Imagine a laser weapon that can shoot down incoming mortar rounds. Sounds like SF, doesn’t it? But, imagine no longer.
Category: Blog
A treatment for tinnitus?
If you, like me, suffer from tinnitus–a.k.a. “a ringing in the ears”–you may be intrigued by this new tinnitus drug study. Scientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis think a drug called gabapentin, already approved for seizure disorders and chronic nerve pain, may help severe tinnitus sufferers. Although I have tinnitus, it …
Going up?
An effort has been launched to establish an annual competition for space-elevator technologies, similar to the Ansari X Prize. Cool!
Extrasolar planet announcement August 31
NASA is promising the announcement of the discovery of “a new class of planets” beyond our solar system at a press conference on August 31. Best guess? They’ve found something closer to Earth-sized than anything found yet–even that “super-Earth” planet I blogged about a couple of days ago.
Writing Diary: August 25, 2004
Let’s see, I must have done some writing today… Well, not much, actually. I had to several queries to answer on the physics book whose page proofs I dealt with yesterday; then I had to design an ad for Regina Lyric Light Opera‘s upcoming auditions, then I had a lunch date. In the early afternoon …
Another new planet,,,
…and what’s most exciting about this one is that it’s the smallest yet found (only about the size of Uranus) and it appears to be a rocky body with a gaseous atmosphere–the closest thing to an Earth-like planet discovered so far. The galaxy is lousy with planets. I can’t prove it, but I’m betting it’s …
Clean energy from water
Australian scientists say that they have a method to generate hydrogen from water that could lead to simple pollution-free energy-harvesting devices within seven years.
Writing Diary: August 24, 2004
Not much creative writing today, I’m afraid. I edited down my CBC version of the science column into the lean, mean columning machine you see a couple of posts down from here, then spent the rest of the day reading and correcting the page proofs for Introduction to Quantum Physics: The Photoelectric Effect and Line …
Oh, now that hurts!
I stumbled across this old news story from England today: The Mirror (London, England); 1/31/1997 Snooty residents of a street named after a road sweeper say it devalues their homes. They claim house prices have dropped 10 per cent on Eddie Willett Road. Resident Reg Stanley said: “If people had known the road name when …
Yet another extrasolar planet
This one is 500 light years away, and is the first (of, one hopes, many) discovered by the Trans-Atlantic Exoplanet Survey, a network of small, relatively inexpensive telescopes designed to look specifically for planets orbiting bright stars.
Time perception
Time flies when you’re having fun, the saying goes; now there’s scientific evidence to back that up. Dr. Anthony Chaston and Dr. Alan Kingstone of the University of Alberta’s Department of Psychology gave subjects tests that required them to find specific items in various images. Before they began, they were told that once the test …
Writing Diary: August 24, 2004
Morning: column on time perception (to appear in this space later today). This was one of those science columns where I thought, “Oh, this should be easy,” and a couple of hours of clicking and printing out and reading and digesting later, finally set words to paper. Fiction writing followed; I got a few good …
My latest live walk and vlog
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