Monday, February 29, 2016

Spherical Camera Photographs the Edge of Space


Source - Space Weather News for Feb. 29, 2016: http://spaceweather.com

SPHERICAL CAMERA AT THE EDGE OF SPACE: On Feb. 27th, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus launched a space weather balloon to monitor increasing levels of cosmic rays in the stratosphere.  The payload carried something new: a spherical camera.  Visit Spaceweather.com to view the first interactive 3D images of the edge of space.

CHANCE OF STORMS: NOAA forecasters estimate a 40% chance of minor geomagnetic storms on March 1st when a solar wind stream is expected to hit Earth's magnetic field.  Arctic sky watchers should be alert for auroras.

Sunday, February 28, 2016

Big Picture Science for Monday February 29, 2016 - The Crater Good












Big Picture Science - The Crater Good

It was “one giant leap for mankind,” but the next step forward may require going back.  Yes, back to the moon.  Only this time the hardware may come from China.  Or perhaps Europe.  In fact, it seems that the only developed nation not going lunar is the U.S.

Find out why our pockmarked satellite is such hot real estate, and whether it has the raw materials we’d need to colonize it.  A new theory of how the moon formed may tell us what’s below its dusty surface.

But – before packing your bags – you’ll want to skim Article IX of the U.N. treaty on planetary protection.  We can’t go contaminating any old planetary body, can we?

Guests:
  • James Oberg - Former Space Shuttle Mission Control engineer and space policy expert
  • Clive Neal - Geologist, University of Notre Dame
  • Edward Young - Cosmochemist, geochemist, UCLA
  • Margaret Race - Biologist and research scientist at the SETI Institute
Download podcast at: http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/crater-good

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Sunday, February 21, 2016

Big Picture Science for Monday February 22, 2016 - Eve of Disruption












Big Picture Science - Eve of Disruption

Only two of the following three creations have had lasting scientific or cultural impact:  The telescope … the Sistine Chapel ceiling … the electric banana.  Find out why one didn’t make the cut as a game-changer, and why certain eras and places produce a remarkable flowering of creativity (we’re looking at you, Athens).

Plus, Yogi Berra found it difficult to make predictions, especially about the future, but we try anyway.  A technology expert says he’s identified the next Silicon Valley.  Hint: its focus is on genetic – not computer – code and its language in the lab is Mandarin.

We got the past and the future covered.  Where’s innovation now?  We leave that to the biohackers who are remaking the human body one sensory organ at a time.  Are you ready for eye-socket cameras and mind readers?

Guests:

Download podcast at: http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/eve-disruption

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Geomagnetic storm on Feb. 16th

Source - Space Weather News for Feb. 16, 2016: http://spaceweather.com

GEOMAGNETIC STORM IN PROGRESS: Earth is entering a stream of high-speed solar wind, and this is causing G1-class geomagnetic storms on Feb. 16th. This is not the CME we have been waiting for since Valentine's Day. Instead, the solar wind is flowing from a coronal hole on the sun Visit Spaceweather.com for photos and more information.

SPACE WEATHER BALLOON LAUNCH: To monitor the effect of the ongoing storm on radiation levels in the atmosphere, Spaceweather.com and the students of Earth to Sky Calculus will launch a helium balloon carrying cosmic ray sensors. Stay tuned for pictures and data from the flight, scheduled for liftoff just a few hours from now

Sunday, February 14, 2016

Big Picture Science for Monday February 15, 2016 - With All Our Mites












Big Picture Science - With All Our Mites

You are not alone.  You can’t see ‘em, but your face is a festival of face mites. They’ve   evolved with us for millennia.  And a new study finds that hundreds of different tiny spiders, beetles, and – our favorite - book lice make your home theirs.  But before you go bonkers with the disinfectant, consider: eradicating these critters may do more harm than good.  Some are such close evolutionary partners with humans that they keep us healthy and can even reveal something about our ancestry.

But then there are bed bugs.  Pests without redemption.  However, their newly-sequenced genome may help us end their nightly nuisances.  And of course some microscopic critters are deadly.  So when it comes to bugs: when do we accommodate and when do we attack?

Guests:
  • Michelle Trautwein – Curator of entomology, California Academy of Sciences
  • Matt Bertone –  Entomologist, North Carolina State University
  • Joshua Benoit -- Insect molecular biologist, University of Cincinnati
  • Thomas McDade – Biological anthropologist, Northwestern University

Download podcast at: http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/all-our-mites

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.

Sunday, February 07, 2016

Big Picture Science for Monday February 08, 2016 - 100% Invisible













Big Picture Science - 100% Invisible

In astronomy, the rule of thumb was simple: If you can’t see it with a telescope, it’s not real.  Seeing is believing.  Well, tell that to the astronomers who discovered dark energy, or dark matter … or, more recently, Planet 9.   And yet we have evidence that all these things exist (although skepticism about the ninth – or is it tenth? – planet still lingers).

Find out how we know what we know about the latest cosmic discoveries – even if we can’t see them directly.  The astronomer who found Planet 9 – and killed Pluto – offers his evidence.

And, a speculative scenario suggests that dark matter helped do away with the dinosaurs.

Plus, the winner of the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics explains why neutrinos that are zipping through your body right now may hold clues to the origin of the universe.

Guests:

Download podcast at: http://bigpicturescience.org/episodes/100-invisible

You can listen to this and other episodes at http://bigpicturescience.org/, and be sure to check out Blog Picture Science, the companion blog to the radio show.