Tag: Science

I’ve mentioned a couple times that SpaceX was set to become the first company to send a private spacecraft to dock with the ISS. Despite several delays, all went well for SpaceX with its launch, and this weekend the company’s Dragon cargo vessel successfully docked with the International Space Station.

Science never ceases to amaze me. We can clone all sorts of things today from sheep to pets and we can even grow disgusting human ears on the back of bald mice. Perhaps the best use for science ever is to re-create a 170-year-old variety of beer.

I know more than a few of you out there are bald. I guess it’s easy for me to say please avoid the comb over, since I’m not bald. But seriously, you aren’t fooling anyone with that haircut.

Dundee University researchers have created Doctor Who’s sonic screwdriver. Or at least a rough version. The machine can use ultrasound to lift and rotate a rubber disc floating in a cylinder of water. This is important because it is the first time ultrasound waves have been used to turn objects instead of pushing them.

Guys this is fantastic news, the next time someone gives you a hard time for drinking too much beer, tell them you’re simply feeding your brain. As it turns out, in some quantities beer is apparently brain food.

Let’s be honest, most of us prefer the scales in the bathroom to read on the low side. Who wants accuracy, when you can feel a bit better about yourself? I’ll tell you one group who wants accuracy, scientists.

I think making better ice cream is science we can all get behind – unless you’re lactose intolerant. Researchers at the Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research in Davos, Switzerland are working with Nestlé to devise better tasting ice cream.

There’s suprisingly little empty space left in low Earth orbit these days. This is in part due to the ever-growing number of satellites orbiting the planet. Most of the debris orbiting the planet includes defunct satellites or chunks of satellites left from crashes with other satellites.

Albert Einstein was a scientific bad-ass. I think we can all agree on that. Einstein gave us theories that explain some of the most unexplainable things about our universe. Scientists still live by many of his theories, such as the theory of general relativity despite the fact that Einstein has been dead for nearly 60 years.

If you take anything and tell me it uses laser beams, you have my attention. MIT has a very cool new camera that they’ve been working on it uses lasers to allow it to take photos of what’s going on around the corner.

I hate spiders. They’re gross looking and even the ones that I know aren’t poisonous I still find extremely disturbing. Growing up in rural area, I spent plenty of time in the woods as a kid and have distinct memories of trying to peel spider webs out of my hair while imagining an angry, homeless spider is hiding just behind my ear waiting to crawl into my brain.

If you liked shows like Mr. Wizard as a kid, you’ll want to check out this neat video, which shows students from the University of Pennsylvania separating two colored fluids that have been mixed together and suspended in a highly viscous liquid.

DNA sequencing is complex stuff, frequently used in biological research. Having worked in a hospital in the past and having been around lots of lab equipment I can say that sort of stuff is generally gigantic and very expensive.

I would bet we can all agree that we really don’t want cockroaches in our homes. They are disgusting little creatures after all, and any time I see one I’m convinced that I’m now eating roach poo.

One thing that Kung Fu Panda taught me is that portly warriors can still kick butt- skadoosh! The U.S. Army feels differently though and wants all of its obese soldiers to slim down, with very good reason.

Space junk is quickly becoming a big hazard in orbit around the Earth. There are untold numbers defunct satellites and other chunks of debris and trash floating around up there that pose a hazard to humans on the ISS and other satellites that are still being used.