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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 19, 2021 13:30:03 GMT -5
Have to share part of what an astronomy teacher friend of mine just wrote to me about Perseverance: "Mind blowing. So precise, so collaborative, so other worldly. While the use of technology has dramatically impacted what NASA can amazingly achieve in space, it seems like the rest of the world struggles here on the ground . . . Texas power grid, the relentless T***p [ my asterisks] tweets for 4 years, the ugly side of social media, etc. NASA has always been a beacon of hope, the agency that has dared to go beyond. Very cool day for the rover and its team. The ultimate video game challenge due to the time delay in communication transmission. I wonder who is controlling the rover so it does not crawl into trouble. Would love to see them find a microbe! Just to make our world a little smaller and pop our egos." Oh, yes, please, please find a microbe! I want to see the creationist, anti-science types faced with that! Not the most important outcome, but quite satisfying, I'll admit.
To the larger point made by your friend - what NASA is doing not only provides hope, but also underscores the fact that so many of our problems here are Earth are quite solvable by collaboration, well-reasoned and formulated policies and focused, intelligent investments, but the efforts to do so are all-too-often hampered by idiots to score political points - the Texas power grid fiasco is just the most recent example of that.
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 19, 2021 15:34:06 GMT -5
Have to share part of what an astronomy teacher friend of mine just wrote to me about Perseverance: "Mind blowing. So precise, so collaborative, so other worldly. While the use of technology has dramatically impacted what NASA can amazingly achieve in space, it seems like the rest of the world struggles here on the ground . . . Texas power grid, the relentless T***p [ my asterisks] tweets for 4 years, the ugly side of social media, etc. NASA has always been a beacon of hope, the agency that has dared to go beyond. Very cool day for the rover and its team. The ultimate video game challenge due to the time delay in communication transmission. I wonder who is controlling the rover so it does not crawl into trouble. Would love to see them find a microbe! Just to make our world a little smaller and pop our egos." Oh, yes, please, please find a microbe! I want to see the creationist, anti-science types faced with that! I'd love for us to find a microbe, or at least prove that there was once life on Mars... but at the same time I'd be melancholy since it would mean that life is not as resilient as I had initially thought. I was hoping (still am!) that life will find a way to endure all the way to the utter destruction of our planet when the inflating sun burns it to a crisp. I'm probably just too optimistic about that. Finding even a dead microbe might be bad news in that regard, but it would be cool as hell!!! |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Feb 19, 2021 15:36:23 GMT -5
(...) so many of our problems here are Earth are quite solvable by collaboration, well-reasoned and formulated policies and focused, intelligent investments, but the efforts to do so are all-too-often hampered by idiots to score political points (...) You win the internet for the day, as far as I'm concerned! |
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Post by EdoBosnar on Feb 20, 2021 14:25:41 GMT -5
Aaaawwww. That's the cutest racoon I've ever seen...  |
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Post by thwhtguardian on Feb 23, 2021 8:12:08 GMT -5
Have to share part of what an astronomy teacher friend of mine just wrote to me about Perseverance: "Mind blowing. So precise, so collaborative, so other worldly. While the use of technology has dramatically impacted what NASA can amazingly achieve in space, it seems like the rest of the world struggles here on the ground . . . Texas power grid, the relentless T***p [ my asterisks] tweets for 4 years, the ugly side of social media, etc. NASA has always been a beacon of hope, the agency that has dared to go beyond. Very cool day for the rover and its team. The ultimate video game challenge due to the time delay in communication transmission. I wonder who is controlling the rover so it does not crawl into trouble. Would love to see them find a microbe! Just to make our world a little smaller and pop our egos." Oh, yes, please, please find a microbe! I want to see the creationist, anti-science types faced with that! I'd love for us to find a microbe, or at least prove that there was once life on Mars... but at the same time I'd be melancholy since it would mean that life is not as resilient as I had initially thought. I was hoping (still am!) that life will find a way to endure all the way to the utter destruction of our planet when the inflating sun burns it to a crisp. I'm probably just too optimistic about that. Finding even a dead microbe might be bad news in that regard, but it would be cool as hell!!! I wouldn't lose hope yet, we're finding more and more extremophile like microbes here on Earth all the time in some truly inhospitable conditions so it's definitely still possible that the answer to David Bowie's question, "Is there Life on Mars?" is yes. On a similar note, you can now explore the Martian frontier yourself, albeit only visually but I still found it to be amazing! |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 1, 2021 6:51:50 GMT -5
I can't believe that in 2021, we still have to explain the difference between "no, the vaccine doesn't guarantee that you will not get ill" and "the vaccine is useless".
By that logic, we should allow people to drive drunk (there's no guarantee that they will cause an accident), let kids get addicted to cigarettes (there's no guarantee they'll get cancer) and let Russian roulette become the next trendy game (there's no guarantee people will shoot themselves).
Flat Earthers, anti-vaxx, moon landing hoaxers... Where did we fail as educators?
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Post by Icctrombone on Mar 1, 2021 7:27:31 GMT -5
I can't believe that in 2021, we still have to explain the difference between "no, the vaccine doesn't guarantee that you will not get ill" and "the vaccine is useless". By that logic, we should allow people to drive drunk (there's no guarantee that they will cause an accident), let kids get addicted to cigarettes (there's no guarantee they'll get cancer) and let Russian roulette become the next trendy game (there's no guarantee people will shoot themselves). Flat Earthers, anti-vaxx, moon landing hoaxers... Where did we fail as educators? This is the social media era where every fool has an opinion. And they are usually loud and arrogant about it. I will say this though, many people don't want to be poked with a vaccine that was created overnight. Every type of medicine has possible side effects. |
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Post by Deleted on Mar 1, 2021 8:28:22 GMT -5
I can't believe that in 2021, we still have to explain the difference between "no, the vaccine doesn't guarantee that you will not get ill" and "the vaccine is useless". By that logic, we should allow people to drive drunk (there's no guarantee that they will cause an accident), let kids get addicted to cigarettes (there's no guarantee they'll get cancer) and let Russian roulette become the next trendy game (there's no guarantee people will shoot themselves). Flat Earthers, anti-vaxx, moon landing hoaxers... Where did we fail as educators? We failed when our society as a whole focused on school as an enculturation mechanism rather than an educational experience or training ground. They wanted to pass on what to think, not how to think. Of course no one could agree on which "what to think" to pass on, so curriculums varied and depended on the whim of local or state school boards made up of people who wanted schools to present their truths as "the truth" and vilify anything that wasn't their truth rather than training students how to think, assess, process and evaluate many different sources and think critically to reach their own conclusions. Add in textbook companies who pander to those interests and areas who buy the most books who then edit/write their textbooks to appeal to those larger audiences and their versions of the truth, and you have the genesis for a world where flat-earthers, anti-vaxxers, moon landing hoaxers, conspiracy theorists, and other such things have fertile ground in which to roost. -M |
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Post by Prince Hal on Mar 1, 2021 9:59:21 GMT -5
I can't believe that in 2021, we still have to explain the difference between "no, the vaccine doesn't guarantee that you will not get ill" and "the vaccine is useless". By that logic, we should allow people to drive drunk (there's no guarantee that they will cause an accident), let kids get addicted to cigarettes (there's no guarantee they'll get cancer) and let Russian roulette become the next trendy game (there's no guarantee people will shoot themselves). Flat Earthers, anti-vaxx, moon landing hoaxers... Where did we fail as educators? This is the social media era where every fool has an opinion. And they are usually loud and arrogant about it. I will say this though, many people don't want to be poked with a vaccine that was created overnight. Every type of medicine has possible side effects. But it was NOT created overnight! That is one of the great myths about it. Please try to explain the truth to anyone who repeats that myth. Here are two articles that explain in detail why that is not so. The vaccine used against COVID has been in development for about 20 years. As one of the articles points out, had COVID appeared five or ten years ago, the development would have taken years to create. www.nationalreview.com/2021/01/covid-19-vaccines-an-overnight-success-decades-in-the-making/#slide-1www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2021/01/26/moderna-covid-vaccine-science-fast/6555783002/In a nutshell: "The mRNA process is faster, cheaper, and easier to scale than that of traditional vaccines. Conventional vaccines introduce antigens into the body by injecting an inactive or attenuated virus to stimulate the creation of antibodies that will counter a live virus. By contrast, the new vaccines use synthetic mRNA to deliver genetic instructions to the body for how to produce its own antigens. None of this would have been possible without first discovering mRNA itself. As with other scientific breakthroughs, that discovery emerged from many individuals and groups, some working collaboratively, others independently, many simultaneously and over the course of decades. Importantly, the core insights did not come from trying to invent medicines or immunotherapies, as important and challenging as these ventures are. They came, rather, from trying to understand the molecular structure of life. It’s a common story. It was the same dynamic for the technologies that won World War II. The government played a huge role in developing and deploying radar, computing, and the bomb, which is why nearly all major government efforts to direct research have since been likened to World War II. As with Operation Warp Speed, these inventions were made possible by foundational discoveries made long before — including advances in electromagnetic theory, mathematical logic, and atomic physics stretching back into the 19th century." |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 1, 2021 10:24:17 GMT -5
This is the social media era where every fool has an opinion. And they are usually loud and arrogant about it. I will say this though, many people don't want to be poked with a vaccine that was created overnight. Every type of medicine has possible side effects. But it was NOT created overnight! That is one of the great myths about it. Please try to explain the truth to anyone who repeats that myth. Here are two articles that explain in detail why that is not so. The vaccine used against COVID has been in development for about 20 years. As one of the articles points out, had COVID appeared five or ten years ago, the development would have taken years to create. www.nationalreview.com/2021/01/covid-19-vaccines-an-overnight-success-decades-in-the-making/#slide-1www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/investigations/2021/01/26/moderna-covid-vaccine-science-fast/6555783002/In a nutshell: "The mRNA process is faster, cheaper, and easier to scale than that of traditional vaccines. Conventional vaccines introduce antigens into the body by injecting an inactive or attenuated virus to stimulate the creation of antibodies that will counter a live virus. By contrast, the new vaccines use synthetic mRNA to deliver genetic instructions to the body for how to produce its own antigens. None of this would have been possible without first discovering mRNA itself. As with other scientific breakthroughs, that discovery emerged from many individuals and groups, some working collaboratively, others independently, many simultaneously and over the course of decades. Importantly, the core insights did not come from trying to invent medicines or immunotherapies, as important and challenging as these ventures are. They came, rather, from trying to understand the molecular structure of life.It’s a common story. It was the same dynamic for the technologies that won World War II. The government played a huge role in developing and deploying radar, computing, and the bomb, which is why nearly all major government efforts to direct research have since been likened to World War II. As with Operation Warp Speed, these inventions were made possible by foundational discoveries made long before — including advances in electromagnetic theory, mathematical logic, and atomic physics stretching back into the 19th century." Well said, Prince Hal! The enormous importance of basic research is the reason I cringe whenever some politician, asked about science funding, drops this faux-witty barb: "we should not finance researchers, we should finance finders!" To me, that's the equivalent of saying "we shouldn't train olympic athletes, we should train only the ones who'll get the gold". |
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Mar 10, 2021 8:02:41 GMT -5
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Post by Roquefort Raider on Jun 11, 2021 14:16:05 GMT -5
Amusing coincidence... Having heard today (on Scimandan's channel) that, contrary to what some deluded flat Earthers claim, we can look at plenty of images of our planet on NASA's website, I went and took a look at the pale blue dot we call home. Lo and behold, not only can we admire it in a series of pictures taken by the EPIC camera, but if we select the images from the 10th of June, we can see the shadow cast by yesterday's eclipse!!!
That is really all sorts of cool. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 12, 2021 8:20:19 GMT -5
My wife and I homeschool our children, and we've divided up roles with me being a bit more the math/science person, and she is more grammar/literature. When my son developed an interest in "very large number" concepts, I found this video to supplement a discussion on it. It's a professor who talks about the concept of the googol (1 with 100 zeroes after it) and even larger googolplex (10 raised to a googol power).
To cut to the chase, it conceptualizes a googolplex sized universe and there's a very stunning implication that at that scale, there would be duplicates of ourselves roaming around!
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Post by Calidore on Jun 12, 2021 10:08:35 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Aug 5, 2021 20:10:11 GMT -5
Really interesting video on the various sizes of black holes, including the largest known one which is on a mindboggling scale (jump ahead to about 9 minutes if you want just the ultra-massive ones including the largest):
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