This photo of a total Lunar Eclipse was captured 11/8/22 at around 3:30am MST, and was captured using two telescopes and two cameras, to maximize detail and color depth.

It’s That Time of Year Science Fans!

There are two items I’d like to mention to start with. Celebrations from many cultures and taxes!

Every year about this time people think about the biggest and most universal (at least on this Pale Blue Dot of a planet) celebration. There are a lot of different cultures and religions that base their own celebrations on it, but we know that it is really about the farthest the earth gets from the ecliptic. (All right astronomers let me know if that is a grossly wrong statement!) Many of us call it the Winter Solstice. For many it is a time of renewal …

Greetings Science Acceptors,

I’m often totally amazed at what science (and technology) has accomplished — throughout history and into this day and age. Keep in mind that what is done today often exceeds what science fiction has imagined in the last 296 years. How things that were revolutionary became accepted and were used to make new discoveries is some of the story of science.. I’m not very good with life sciences and am amazed at how scientists figure out everything from Anatomy to Zoophytology, including Acarology, Cnidology, Euthenics, Paedology, and Torpedology. There is still much to learn. Here’s an interesting article about nutritional science. Not everything that looks like science is science, especially in science base…

Hello SciSchmoozians (only when Halloween is nigh!),

As you may know the Ig Nobel Awards were awarded last month at the 32nd First Annual Ig Nobel Prize Ceremony in their continuing recurring annual series celebrating science that makes you laugh and then makes you think. I really recommend that you listen to it on Fri Nov 25 on an NPR Science Friday special. Should you want to get a jump on the awards and learn about such wondrous things as whether or how constipation affects the mating prospects of scorpions nobody will accuse you of cheating! Please note that these awards are fun, crazy, entertaining, and educational as well!

On to other sciencey things… I think that science and technology have different purposes. Science leads to the kn…

Hello Science and Rain fans!

What an amazing change in the weather in just a few weeks. The real climate change problems are not what was predicted 50 years ago for global warming. It’s a lot more complicated! Another thing to note is that there have been a lot of very cold swings in temperature that have been happening around the world. Right now I’m thankful that I got to see a bit of rain last night and today. Here’s a wealth of good reading Climate Truths: The big picture

As I mentioned last week, Einstein was in the news a lot 100 years ago. Back in the day… “talkies” weren’t in use yet, so what would a movie about relativity look like? How about this… Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Explained. In 1941, whe…

Hello Fans of Science and Reason,

I have to admit to being a bit overwhelmed by what has been going on these days. The Science Schmooze is about science and reason. I think science is the best tool we have to understand how the universe works and reason is the responsibility of all of us who are involved in making decisions. What Is an Old-Growth Tree Actually Worth? These can’t answer every question though. There is a fuzzy boundary between science and how we all get along personally, locally, nationally, and internationally. Some day that may even extend to extraplanetary! What some accept as a fact isn’t always what others might think. Many times these disagreements end up being decided by someone or a group that is unqualified to …

with the SciSchmooze 7.18.22

Hello Reasonable and Sciencey readers,

So let me start by saying that the JWST image reveal was amazing. (Side note: It is also amazing that NASA can do that, but they can’t put on a smooth web presentation!-) Here’s how to be gobsmacked by the advances from Hubble to JWST! Professor Andrew Fraknoi has a nice explanation of the images at Peering Inside a Quartet of Galaxies Here’s a pretty good story of how we got to where we are now.

One of many new hot topics is monkeypox. If not science, what would medicine be based on? Be aware of the source and trustworthiness of the source! I’ve mentioned this before, but be sure to check out How to Spot Misinformation Online&nbs…

SciSchmooze 7.11.22

herb masters

Greetings Science Fans and Critical Thinkers,

A special note about Tuesday, don’t miss the first images from the James Webb Telescope at 07:30 PDT (14:30 UTC). (Note: the Jan 6 hearing is also about the same time!) Here’s a teaser. Check out the NASA Scientific Visualization Studio for more great visualizations as well.

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I am not a student, and never have been a student, of history. Needless to say there is a lot going on in the world of science and reason. I do like various stories that appear unrelated that I think make the threads of the history of science. Consider the&nb…

with the SciSchmooze

Greetings Science Fans and Science Curious,

I spent 25 years working in “emergency services” on fire engines and ambulances. I’m sure you have seen a story about a tragic incident that was “avoidable” or maybe even seen it personally. Let’s just say that I have seen a lot of them. One of the things that always set me back was thinking about why it even happened. There are so many senseless and avoidable things that could easily be avoided if someone just paid a bit more attention and considered what they were doing. Mind you I’m not talking about calculated risk taking like skydiving, mountain climbing, or even the most dangerous activity (actually that is a prime example!-) we do. Look, we all take risks, we have to…

Not always

Greetings Science fans,

It’s been awhile since I did the “Schmooze”. That doesn’t mean that I haven’t been thinking of science and how we deal with it. It does mean that I have read and viewed a lot of sciencey things, more than what I can share here. So this will be a bit different from my usual format.

Here are two takes on life underwater… bubble-net feeding and Icy determination. How about skydiving salamanders? (salamanders that parachute) Compare them to space debris. We have much to learn about just about everything! There will always be challenges that we didn’t anticipate, consider How three Ukrainian scientists are surviving Russia’s brutal war. Even today there are challeng…

Hello to the Science Inclined and Science Embracing,

My friends have all heard me say that I still want my winter and all this “great” or “beautiful” weather is really not! I still want my winter and it looks like we might get a small sampling of what we “should” have had. Others who have heard me go on about the wonder of the Foucault Pendulum have heard me talk about how astronomy used to take a long time to do. It took weeks, months or even years, of careful observations and notes about where things were in the sky to notice small changes to figure out that the center of universe was not the earth. Note: Astronomy is still a long and arduous discipline/science! However, this week the Moon and Regulus will be doing a dance i…