read more

Dear SciSchmoozers, A 6.1 earthquake topped off my birthday this month in Oaxaca, Mexico (and abruptly terminated a huge outdoor rock concert). Since the quake was located 108 kilometers below the terrain, there was almost no damage – except to nerves. The Loma Prieta Earthquake of 1989 was a 6.9 magnitude event. The San Francisco … Read more

Dear reader,I’ve assembled some ideas and information you might enjoy. SPACE On Tuesday, go outside at 1938 hrs (that’s nerd-notation for 7:38 PM) to watch the ISS make a 6-minute pass over the Bay Area. (NW horizon to directly overhead (86°) to SE horizon) Astronaut Frank Rubio and cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin returned … Read more

Dear Reader,Below are a few items of interest: discoveries, ideas, and issues. Pick and choose as you wish and click on links for deeper stories. CLIMATE Many thousands of Emperor Penguin chicks died because some ice shelves where they hatch broke up before chicks fledged out to their waterproof plumage. Those ice shelves normally break up … Read more

Unused shared bikes in Xiamen, China  Credit: Reuters from The Atlantic Bike sharing rentals seemed like a great idea and many millions of these bicycles were manufactured in China, clogging sidewalks and streets. Excess bikes numbering in the millions were rounded up and scrapped. This created tons of non-recyclable waste. This was a tiny trickle of … Read more

Hello again dear SciSchmooze reader, In the U.S. 69% of adults believe that angels are real, and 41% believe that extraterrestrial UFOs are regularly seen. Most children in this country are taught to believe in angels as part of their religious upbringing. I was. So that 69% figure seems explainable.  It may be more remarkable that nearly … Read more

Hello again, you who like me enjoys learning, enjoys fireworks, and enjoys sharing the 4th of July with friends and family.  SPACE In 2003, Burt Rutan announced that Scaled Composites was building a sub-orbital spacecraft, SpaceShipOne. Pilots twice flew the craft to an altitude over 100 kilometers (the Karmen Line) in 2004 (i was there!) … Read more

Dear science aficionado, Join us in another romp through recent (and not so recent) science revelations. But first, “Infinity.” Somehow i missed the Netflix movie, “A Trip to Infinity,” when it came out last year. Carve out 80 minutes this week to watch it. You won’t be sorry. The movie reminded me of a book … Read more

Greetings, dear reader. I trust you will find some delectable items in this week’s science smorgasbord. SPACE Learned geophysicists years ago concluded that Mars has a hot liquid inner core, unlike Earth with its hot solid inner core. They calculated that Mars’ gravitational pressure is insufficient to make molten iron solid, as is the case with our home planet. … Read more