Category Archives: Science

Thermococcus gammatolerans: The “hottest” thing alive

Posted on April 26, 2014 by haydenwalling

This rare microbe is the most radiation resistant organism known to man. Discovered in 2003 living inside of a hydrothermal vent at the bottom of the pacific ocean off the coast of California, this little guy is capable of withstanding over 30,000 grays (a Gray is the absorption of one joule of such energy by […] Continue reading →

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The Future Looks Bright

Posted on April 25, 2014 by paanvaannd

<Video from post from here> Around a century ago, humanity thought we had finally conquered the final frontier – Antarctica. It was quite unfathomable for many to think that we could ever leave the confines of Earth, but within a matter of three and a half decades we succeeded in building the first aircraft, retrofitting … Continue reading The Future Looks Bright → Continue reading →

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Lovers of the Extreme

Posted on April 25, 2014 by paanvaannd

<Image from this post from here> The discovery of extremophiles within the last few decades has expanded the amount of worlds viable for some sort of life, and has greatly increased the chance of life being found elsewhere within our galaxy, let alone our own solar system.  Extremophiles are microorganisms on Earth that live, and … Continue reading Lovers of the Extreme → Continue reading →

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The Pale Blue Dot: Religion and Science

Posted on April 21, 2014 by Asad Pabani

While I intend on continuing this blog in the future, for my last blog post in Astronomy 201, I will be taking a more serious approach. I will touch briefly on the relationship between religion and science by examining the image shown below of the Earth as a tiny speck of light in the distance, […] Continue reading →

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Metallic hydrogen

Posted on April 9, 2014 by Drew Hamilton

In learning about the interiors, we’ve heard a lot about metallic hydrogen. To me, it was a confusing idea, simply because I only really hear about hydrogen in the context of being a gas or being a compound such as water or methane. Furthermore, it was not clear what phase metallic hydrogen would be, since… Continue reading →

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Life on Moons

Posted on April 9, 2014 by paanvaannd

<Image for this post taken from here> The Galilean moons, especially Europa, have been objects of interest for decades for scientists interested in finding life in our own solar system. Europa’s relatively young surface is, for the most part, devoid of the pockmarked landscapes that signify a geologically inactive world, meaning that there must be … Continue reading Life on Moons → Continue reading →

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The definition of “planet”

Posted on April 8, 2014 by Drew Hamilton

Ever since the IAU gathered in Prague in 2006 and published a new scientific definition of “planet”, there has been debate on how well they did, and whether they were right to “demote” Pluto from planet to the new “dwarf planet” classification. I aim here to critique the IAU’s definition of a planet. First, here… Continue reading →

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Halley’s Comet Shooting Through the Sky

Posted on March 27, 2014 by hollyreichert

In 1705, Edmond Halley noticed records of comets passing by Earth in 1531, 1607, and 1682.  While at first they were thought to be three different comets, Halley thought they were all the same one.  The comet passes by Earth around every 75 years.  It was here last in 1986, and is predicted to come […] Continue reading →

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Controversy over global warming

Posted on March 18, 2014 by blakestar2k14

Global warming has been a hot environmental topic for the past many years. It seems like scientists cannot stress enough the gravity of the situation that we have put out environment in. It has been generally accepted that it is due to the acceleration of the greenhouse ,by humans, that has created global warming to […] Continue reading →

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The global warming “controversy” and the politicization of science

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Drew Hamilton

Despite popular, largely politically-based claims to the contrary, global warming is a scientific observation explained by an accepted, well-defined scientific theory. Most debate over whether global warming exists and how it is caused occurs not among scientists who study climate change, but among the general public, mostly due to a lack of understanding and what… Continue reading →

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