This photo is probably the best-known image of a “Bigfoot,” a legendary creature believed by some to inhabit the forests of the Pacific Northwest from California to British Columbia. It’s from a grainy home movie shot in the woods of northern California in October 1967. In the movi[...]
Archive for the ‘Science’ Category
Branson’s space flight
This was touted as the maiden commercial space flight, potentially heralding the dawn of a new industry. But there’s a long way to go. All Richard Branson’s toy rocketship did was shoot straight up to 280,000, and glide back down. The entire “spaceflight” lasted a few minutes[...]
Understanding quantum computers
For most people, that’s an oxymoron. Putting the word “understanding” in the same sentence as “quantum computers” doesn’t make any sense, except to a handful of people above our pay grades. Quantum computing is based on the physics of quantum mechanics, which is a[...]
Who cares if photons from 6,500 light years away accelerate like crazy?
“Scientists have long known the Crab Nebula [is] a very energetic astrophysical object …. But recently, [they] discovered it is even more energetic than they thought. Using an array of state-of-the-art detectors on … the Tibetan Plateau, a team … detected light particles with[...]
Calling climate change “B.S.” doesn’t make it less real
Sen. Ron Johnson (photo, left; bio here), a Republican from Wisconsin, who is arguably the most factually-challenged member of that body in addition to being a liar (“the rioters were just tourists”), “insisted again last week that he is not a climate change denier,” but CNN [...]
July 5th, 2021 - 2:41 pm § in Science
What if we’re alone?
Are we alone? The correct answer is: We don’t know. There are billions of galaxies, each with millions or billions of stars, so there likely are trillions of planets, at least some hospitable to life. Therefore, as a matter of statistical probability, the odds intelligent life exists only here[...]
June 30th, 2021 - 7:54 pm § in Science
How to measure distances to stars
This takes a bigger tape measure than you have. (Don’t ask me how I know.) To find out how it’s done, read this article. Return to The-Ave.US Home Page[...]
June 29th, 2021 - 6:59 pm § in Science
A scream from space
It was a Pac-Man thing. A neutron star got eaten by a black hole, and let out a howl. Or so an imaginative science journalist named Corey S. Powell (c.v. here) called it: “Black hole devouring neutron star sends gravitational ‘scream’ all the way to Earth.” The dinner date in[...]
Australian scientist who worked at Wuhan debunks conspiracy theory
An Australian scientist who worked at the Wuhan lab in 2019 saw nothing to suggest that’s where Covid-19 came from. Dr. Danielle Anderson (photo, left), a leading expert on bat-borne viruses, says the Wuhan lab is like other such facilities she’s worked in, with even better safety protoc[...]
Who is Avi Loeb, and why does he believe in aliens?
From Wikipedia: “Abraham “Avi” Loeb (Hebrew: אברהם (אבי) לייב; born February 26, 1962) is an Israeli-American theoretical physicist who works on astrophysics and cosmology. Loeb is the Frank B. Baird Jr. Professor of Science at Harvard University. He had been[...]