by Herb Masters

Happy Continuing Journey around our not so personal star!

What a way to start a new year.  First off before I dive in to all of the amazing science in space that is going on, please consider how much we still continue to learn about our good old home planet.  When you consider that the big news came from 4 billion miles away and 235,000 miles away do you really know your neighbors?  Meet your single-celled neighbours – a microbial tour of a metropolis 

This has been a fun week to see the families of leaders in science and politics celebrating.  Did you see the New Year celebration of the New Horizons incredible flight?  Politics aside, watching that and the swearing in of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, where the children of all of the scientists, engineers, and politicians (yes, both parties) came together at

by David Almandsmith

Greetings Schmoozer Reader,
 
The mere fact you are reading the SciSchmooze suggests you are a very well-informed person. Consequently, you know that it is good for society – and life in general – when all of us are better informed. ¿Does this imply you have an obligation to society and yourself to help educate? Well, perhaps not an ‘obligation’ but certainly an ‘incentive.’ However, educating is not so straight-forward as it may first seem (and many of us – I for one – lack the temperament to be a good educator). Blaise Pascal (French mathematician 1623-1662) wrote of his process for ‘changing’ a person’s mind. The Internet is chock-full of similar advice, e.g. this page. Herb Masters in a previous SciSchmooze gave a link to a brilliant

by Bob Siederer

Hello again Science Fans.

The Winter Solstice has just passed and from here on the days will be getting longer, bit by bit.  It is a busy time for sky watchers, with meteor showers, a comet, and an upcoming total lunar eclipse all happening now or soon.  King tides are also on tap this month and next.

But 50 years ago tomorrow a most amazing photograph was taken.  The astronauts in Apollo 8 took a picture of Earth from their position orbiting the moon.  Dubbed "Earthrise" by NASA, it has become an iconic picture and changed the way we view ourselves and our position in the cosmos.  It is worth another look. This article gives some perspective to the photo.

As the end of the year approaches you will see many "best of 2018" lists, including this one about

by Herb Masters
Hello Science Fans,
Most of science is, deep down, based on facts.  Some of the most important disagreements we see and hear relate to what we call facts.  Facts can help us understand and learn about many things.  But it seems that there are always those that deny what most of us think are basic facts.  Consider the roundness of the earth.  Most of us can't believe anybody would think it is flat.  (Note to NASA:  I'd be glad to say the earth is flat and the moon landing was faked if you would give me a tour of your facilities to prove me wrong!)  I find myself questioning the "cargo cult science" of some of the folks we share the planet with but generally try to be respectful and understand what is going on.  I'm not always successful in this though.  I came across a podcast that I think really explains a lot and I highly recommend it… 

by Herb Masters

Greetings Fans of Understanding,

Often it seems as if things slow down around the time of the Winter Solstice.  Various religious holidays lead us to reflecting on the lives of our friends, family, and ourselves.  In years past writing the SciSchmooze, the science news has seemed to be a reduced.  I'm not feeling that this year.  It seems that there is a lot going on in science news both out of this world and well within it. 
Let's start with a bit of seasonal applied science and citizen science to go with it. 

Embedded in all of the discussion about sea level rise, I find the tides to be very intriguing.  King Tides are coming: December 22 and 23, and again on January 20 and 21, 2019.    I think we take them for granted and fail to notice how much variation there is in what they look like.  Consider the tides Sun 12.9 in San Francisco and

by Meenakshi Prabhune

Hello fellow Schmoozers,

Hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving and are already preparing for Christmas. If you are looking for a scientific gift, let me inform you that Foldscope (the paper microscope) is available on holiday sale. Do consider donating the gift of curiosity to your loved ones or schools.

In the scientific realm, there has been an important news that everyone might have heard in the past two weeks. A researcher in China claims to have edited genes of two babies. I have heard several versions from people last week, so let me clarify the real news for everyone.

“Two beautiful little Chinese girls, Lulu and Nana, came crying into the world as healthy as any other babies a few weeks ago,” He Jiankui, a Chinese scientist, announced in a You tube video last week. He said that he took sperm from an HIV positive father and egg from HIV negative mother, fertilized them in the lab (similar to IVF procedure that couples who cannot have kids naturally undergo). The main difference here was that he edited a gene in the embryos that would make the babies immune to HIV using the CRISPR gene editing technology. He implanted these embryos in

by David Almandsmith

Hello again, thoughtful friend of thinking (¿or is it thinking friend of thought?),
 
Once upon a time (¡spoiler alert: fairy tale follows!) taxonomy neatly divided life into two kingdoms:

• PLANTS and ANIMALS.

Oops. Well dang, these microscopic things don’t have a nucleus so let’s make it three kingdoms:

• BACTERIA, PLANTS, and ANIMALS.

You probably see where this is going. Today, largely because of genetic studies, there are three recognized domains (Bacteria, Archaea, & Eukaryota), six super-kingdoms of Eukaryota, and oodles of kingdoms. Heck, we animals (Kingdom Animalia) are placed under super-kingdom Opistokonta lumped in with fungi (huh?) ¿Did i say six

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