As I wrangle more conversations into a shareable format for our sci-fi film festival (thanks for your patience), let's return to a sci-fi topic encroaching on our reality: extraterrestrial life. Many of us have space travel on the mind, especially this week as we celebrate the first all-female space walk. (I suppose once upon a time that might have seemed purely sci-fi itself.) We have plans to return humans to the Moon, and a vision to set foot on Mars as well. Yet we need to be wary of stowaways, particularly bacteria … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Employees, Wash Your Hands Before Returning to the Moon
aliens
Science Book Review: Vessel
I finished Vessel by Lisa Nichols in just under 48 hours, partly because it is concise and briskly paced, and partly because the plot was that engaging. I'll do my best not to give away the twists and turns of the plot, as their discovery is one of the book's pleasures. The setup is that astronaut Catherine Wells has returned to Earth after a nine year absence, the sole survivor of a interstellar mission written off as a complete loss years earlier. She has no recollection of the critical portions of her journey, and … [Read more...] about Science Book Review: Vessel
Science Corner: Arithmophobia & Other Language Barriers
For everyone who blanches at binomials, cringes at coefficients or detests derivatives: you're not alone! Even scientists may avoid math if they can, according to a study on the effect of equation density on the likelihood a scientific publication will be cited by other scientists. (Original paper here) The effect is small; for every additional equation per page, a paper is 5% less likely to be referenced. Still, the result is notable because it was observed in the physics literature, a discipline generally associated … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Arithmophobia & Other Language Barriers
Who’s Afraid of Angels and Aliens, Alienation and Etcetera?
Socially speaking, as opposed to orations in solipsism, it can be quite alienating to bring up the promises and perils of alien life, especially in the middle of a serious conversation. By aliens, I do not mean our fellow human beings who rarely ever garner the support of rabid nationalists anywhere. Imagine the late Jean Marie Le-Pen breaking a baguette with a North African immigrant, not for the sake of a photoâ€shoot but out of a genuine sense of ubi caritas et amor. It is nearly impossible to persuade an … [Read more...] about Who’s Afraid of Angels and Aliens, Alienation and Etcetera?