Category: Science

Creationism & Climate Denialism – The Future Tearing Points in the GOP

In this video P. Z. Meyers, Genie Scott, and Larry Moran discuss the ideologies driving the GOP’s anti science and anti-reason voter blocs as well as the tactics of the Tea Parties. At the local levels I’ve pointed out how the far right extreme blocs are minorities – but how they are also highly effective at local levels while remaining toxic at the national level. You will continue to see the effects of this over the next decade in state and local legislatures and school boards.

The local Tea Party blocs are taking over local school boards because nobody else wants to do it, and the religious zealots among them are trying to drive creationism and climate denialism into public schools, attacking the public schools through privatization efforts, voucher programs, and charter or magnet school initiatives that drive children into schools run by religious institutions. They are doing this all at state level or below, because they know that none of these efforts will fly if put to national vote or the full congress.

I’m with P.Z on the charter school question — the religious right has latched onto this concept in a big way over the past decade.

Watch the part where Genie draws the Venn diagrams, this patch work ideological spectrum allows the Republican party to stitch the libertarian right to the religious right and is a very important bloc for them — if the Democrats want to succeed in Red States that is exactly the place they must tear at.

Red states are going to suffer more over the long run from Climate Change, so this is an issue where the Democrats can make major inroads if they work locally in the red states even though it seems impossible at this point. Anti-Science is also bad business which where they can make headway as well.

Arctic Ice Breaks Up in Beaufort Sea Back in March

A series of intense storms in the Arctic has caused fracturing of the sea ice around the Beaufort Sea along the northern coasts of Alaska and Canada. High-resolution imagery from the Suomi NPP satellite shows the evolution of the cracks forming in the ice, called leads, from February 17 — March 18 2013. The general circulation of the area is seen moving the ice westward along the Alaskan coast.

via Arctic Ice Breaks Up in Beaufort Sea – YouTube.

Waterproof Camera with GPS

It works great underwater, (see photos below) and the built in ability to imprint time and latitude longitude onto the photo and/or to just capture them to metadata are great tools for scientists, police, sports enthusiasts, and others who need to document either their play or work.

For years I’ve used a point and shoot — a hideout camera that I could put in my pocket while walking around for those photo opportunities that come up when you don’t expect them. The very first one I had was the Kodak DC210, with an amazing 1 megapixel of resolution. (similar to this)

When the time came to move to more megapixels the natural jump was to a Sony Cybershot and its 8 megapixel but pocket sized awesomeness, the current models of the same camera are now available in a variety of 14 – 16 megapixel models:

DSC04507-2After years of use the lens started making a grinding sound when it extended, and sometimes the shutter-like cover leaves did not fully open. While in St. Lucia we took a catamaran trip in the rain and I didn’t feel the least bit uncomfortable snapping away even though the camera was getting drenched because I knew that the time had finally come to replace the Sony.
The pictures came out fine, and the camera did not get damaged, which got me looking for a camera that I didn’t have to worry about in water.

That search led me to the Nikon AW-100, a great little camera that comes fully featured. It can survive immersion up to 33 feet (10 meters,) freezing, and minor shock (drops from five feet.) On top of that has 16 megapixel sensor coupled with built in GPS.

While the glass is not quite as nice as the Cybershot’s Zeiss lens, the Nikon’s 5X zoom lens produces reasonably sharp photos throughout its range, from macro to telephoto. It has many preset modes, and a fully auto mode for capture. The GPS works great, and photos I imported to Lightroom dropped right onto the map once I turned on the GPS feature:Lightroom-GPS-placement

It works great underwater, (see photos below) and the built in ability to imprint time and latitude longitude onto the photo and/or to just capture them to metadata are great tools for scientists, police, sports enthusiasts, and others who need to document either their play or work. The built in GPS compass is also handy, and I can see myself using this camera for a metadata reference shot whenever I shoot a series with my DSLR’s and lenses. I have to say that I am loving the new tech acquisition.

DSCN0048-3

DSCN0052-4

Gamma Rays From Thunderstorms and Dark Lightning

There are amazing things happening in the skies above thunderstorms.

Researchers studying thunderstorms have made a surprising discovery: The lightning we see with our eyes has a dark competitor that discharges storm clouds and flings antimatter into space. Astrophysicists and meteorologists are scrambling to understand "dark lightning."

via ScienceCasts: Dark Lightning – YouTube.

Night of Meteors

From EsoCast. Look closely and see a meteor shower captured in this series of timelapse shots. On 14–16 December 2012, the Geminid meteor shower made a spectacular appearance over ESO’s Paranal Observatory in Chile. As the meteors showered down over the site, photographer Gianluca Lombardi spent over 40 hours recording it.

The Geminids is a shower of shooting stars appearing to emanate from within the constellation of Gemini (The Twins). This shower occurs when the Earth cuts through the orbit of an asteroid named 3200 Phaethon, which happens once each year, in December. Particles in the trail of dust along the orbit of Phaethon burn up in our atmosphere, creating the brilliant, fast-moving points of light characteristic of meteor showers.

via Night of Meteors – YouTube.

Religious Politics and Secular Values Changed Louisiana

This is good overview of how the creationist groups work behind the scenes on anti-science and regressive social legislation. It’s not just evolution – it’s also gay marriage, climate change, stem cells, right to die, and other issues where religious zealots are stalking state congressional halls as part of one large consortium. What’s happening in Louisiana has happened here in my state as well, it’s not just one state or one governor.