http://www.survivalmachine.org Science Science Revolution! Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:13:21 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en 150 years ago today, on November 24, 1959, the most important book in the history of biology was published.  Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species was, and still is, the foundation upon which all of modern biology rests, with its myriad applications in medicine, ecology, philosophy, and beyond.  I've ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/11/24/150-years-of-on-the-origin-of-species/ Last night, President Barack Obama delivered a speech to a joint session of Congress with a boldness and clarity that I think has been lacking since the end of his campaign.  His address laid out his proposals for health care reform in clear, concise language. He clobbered the atrocious lies ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/09/10/on-obamas-health-care-reform-speech/ In case you haven't heard, the STS-128 mission has been postponed three times now - the first was due to weather, and for the last two nights the delay has been due to a faulty liquid hydrogen fill and drain valve on the shuttle's primary propulsion system.  The launch is ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/08/27/delay-of-de-liftoff/ Today marks  another landmark scientific anniversary - the 400th anniversary of Galileo's first telescope.  It was on this day in 1609 that Galileo presented his prototype 8x-magnification telescope to the assembled Senate of Venice.  It was not the first telescope—that forgotten honor belongs  to Dutch astronomer Hans Lipperhey who built ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/08/25/four-centuries-of-optical-zoo/ IMPORTANT: Even if you can't go with me tomorrow, please read this article about the Perseid Meteor Shower, and try to find the most promising way to see them near where you are.  And if you happen to read this before 5AM ET/2AM PT this morning (I'm looking at you, ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/08/12/perseid-party-or-death-from-the-skies/ This fall, I'm going back to school.  I'd been weighing options for graduate school and finally determined that my best prospect for getting into a good ethology/zoology PhD program would be to get a B.S. in Biology first.  My first bachelor's degree was a B.A. in Anthropology from the University ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/08/08/back-from-canada-soon-back-to-school/ Unexpected hiatus, it seems - over 2 months without an update! I'm not letting this blog die, though. At the moment I am very busy but I wanted to post quickly to say Happy Birthday, Nikola Tesla! Without you, I wouldn't have my car, my computer, my phone, my job, ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/07/10/happy-birthday-nikola-tesla/ Dear Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Verily, I beseech ye to establish a Nobel Prize for Magnificence, and award the first one to Steve Eves. Humbly, simian Seriously, wow. http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/04/28/ouranos-ex-machina/ I regret having just set a personal record for the longest period of time between posts.  But let's forget about that right now, because today there are a couple BIG events to talk about. Swine flu: Having very recently mutated to allow human/human transmission, it has already spread around the globe, ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/04/28/it-is-time-for-us-to-lead-once-again/ I was just about to post to remind everyone to watch the space shuttle Discovery launch tonight, but I just learned that NASA has scrubbed the launch due to a leak discovered (discovery-d?) in the external liquid hydrogen fuel tank—aka the big red phallus under the shuttle.  The mission was ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/03/11/no-space-shuttle-launch-tonight/ Daylight Savings Time is one of my favorite annual events. It's sunny and spring-like on this late-winter day, and I'll have an extra hour to enjoy it when I finish working today. Maybe I'll try to go to Wyman Park to launch a model rocket, or ride my ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/03/09/daylight-awesome-time/ I've decided I need to kick my reading into high gear, after realizing it's been quite some time since I actually finished any new books.  So for inspiration, I compiled a brief sample list of books that I want to either read or re-read.  The ones followed by an asterisk ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/02/19/reading-list/ I've been spending much of this evening brushing up on Pan troglodytes, or the common chimpanzee.  Yesterday, a woman in Stamford, Connecticut was terribly mauled by Travis, her friend's 14 year old, 200 pound pet chimpanzee.  I feel terrible for the victims - including Travis, who was shot to death ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/02/17/dont-mess-with-pan-troglodytes/ Today is the 200th birthday of Charles Darwin, the British naturalist whose publication in 1859 of On the Origin of Species laid the foundation for virtually all subsequent discoveries in biology.  He did for the Western world's understanding of life what Galileo did for our understanding of the heavens, and ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/02/12/happy-darwin-day/ The internet bandwidth at my hotel here in Georgia is having its own little recession.  So, I don't really have the patience to research and write a good entry tonight.  I'm in Waycross for work through Friday, and I hope to catch a glimpse of some gators at Okefenokee National ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/02/11/okefenokee-dokey/ First, let me just say that Cornell University has a great open-access digital repository for e-prints called arXiv.org.  E-prints are digital versions of research documents (research books, journal articles, theses, conference papers, et cetera) that are made available on the internet, typically by academic institutions or organizations.  Open-access repositories such ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2009/01/30/accretion-and-decay-the-fox-news-way/ I've been more than a little slack the past few months in updating Survival Machine.  But the impending new year brings with it the potential for resolutions, and I expect to make plenty of those.  In the short term, I need to upgrade WordPress to 2.7.  I also need to ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2008/12/24/what-the-future-holds/ I finally gave in to the temptation and jailbraked (or pwned, if you prefer) my iPhone a couple days ago. It was so worth it. Foremost among the plethora of new features my phone now has are the ability to record video and the ability to sync its ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2008/12/05/words-from-the-ether/ America's annual day-after-Thanksgiving shopping binge, known perhaps foreshadowingly as 'Black Friday', reached a new low this year.  Early this morning, Jdimytai Damour was trampled to death in a stampede of shoppers after he opened the door to the Valley Stream Wal Mart on Long Island.  A temp agency employee, Damour ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2008/11/28/wal-mart-employee-trampled-to-death-in-black-friday-stampede/ I just deleted the last post because the YouTube video embedding had been disabled for the will.i.am "It's A New Day" video.  Check it out here if you haven't seen it yet. I've been meaning to write about a number of interesting developments lately, including the recent difficulties with the Hubble ... http://www.survivalmachine.org/2008/11/14/whats-up/