Most-read Posts
- Enhancer RNA (eRNA): More powerful than previously thought
- Loricifera: Larger life without oxygen
- Progress toward graphene solar cells
- Psychopaths love them some dopamine
- Life on Mars, if it exists, is below the surface
- New technique: Identifying proteins with micro western blots
- Quantum teleportation over 16 km in open air
- First human trials: Nanoparticles deliver anti-cancer siRNA
- Petimo: A cuddly social networking toy for kids
- Quantum entanglement helps keep DNA together
- Back to the Future: Cars with hub motors
- Discovered: Catalyst for a new industry
- Nanotech: Fuzzy fabric goes into production
- Emerging technology: Janus dendrimers and dendrimersomes
- Surprise verdict in U.S. gene patent case
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Category Archives: Essay
Should junk science be banned from movies and television?
Most of you reading this will think – yeah, banning junk science that wouldn’t be bad – but you’re probably skeptical. You don’t need to work in the entertainment industry to know that scientific accuracy is almost never a priority. So a ban on bad science? Good luck with that – right? An academic complaint [...]
Posted in Essay Tagged Avatar, bad science, Cameron, junk science, movies, Perkowitz, science fiction, SEE, Star Trek, Star Wars Leave a comment
The U.S. in space: Moon, out. Commerce, in.
It’s not like the United States is the only game in space. It wasn’t even the only country with a Moon project. China and Russia both made noises about going to the Moon with men (or women). Still, the U.S. was the pioneer on the Moon – the Apollo Project, “One giant step for mankind…”, [...]
Posted in Essay Tagged Apollo Program, Cassini, Constellation Program, Kepler, Moon, NASA, space Leave a comment
The borderland of net neutrality
Thank goodness the Internet is no longer an American plaything. I know, however, that what happens to the Internet in the United States is still important to what happens to the Internet elsewhere. I’m thinking particularly about the issue of Net Neutrality, which surfaces with some regularity in the U.S. and more often now in [...]
Posted in Essay Tagged communications, consumer benefit, government policy, Internet, net neutrality, routers Leave a comment
Impact or Bomb? Science in the Age of Hype
Which of these two words – bomb or impact – would you put in the following blank? On October 9, 2009 NASA’s LCROSS mission to the Moon did something expected to be dramatic. It split the LCROSS spacecraft into two pieces. One piece, bringing up the rear, would take video and monitor a second piece [...]
Posted in Essay Leave a comment
Science in cold fusion