Commonplace Cartography » Science Stuff

This video is like a multivitamin for your Sense of Wonder

Mike — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:46:22 +0000

Cooking: humanity’s ‘killer app’”?

Mike — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:01:42 +0000

As reported in The Economist, Harvard’s Richard Wrangham has a theory that “cooking and other forms of preparing food are humanity’s ‘killer app’”:

Cooking is a human universal. No society is without it. No one other than a few faddists tries to survive on raw food alone. And the consumption of a cooked meal in the evening, usually in the company of family and friends, is normal in every known society. Moreover, without cooking, the human brain (which consumes 20-25% of the body’s energy) could not keep running. Dr Wrangham thus believes that cooking and humanity are coeval.

In fact, as he outlined to the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in Chicago, he thinks that cooking and other forms of preparing food are humanity’s “killer app”: the evolutionary change that underpins all of the other—and subsequent—changes that have made people such unusual animals.

(Hat tip to Alisa for the link on FB)

“And oh how they danced!”

Mike — Sat, 24 Jan 2009 15:09:07 +0000

BLDGBLOG: Stonehenge Beneath the Waters of Lake Michigan.

(via VSL)

Spacehack

Mike — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 14:26:05 +0000

If you’re like me and terrible at math and wear glasses and anyway too afraid to go up in space strapped to a giant fireball:

Spacehack.

Now that’s a deep infield

Mike — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 06:11:37 +0000

Ever wonder just how far the astronauts of Apollo 11 went on their historic moonwalks? You’ve seen a baseball diamond, right? Well…

Nice.

(via Kottke’s “The Best Links 2008″)

Five Years on Mars!

Mike — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 18:08:32 +0000

Spirit landed on Mars five years ago today. I recall being overcome with emotion when it landed, watching the joy of the crew at the JPL, knowing that the human race had sunk a jump shot from millions of miles away.

These Mars rovers rekindled my imagination and belief in an American space program. Let’s hope we can keep the momentum going through these difficult times.

Also:

Did you know you can follow the rovers on Twitter?
There’s a very nice reflection at Cumbrian Sky.

“The Universe, Yours to Discover”

Mike — Sat, 03 Jan 2009 03:42:16 +0000

The International Year of Astronomy (IYA2009) will be a global celebration of astronomy and its contributions to society and culture, highlighted by the 400th anniversary of the first use of an astronomical telescope by Galileo Galilei. The aim of the Year is to stimulate worldwide interest, especially among young people, in astronomy and science under the central theme “The Universe, Yours to Discover”. IYA2009 events and activities will promote a greater appreciation of the inspirational aspects of astronomy that embody an invaluable shared resource for all nations.

Gonna have to come up with some ways to get my daughter even more excited than she already is about space and astronomy…