If you can’t get enough of the Apollo missions after my last post watch as the Apollo Guidance Computer (AGC) is booted up. See inside the machine at the ropes used to store information and marvel at all the little wires that made the landing on the Moon possible. For […]
Science
Stephen Hawking on Star Trek
Stephen Hawking, Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton played poker with Data on Star Trek TNG. This BBC documentary on the life of Professor Stephen Hawking is well worth a listen. RIP.
Science
Cassini: The Grand Finale
“1:55 a.m. PDT Cassini engineers have received the signal that Cassini has started a five-minute roll to point the instrument that will sample Saturn’s atmosphere (INMS) into the optimal direction, facing the direction of the oncoming gases. Along with this roll, the spacecraft is reconfiguring its systems for real-time data […]
Science
How New Horizons flew to Pluto
The last week has been quite an amazing one in human history. We have photographed up close all the planets (and ex-planets) of our solar system. What our ancestors saw as mere points of light in the sky are now full colour images that anyone can see. It’s really amazing. […]
Science
How did Apollo get to the Moon?
It’s extraordinary that people haven’t been back to the Moon in my lifetime. I can only imagine the excitement of the first Moon landing, although from what I’ve read the later missions the general public wasn’t that interested in it. Still, the Apollo missions were an amazing feat of engineering, […]
Science
Neil Armstrong on Being a Nerd
Yonatan Zunger posted this video featuring Neil Armstrong’s voice on Google Plus almost 2 weeks ago and I’ve been meaning to post it here for a while. The latest xkcd cartoon finally gave me the opportunity to combine this inspirational video and Kerbal Space Program in one post. So far […]
Science
Carl Sagan: ‘Science Is a Way of Thinking’
In a few hours time Neil deGrasse Tyson will present the new series of Cosmos. We won’t see it in this part of the world for another week unfortunately. I never saw the original series and only know Carl Sagan by reputation as the only time I’ve heard him speak […]
Science
You should listen to the Ig Nobel 2013 Ceremony
The Ig Nobel Prizes are given out every year to “honor achievements that first make people laugh, and then makes them think”. You may have heard of them already for rewarding prizes to, let’s say, unusual achievements. This year is no different. There was research into dung beetles, confirmation that […]
Ireland
Futureproof on Newstalk
This morning there was a compilation of interviews from the science radio show Futureproof on Newstalk. It’s a show that broadcasts at 6pm on a Sunday evening and so I’ve hardly ever listened to it. No more, I subscribed to the show podcasts. Hard enough finding the xml feed. You […]