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Bob Siederer

A Sciencey Valentine from the SciSchmooze

Hello to Those Who Schmooze Science,

I hope that you found what you wanted today with the Super Bowl. For me I found no lines at the grocery store or the gas station. I did have a lot of computer data issues with today’s SciSchmooze though. Which will make this one a bit briefer than usual. If you did stay home for the Super Bowl, I hope Taylor was able to join you, the ads were as good as hoped for, and my friend Jerry’s was a big hit with the clydesdale fans.

Now, on to the science! Did you know that Sunday 11 February was the International Day of 

Remembering Ingenuity with the SciSchmooze

A close-up view of Ingenuity on Mars, as seen from the Perseverance rover. NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU

Hello again Science Fans!

In the era of planned obsolence and less than robust construction, it is refreshing to see that some things are still over-engineered and over-built. The Mars helecopter, Ingenuity, certainly counts as one of the later. Ingenuity was designed to make 5 flights. It was intended as a test to see if it could fly through the thin atmosphere of Mars.

Ingenuity was dropped from the belly of Perseverance, the Mars rover, shortly after landing. It not only flew the planned 5 missions, but continued on in a new role, helping scout clear paths for Perseverance to take towards new exploration targets.


Christmas Eve with an Early SciSchmooze

Cassiopeia A

Hello again Science Fans!

Since it is Christmas Eve, many of you have plans for today or tonight, so we’re publishing earlier than usual today.

The holiday season is a joyous time for many. Please remember that for some, it is a source of stress. Check in on friends or relatives who might be alone at this time of year.

If you’re looking for something to do New Years Day, we’ve listed some First Day Hikes on our calendar. These are led at various California State Pa


Thursday’s massive solar flare

Hello again Science fans!

We’re into the meat of the holiday season and the number of events on our calendar is quite reduced through the end of the year. But don’t let that stop you from finding interesting science things to educate you, or your family.

On December 26 - 28, the San Mateo County public library system is hosting several telescope viewing nights at various library locations around the county. See our listings for the locations and times.

Still looking for a science gift? Plenty of tickets remain for “The Physics Show” (January 6 and 7, 20 and 21) as we go to press tonight. But the January 20 shows are selling the


Thanksgiving Weekend SciSchmooze

One thousand galaxies belonging to the Perseus Cluster with more than 100,000 additional galaxies visible farther away. Each can contain up to hundreds of billions of stars. Credit...European Space Agency/Euclid Consortium/NASA; image processing by J.-C. Cuillandre, G. Anselmi

Hello again Science fans! I hope you all had enough turkey (or whatever you chose to eat)! When I was in school, we were told that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated by Native Americans and European settlers to give thanks for the harvest. While that celebration did happen, that isn’t really the origin of the Thanksgiving holiday. It was about Union progress in the Civil War! Historian Heather Cox Richardson explains.

It is about time to ta


Perusing the Universe with the SciSchmooze

Bob Siederer
OCT 23
Mosaic of 42 galaxies from the Siena Galaxy Atlas (Credit:CTIO/NOIRLab/DOE/NSF/AURA/J. Moustakas)

Hello again, Fans of Science!

There are lots of things around us that we take for granted, yet are scientific marvels. Take, for instance, glass. We look through it. It shelters us from the elements in windows. We drink from vessels made from it. But what is it, really? Is it a solid? Liquid? The answer to both may be yes, as glass is a bit of a scientific mystery! This article will get you thinking!

To Bennu and Back with the SciSchmooze

September 24, 2023

BOB SIEDERER

The recovery capsule and parachute in the Utah desert this morning. Credit Keegan Barber/NASA

Hello again Science Fans!

Just before 7:52 AM (PDT) this morning, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission returned the sample recovery capsule (SRC) containing material from the asteroid Bennu to a desert area in Utah. This is a remarkable achievement. First, they had to get to Bennu, which involved some complicated orbital mechanics. Then they had to orbit the asteroid, the smallest space object ever orbited by a satellite. Next, they had to successfully obtain a sample of the asteroid’s surface, deposit it in a container, and close the lid. Tha


SciSchmoozing from Afar

Standing on the Prime Meridian, 0.00.000

Hello again Fans of Science, all 6,111 of you currently subscribed to the SciSchmooze. Thank you for being here!


Time, and where am I?

I’m currently writing from UTC+2, also known as Central European Summer Time at the moment (UTC+1 in the winter).

A few days ago, I stood on the Prime Meridian at the Royal Observatory in Greenwitch Park, London and learned about the history of time as we know it today. Before there was standardization, each location had their own way to measure time. Nothing was coordinated. Imagine the chaos! T


Eunice Foote and the SciSchmooze

Eunice Foote as the Google Doodle

Hello again Science fans!

Have you ever heard of Eunice Foote? No? She’s someone we all should know more about, and she was the subject of the Google Doodle on July 17th (pictured above), on what would have been her 204th birthday!

Eunice was a women’s rights activist. She was the first woman to be published in a physics journal. In 1856 she wrote “Circumstances Affecting the Heat of Sun’s Rays”, a paper that laid out the basics of climate science. Three years after the publication, scientist John Tyndall would be credited for laying this groundwork, not Foote. It wasn’t until the 2010s that her work began to be recognized.

OceanGate Titan

Hello again Science Fans!

It has been a busy week in both Science and the world.

One year ago this past week, the Supreme Court overturned Roe vs. Wade.

This weekend, the mercenary military Wagner Group almost staged a coup in Russia before retreating under promises of immunity.

The Summer Solstice occurred on Wednesday morning, the first day of astronomical summer in the northern hemisphere.

The world watched as rescuers from Canada and the US trie


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