Selfies. Definitely notorious in the digital world. Who hasn’t wrinkled up their nose in disgust at a friend’s shameless self-promotion or puckered up a duck face for the camera? Or maybe selfies power your voyage of exploration for personal acceptance, understanding and confidence. Universally reviled, or defended as an act of self-expression. A moment of attention-grabbing… Read More »Reflecting Self
What’s the helium situation? …and other updates on stories we covered last year.
With Halloween just around the corner, how about a little creepy science for the season?
Zombies are real.
Yes, you read that one right. The undead do exist, and not just in fiction…but maybe I should clarify before you dive right back behind the sofa. Relax; it’s not a whole-body reanimated dead-to-alive apocalypse, just a finding from a group of researchers who saw that in death, a whole series of genes come to life.
On May 18, 1910, Halley’s comet made its closest recorded contact (0.15 astronomical units,* or approximately 23 million kilometres) with our planet, and the Earth passed through its tail. The event was full of scientific excitement and wonder, since photographic plates and spectroscopy were newly available to researchers. With these new tools, astronomers and the public got a better view of the comet itself and also a first inkling of what it contained.
Exciting times for science!
Read More »Halley’s comet, impending doom and communicating science
I don’t often share quotes as a tweet or Facebook status, preferring to give real-time life updates, share interesting articles I’ve read about social media marketing or science, and of course post pictures of cats—but once in a while, a quote makes sense. Time and place, people—time and place.
Read More »Be careful what you read—Ebola