24 DEC 2013 by ideonexus
Many Factors Combine to Allow Life on Earth
As we look at planet Earth and the factors that enabled us to be here, we quickly realize that our planet is very special. Here’s a short list: the long-term existence of a protective and oxygen-rich atmosphere; Earth’s axial tilt, stabilized by a single large moon; the ozone layer and the magnetic field, which jointly protect surface creatures from lethal cosmic radiation; plate tectonics, which regulates the levels of carbon dioxide and keeps the global temperature stable; the fact that our...
1 Marcelo Gleiser's argument that the many favorable factors that produce life on Earth mean life could be very rare in the Universe.
31 JUL 2013 by ideonexus
The Difference in How the Public and Scientists Use "Theory"
The formal scientific definition of theory is quite different from the everyday meaning of the word. It refers to a comprehensive explanation of some aspect of nature that is supported by a vast body of evidence. Many scientific theories are so well established that no new evidence is likely to alter them substantially. For example, no new evidence will demonstrate that the Earth does not orbit around the sun (heliocentric theory), or that living things are not made of cells (cell theory), th...
1 In common usage, it is the equivalent of an educated guess, in science, it is nearly synonymous with the facts it is built on.
22 MAR 2012 by ideonexus
International Environmental Year Project
We don't have a perfect understanding of Earth's systems and processes; it may be unachievable in the face of such complexity. However, we continue to develop imperfect but useful mathematical models, and we have beer able to isolate physical variables in the laboratory. We should celebrate our capacity to learn quickly about such things; and we need to continue funding the search for this vital information. We may need to commit to an International Environmental Year project similar to the I... 1 
notes
notesGingrich calls for something similar to the International Geophysical Year of the 1950s, which enlightened humanity to many facts about the workings of the Earth.
05 JAN 2012 by ideonexus
Santa Claus Can't Live at the North Pole
Here's a riddle for the kids. A man leaves his house for a walk. He walks a mile due south, a mile due east, and a mile due north, and finds he is back where he started. What is the man's name?
Yes, Virginia, his name is Santa Claus. And his house is at the North Pole.
But don't go looking for him there, Virginia. Here's the cold fact: Santa Claus doesn't live at the North Pole.
I knew from a young age that there was something fishy about Santa's address. At the age of five or six I discov...Folksonomies: superstition
Folksonomies: superstition
The ice is drifting an so is the pole.
31 AUG 2011 by ideonexus
An Early Incorrect Assumption About Plate Tectonics
Though the theories of plate tectonics now provide us with a modus operandi, they still seem to me to be a periodic phenomenon. Nothing is world-wide, but everything is episodic. In other words, the history of anyone part of the earth, like the life of a soldier, consists of long periods of boredom and short periods of terror. That they occur dramatically and infrequently; as opposed to our modern understanding of them being gradual and perpetual.
