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13 August 2011
Weekend Digest- Skeptical Dictionary for Kids
The Scientists are the real skeptics Skepticism is the heart of science. Nothing is accepted by faith, you must have a ton of evidence and observation for something to reach the level of consensus and thus the status of theory. This level is reached only after hundreds and in most cases thousands of independent observations/experiments. Any one observation or experiment can bring the whole thing crashing down. Richard Feynman …
19 May 2011
EF 5 Tornado Carries Large Sign Over 200 Kilometers
A viewer, who lives in Lincoln County, TN. brought me this sign that she found in her pasture after the April 27 swarm of tornadoes. As you can see, it is a large campaign sign, and it is made of a fairly light plastic. All in all, I would guess it weighs around 1 kg. The sign is over a meter high and around 2 meters in length. So who …
11 May 2011
Doctor Who Theme on a Tesla Coil!
For those science geeks who are dyed in the wool fans of Doctor Who: (like me) Oh, this is just positively brilliant!
24 March 2011
I’m a Klutz, but Apple Makes A Durable iPhone!
The TV station I work for operates a dual polarimetric weather radar called ARMOR (Advanced Radar for Meterological Operations and Research.). The radar is a joint project between WHNT and the University of Alabama at Huntsville and we were the first TV weather department in the world to have dual pole capability. UAH and NASA scientists at the National Science Technology Center use it for research and we use it …
21 February 2011
Huge Quake Brings Down Christchurch Cathedral
I took the photo on the right a year ago on New Years Day 2010. Christchurch New Zealand is one of the most beautiful cities you will ever see. Without doubt that building was the most famous in all of NZ. It’s now mostly destroyed. The quake struck just after 12:51PM Tuesday, in Christchurch, a magnitude 6.3 quake struck the city. It was centered just 5 km below the city …
18 February 2011
Bats In The Radar
Every forecaster can tell you about seeing birds and bats on radar. It actually happens quite frequently. I’ve long thought that this data could be of value to biologists, and now it seems they do as well! Great report from the BBC on it below.
7 February 2011
Homer’s on Mars and Power Balance Admits Lying-Yes they’re related.
So maybe I’m crazy, but look at the picture on the left. These are shots of sand dunes on Mars, taken by the Mars Recon Orbiter. The images were taken about a year apart, and yes, they do change quite dramatically. But look at the image on the left. Remind you of anyone? It’s truly amazing how the human mind tries to make order out of nothing. We see this …
15 January 2011
More Frost Flowers!
Some more amazing pictures of frost flowers in the email this past week. Thanks to Joni Atkins for these incredible shots. The science behind them is discussed in my previous post. Water is such an incredibly weird substance! Thanks Joni!
4 January 2011
Ever Seen One of These In Your Bird Feeder??
A few weeks ago it was frost flowers and now another strange ice formation is spotted here in the Tennessee Valley. This time it’s an ice spike. Merlin (Mo) Marice of Huntsville in Alabama went out to check his bird bath Monday morning and was greeted with this! He called and sent me the pic in search of an explanation. My initial guess was that the top of the ice …