‘Science!’ Archives
It’s called SpaceShipTwo…
It only took three years for Burt Rutan and Richard Branson to finalize the design for SpaceShipTwo... they unveiled the world's first commercial spaceliner today in New York. Test flights will take place this summer, the first spaceflights should take place sometime in 2009... about the same time Barack Obama plans on ending the US manned [...]
Keith Conrad: Still the world’s most magnificent health specimen
I've had very bad insomnia ever since this summer (gee, I wonder what brought that on...), but it turns out that according to one new study not only do I have nothing to worry about, but all of you should give my six hour sleep schedule a try: Studies show contrary to belief, it's not the length of sleep helping you feel refreshed in the [...]
Don’t shoot the MESSENGER
NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft made it's first pass by Mercury and beamed back about 1,200 pictures... which incidentally is about as many pictures as Jessica Curtis takes on the average Wednesday. Anyway, included in the first batch of photos was one of the Caloris Basin, which is the largest impact crater in the solar system. The impact that [...]
I’m Keith Conrad, and I’m a sneezer
Finally, an answer to a question that has haunted man since he walked out of a cave, looked up, and started sneezing like crazy. I've always gotten weird looks from people because I constantly sneeze whenever I walk into bright sunlight... it turns out I'm not alone, and there's actually some scientific basis for it. Looking at the Sun Can [...]
Saturn V tug-of-war
Ok before I get started here, you have to understand just how big a Saturn V rocket is... luckily living in Huntsville, I got to see both a real one on its side and also a mock-up of a standing Saturn V. For those of you who haven't seen a real Saturn V... and that's actually probably most people... they were a little bit taller than a 35-story [...]
Look! Up in the sky!
It just so happens that I'll be awake anyway... Must-See Meteor Shower Friday Morning The Quadrantid meteor shower is due to reach maximum in the predawn hours of Friday, Jan. 4. The Quadrantids are notoriously unpredictable, but if any year promises a fine display, this could be it. Indeed, this may end up being the best meteor shower of [...]
Brrr
Today in Atlanta it was in the mid 30's with a low in the mid teens... I didn't move to the southeast for this! Of course it's time's like these that you have to realize that "cold" in Atlanta isn't really cold at all. In that spirit I think it's time to bring back something from the heady days of the Early Spin. Back when it was about -15 or [...]
