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The author of Skulls in the Stars is a professor of physics, specializing in optical science, at UNC Charlotte. The blog covers topics in physics and optics, the history of science, classic pulp fantasy and horror fiction, and the surprising intersections between these areas. -
Category Archives: Science news
Sound as a fire extinguisher?
A friend of mine forwarded me a link (h/t “JakeRyker”) about extinguishing fire with sound waves that appeared in Scientific American. As noted in the article, it has been known since experiments by John Tyndall in 1857 that flames could … Continue reading
Posted in Physics, Science news
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More conspiracy-mongering about anti-depressants (revised)
I normally enjoy reading Crooks & Liars, the liberal video weblog, but a post today hit upon a pet peeve of mine. To quote the original news article, An analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine suggests that … Continue reading
Giant ‘UFO’ spotted over Texas!
Man, if this post doesn’t get my blog stats up, I can’t imagine anything will! Citizens of Stephenville, Texas have for several weeks now reported seeing an unidentifiable object flying over the city. To quote CNN: Several dozen people — … Continue reading
Big, previously unknown palm tree discovered!
From CNN, we get news that a previously unknown species of palm tree has been “discovered” on Madagascar! I put “discovered” in quotation marks because, as CNN says, The palm tree, which grows to 66 feet in height and has … Continue reading
Posted in Animals, Science news
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The beginnings of ice skating…
Okay, one more post tonight (I’m really bored). I stumbled across a fascinating article (h/t Pigspittle, Ohio) about the oldest human-powered means of transport: ice skates made of bone. Apparently ice skating may have started in about 3000 BC in … Continue reading
John Grant’s ‘Corrupted Science’
While I was in a bookstore over the holidays, I stumbled across a relatively new publication by author John Grant, Corrupted Science: Fraud, ideology and politics in science. I snapped it off the bookshelf without a second thought (well, one … Continue reading
A day at the Field Museum! (updated)
I’m in Chicago, visiting family for the holidays with my girlfriend, and we decided to hit the Field Museum of Natural History, one of my childhood haunts. I thought I’d do a little ‘photo highlights’ post about the things that … Continue reading
Mars flirting with disaster!
CNN is reporting today that astronomers have determined that there’s a one in 75 chance that a big asteroid could hit Mars in January! These may not seem like good odds, but they’re astonishingly high considering the amount of empty … Continue reading
Glow in the dark cats!
And here I thought that this image was simply a nice photoshopped picture that somebody made for I Can Has Cheezburger! But, no, it turns out that scientists in South Korea have managed to make cloned cats that glow red … Continue reading
Night of the Meteorites!
For those interested in astronomy and cool space phenomena, there’s a treat coming up tomorrow night: one of the best meteor showers of the year will have its peak on December 13th (h/t Americablog). The Geminid meteor shower will be … Continue reading
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