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Bob Siederer

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


Memorial Day SciSchmooze

Able, a seven-pound rhesus monkey, and Baker, a one-pound squirrel monkey, both females. Photo credit: Life Magazine

Hello again Science Fans!

First off, thanks to Herb for filling in for me last month while I was traveling. Today we have a lot of catching up to do!

Happy anniversary to The Sierra Club which was founded on this date in 1892 in San Francisco!

Some of you are old enough to remember the beginnings of the “space race”, with the US pitted against the Soviet Union to see which one would be the first to create the technology to get man to the Moon. In 1959, we still didn’t know if humans could survive in space, so on this date Able and Baker, two monkeys, were laun


Looking at Climate with the SciSchmooze

Vaulted ceiling, Notre Dame Cathedral, Paris, France. Photo by the author.

Hello again Science fans!

This past Monday, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC, a UN organization) released their final report on the climate. Basically, we’re on the brink of irrevocable damage to the planet. The UN Secretary General said “This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once.”

My first thought is “where’s he been”? 

SciSchmooze Meets ChatGPT

Venus-Jupiter conjunction, courtesy Dr. Alex Filippenko

Welcome to our weekly science newsletter! In this newsletter, we aim to bring you the latest and most interesting developments in the world of science in a way that is accessible and engaging for general audiences.

Whether you're a science enthusiast or just looking to stay informed about the latest discoveries and innovations, we've got you covered. Each week, we'll explore a variety of topics including astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics, and more.

Our team of expert science writers will break down complex concepts into easy-to-understand explanations, providing you with a deeper understanding of the world around us. We'll also feature interviews with scientists, highlight i


The Rabbit Reads the SciSchmooze

Comet C/2022 E3 (ZTF). Credit: SpaceWeatherGallery.com/Akihiro Yamazaki

Hello again Science Fans, and welcome to the Year of the Rabbit!

The weather has been on everyone’s mind over the past month. The last time the Bay Area received this much rain in a 3 week period, Abraham Lincoln was President! Some areas were hit worse than others, of course. This all started the day after I left for Europe, and stopped when I returned. Strictly a coincidence, I assure you.

Most of us would recognize that there is a correlation between climate change and all the extreme weather events occurring around the world. For the past four years, 

Having a Rainy SciSchmooze

Hello Rainy Science Fans,

There are two items that really jump to the front of what I have been thinking as I start to write this missive today. (A day early so that I can remind you about the first one!)

Sunday morning 12.11.22 marked the return of Orion (not Noelle and Alex’s son!) to earth completing the Artemis I mission around the Moon. I was 


The SciSchmooze Goes Nuts

Chestnuts

Greetings fellow Science Fans! We trust you have had enough to eat this Thanksgiving weekend and are ready for some science! Well, we have that, and a little more for you.


Start with the nuts!

As I was growing up, one of the highlights of the holidays for me was eating roasted chestnuts. My father would talk about buying bags of them from street vendors in Vienna where he grew up, using them to keep his hands warm (in addition to eating them). I haven’t had them in quite a while, but this Thanksgiving I decided to buy a few and roast them.

Hardly anyone I know has tasted a


Astronaut Jim McDivitt’s official NASA portrait, taken in 1971

Hello again Science Fans!

It has been a very busy few weeks, with lots of news on many scientific fronts, so let’s get to it.


Health

I remember all too well late August and early September, 2000. I was returning from a road trip and spent a night in Pensacola, FL. I went to dinner at a restaurant early in the evening. One of the staff came in behind me carrying a small bag which I would later overhear her say was full of medicine her doctor had given her to counter the infection she had. She coughed


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