Found: 90% of the Distant Universe

Discovery Magazine's Bad Astronomy blog is running an article explaining how scientists found the missing 90% of stars in the universe. It turns out their light was being absorbed by various interstellar gases, so scientists just ended up looking for light from a different wavelength and, sure enough, they found them all.

So never fear. The universe still makes sense (more or less).

Russia Planning to Save Earth From Asteroid That Probably Won't Hit

Russian space agency head Anton Perminov wants to save the Earth from an asteroid named Apophis that NASA now calculates has about a 1-in-330,000 (0.0003%) chance of hitting us.

In another article, Perminov said Russia may send a spacecraft to change the asteroid's trajectory. It's unclear why Russia thinks the asteroid will hit the Earth when no other international organization seems to think so.

"I don't remember exactly, but it seems to me it could hit the Earth by 2032," Perminov said.

Well, we DO need to find a way to address this eventuality. If it takes shaky science to get there... I suppose I shouldn't complain.

The Milky Way Over Devil's Tower

A beautiful photograph titled "The Milky Way Over Devil's Tower" by Wally Pacholka, via NASA's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

Science and the Public

Ars Technica is running a great article entitled "The public trusts scientists - but not their conclusions". Citing a Pew Research Center study, the article mentions that while scientists are admired by the public, not all of them agree with their conclusions.

For example, 84% of scientists believe in man-made climate change, but only about 50% of the public agrees with these perceptions, and only 21% of self-identified conservative republicans believe in it. As the article points out, there is a divide between the scientific community and the public on controversial issues: while 97% of the scientists surveyed believed in evolution, one-third of non-scientists didn't.

The Dark Side of News Reporting

Yahoo! News is carrying a story from HealthDay News titled "The Dark Side of Vegetarianism".

The piece statesthat a higher-than-average number of vegetarians have eating disorders. The title and the introduction to the article makes the situation seem rather dire, until you start reading carefully:

There's a dark side to vegetarianism, said Dr. David L. Katz, director of the Prevention Research Center at Yale University School of Medicine. He had no role in the research.

(Emphasis mine.)

Later on, the same doctor says:

"This is not due to vegetarianism but the other way around: Adolescents struggling to control their diets and weight might opt for vegetarianism among other, less-healthful efforts."

So, really, the article is misleading. It is a poor example of journalism and a horrible piece intended to gain hits instead of presenting the facts in an unbiased manner. Sadly, this form of news is all too prevalent these days.

Atomic Toys

The Gilbert U-238 Atomic Energy Lab, a children's educational set from the early 1950s... complete with four types of uranium ore! I wish I had this when I was younger. It is true: they don't make them liked they used to!

Darwin at 200

Today is Charles Darwin's 200th birthday. In my mind, he is one of the most important scientific minds in human history. His theories on evolution and adaptation changed the way scientists examined the world around us.

Because his hypotheses have withstood the test of time, they are now generally accepted to be true in the scientific community. But not everyone believes in evolution. The most famous example is the Creation Museum in Kansas, which really is no museum at all because it conveniently ignores scientific arguments for blatant propaganda.

Many scientific journals and blogs are celebrating Darwin today (among them: Ars Technica, the AAAS, and the National Academies of Science); it is important to learn to appreciate science in an all-too-inadequately-scientific world. Spend a moment today thinking about science and, in doing so, you will honor Charles Darwin.