Milton Friedman

The world's greatest economist and proponent of freedom died today at the age of 94. Here is a link to a long interview with Dr. Friedman in which he clearly and beautifully makes the case for individual liberty.

Evolution and Being Home for Dinner

Here is an interesting article on evolutionary psychology, although it never explicitly says so. And it is done in classic British style. An excerpt:

Cherie’s message was clear. Men should spend quality time with their family no matter how many wars they’ve inadvertently started and no matter how many constables are knocking on the door wanting to know about cash for ermine.

I’m sorry but I don’t understand. If you were an Iron Age man and you came home from a hunting expedition empty-handed because you wanted to play with your children, you’d starve. If you were a penguin and you came back from a fishing trip with nothing but snow in your flippers, your baby would die and the following year Mrs Penguin would find a new mate.

This is the problem. I am designed to kill foxes, bend every woman I meet over the nearest piece of furniture and give her a damn good seeing-to.

But in an evolutionary nanosecond, it’s all changed. After several million years of programming we’ve been told that what women really want is a husband who leaves his colleagues in the lurch at 7pm and comes home to make a delicious quiche.

Why You Shouldn't Throw an Elephant Into a Black Hole

They can recognize themselves in a mirror, an ability that until recently was thought to be only found in great apes and dolphins.

From the article:

US researchers made the discovery by studying the behaviour of Asian elephants in front of a tall mirror.

One of the animals repeatedly touched a white cross painted on her forehead - a classic test used to assess mirror self-recognition in children and apes.

The study is reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

"We see highly complex behaviours such as self awareness and self-other distinction in intelligent animals with well-established social systems," said Joshua Plotnik, from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.

What Happens When You Throw an Elephant Into a Black Hole?

I don't know. But here is a great article in New Scientist (which is much better than Scientific American) about elephants, black holes, and conservation of information.

Important Safety Information

The American Society for Velociraptor Attack Prevention

Bang postponed. Not Big enough. Reboot.

Here is a collection of six word science fiction stories from Wired magazine.

HG Wells Was Right?

This just in from the BBC:

Humanity may split into two sub-species in 100,000 years' time as predicted by HG Wells, an expert has said.

Evolutionary theorist Oliver Curry of the London School of Economics expects a genetic upper class and a dim-witted underclass to emerge.

The human race would peak in the year 3000, he said - before a decline due to dependence on technology.

An interesting article. I've long wondered about continued human evolution and what that would bring. What will be the environmental pressures of the future that will affect mate selection? How will this be impacted by technology that will allow humans to genetically design their children from the ground up? I think the most likely scenario is that in the future, no matter what DNA you start with, all humans will be tall, symmetrical, athletic and intelligent. Or maybe I just think that because I'm afraid my descendants will inevitably wind up in the "dim-witted underclass."

Cassini

Lest we forget, Cassini is still out there, orbiting Saturn and taking great pictures like this one. Launched from Cape Canaveral at 4:43am EDT on October 15th 1997, Cassini arrived in orbit on July 1, 2004.

Black Hole Palooza

Ever feel like you are being pulled in 200 different directions at once? That's because there are about 200 supermassive black holes within 400 light years of Earth, according to a NASA study of x-ray sources. To be considered supermassive, a black hole needs to have a mass of at least millions of suns and some type of funny costume.

MRO Takes Picture of Opportunity

The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter has used its high-resolution camera to take a picture of fellow Mars explorer, the rover Opportunity, which is currently perched on the edge of Victoria Crater.

Shuttle and Space Station

Here is a beautiful photograph of the space shuttle Atlantis and the International Space Station silhouetted against the sun.

Picture of the "New" Solar System

Pluto is a Pluton

WTF? Yeah, that was my reaction too. I seems that the International Astronomical Union is recommending that Pluto remain a "planet". In fact, they recommend that an official astronomical definition of the word planet be adopted:

"A planet is a celestial body that (a) has sufficient mass for its self-gravity to overcome rigid body forces so that it assumes a hydrostatic equilibrium (nearly round) shape, and (b) is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet."

So, by this definition, Pluto remains a planet and Ceres, the newly discovered Kuiper Belt Object 2003 UB313, and Pluto's moon Charon get a promotion. Now Charon gets a pass on the "is in orbit around a star, and is neither a star nor a satellite of a planet" part because the center of gravity of the Pluto-Charon system is actually outside of Pluto. The Earth's moon is quite a bit larger than Charon (3476km diameter vs. 1212km) but the center of gravity of the Earth-Moon system is beneath the surface of the Earth, so it is considered to orbit the Earth, and thus is not a planet.

To confuse matters more, the asteroid Ceres (now a planet) will be classified as a dwarf planet and Charon/Pluto/UB313 and all the other KBOs and presumably Oort cloud objects that meet the new definition will be called "Plutons" to separate them from the 8 (not counting Ceres) classical planets.

Hot SF Chick of the Week : Week 5

Seven of Nine. Star Trek Voyager pretty much sucked until early in season 4 when Jeri Ryan joined the cast as former borg Seven of Nine, and then it sucked a little less. I always thought that the writers of the show tried to show two sides of an argument by having Seven taking the coldly rational side and Captain Janeway taking the more human, emotional side. Kind of like the original Star Trek had arguments between Spock and McCoy. The problem was, that in Voyager, Seven always made a lot more sense than Janeway, who often ended up looking like an idiot. I don't know if the writers planned it that way, or were just bad at writing. I suspect the latter.

Pluto to Remain a Planet

An international group has recommended that Pluto retain its status as a planet. This is a big victory for Pluto, but things are not settled yet, as the group that suggested keeping Pluto's planet title is just an advisory body. The article also says that several group members suggested having three classes of planets: terrestrial, gas giant, and a third that would include objects like Pluto. I think this is a reasonable compromise, although not as good as my own suggestion.

Dr. James Van Allen, RIP

James Van Allen, after whom the Van Allen Radiation Belt is named, has died. America's first orbital spacecraft, Explorer I contained a scientific experiment designed by Dr. Van Allen that discovered a region of radiation surrounding the Earth.

Yeah. This Sounds Like a Great Idea

"Physicists in Japan Plan to Create New Universe in Lab." Nope, I can't think of anything that could go wrong here. Except perhaps, creating an interdimensional rift through which aliens that can only be fought by teenage girls wearing giant robot suits come pouring through.

Bummer

David Gemmell has died. He was my favorite author of fantasy. His books are action packed and full of memorable characters. The heroes of his novels are usually seriously flawed men, sometimes with few redeeming features, but they always know the difference between right and wrong, and a strong sense of morality infused his works. Here is an excerpt from his novel The Legend of Deathwalker:

Druss nodded, his face solemn. "I am not a thinker," he said, "nor am I stupid. I am a man like so many others. I could have been a farmer, or a carpenter, even a laborer. Never a teacher, though, or a cleric. Intellectual men make me nervous. Like that Majon." He shook his head. "I have met a great number of ambassadors, and they all seem identical: easy, insincere smiles and gimlet eyes that don't miss a thing. What do they believe in? Do they have a sense of honor? Of patriotism? Or do they laugh at us common men as they line their purses with our gold? I don't know much, poet, but I know that men like Majon-- aye, and you-- can make all I believe in seem as insubstantial as summer snow. And make me look foolish in the bargain. Oh, I can understand how good and evil can come down to numbers. Like those women in the fountain. A besieging army could say, 'Kill six women and we'll spare the city.' Well, there's only one right answer to that. But I couldn't tell you why I know it is right."

Hot SF Chick of the Week : Week 4

Lynda Carter aka Wonder Woman and the Wonder Twins.



Bonus picture:

A Day in the Life of an SRB

NASA has this cool video up that is taken from a camera mounted on one of the space shuttle's solid rocket boosters. The video is long (about 12 minutes) but is very neat. Liftoff occurs about 50 seconds into the clip and booster separation occurs at around the 3 minute mark. Next is a long segment of the booster cartwheeling through the sky on its journey to the ocean. The parachute deploys at about the 7:20 mark and touchdown is at 7:33. After that it seems to be just floating in the water. Good job NASA!