CelestialFamily » science http://www.celestialfamily.org Making our way back home Tue, 31 Jan 2012 23:59:47 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Happy Carl Sagan Day http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-carl-sagan-day.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=happy-carl-sagan-day http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2011/11/happy-carl-sagan-day.html#comments Wed, 09 Nov 2011 12:48:00 +0000 Michael http://www.celestialfamily.org/?guid=4232205394c519dc8db030be2c8f4194 "For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring."
Carl Sagan
]]> http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/feeds/552803990443635053/comments/default 0 Fire and Ice http://victoriataylor.blogspot.com/2011/07/fire-and-ice.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fire-and-ice http://victoriataylor.blogspot.com/2011/07/fire-and-ice.html#comments Fri, 29 Jul 2011 17:42:00 +0000 Victoria http://www.celestialfamily.org/?guid=6c3cb184f0bbff2ceb535739809927ab


I'll post some other things this weekend.

**************Zooniverse****

One of the things I love to do with my time is to help researchers go through their mountain of data. If you would like to help out, scientifically, with a bit of your time here are several things to check out:

Ancient Lives

Help transcribe ancient papyri, written over 1,000 years ago by the citizens of Oxyrhynchu, the City of the Sharp-Nosed. Everyday life and writing, that we need your help to uncover.

I "helped" out transcribing and measuring a couple of fragments. It is quite hard, but I can see where familiarity would make things easier in a little bit of time.

Ice Hunters

Help to discover Kuiper Belt Objects with just the right orbit and just the right characteristics to make them eligible for a visit from the New Horizons mission.

This is the one I've been working on the most. I was invited during the beta phase and Eveybug even came an sat down with me to look for solid round objects and possible asteroids. Super cool...literally!

Planet Hunters

Using public data from NASA's Kepler mission, we are looking for planets around other stars.


The Milky Way Project

Sorting and measuring our galaxy, the Milky Way; we're asking you to help us find and draw bubbles in beautiful infrared data from the Spitzer Space Telescope.


Old Weather

Help scientists recover worldwide weather observations made by Royal Navy ships around the time of World War I.


Moon Zoo

Explore the Moon in unprecedented detail using images from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.


Galaxy Zoo: Hubble

The latest version of the original Zooniverse project. Help astronomers figure out how galaxies form and evolve by classifying their shape. Now with added Hubble galaxies.


Solar Stormwatch

Help spot explosions on the Sun and track them across space to Earth. Your work will give astronauts an early warning if dangerous solar radiation is headed their way. And you could make a new scientific discovery.


Galaxy Zoo: Mergers

Understanding what happens when galaxies merge is one of the most important questions in astronomy. Help astronomers by trying to match a merger from SDSS with a simulation.


Galaxy Zoo: Supernovae

Help us to catch an exploding star. Astronomers are following up on your best candidates at telescopes around the world.
]]> http://victoriataylor.blogspot.com/feeds/8136489269895101081/comments/default 0 Awe http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2011/04/awe.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awe-2 http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2011/04/awe.html#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:52:00 +0000 Michael http://www.celestialfamily.org/?guid=eb5646c5dea1dc71904304fc42ebb1cc
I've posted this before but I just felt like posting it again today.
]]> http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/feeds/4832070677373249599/comments/default 0 Awe http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2011/04/awe.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awe http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2011/04/awe.html#comments Thu, 07 Apr 2011 16:52:00 +0000 Michael
I've posted this before but I just felt like posting it again today.
]]> http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/feeds/4832070677373249599/comments/default 0 Merchants of Doubt http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/12/merchants-of-doubt.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=merchants-of-doubt http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/12/merchants-of-doubt.html#comments Thu, 09 Dec 2010 19:43:00 +0000 Michael So the other day I was trying to convince one of my kids to stop playing video games and get studying one of the school subjects in which they aren’t doing very well. No response. So I looked at their grades so far and did my best to persuade them that if they didn’t do a remarkable job in the last few weeks of the semester that they likely would not pass the course. Again, no response. At this point I was getting more than a little irritated at the lack of action. “Why aren’t you doing anything about this?” The response I got, “You don’t know for sure that I’ll fail if I don’t study today and you can’t guarantee that I’ll pass if I do study right now.” This little logical fallacy is one that has bugged me for years. While it is true that I could not know for sure the outcome of doing homework it’s ridiculous to argue that playing video games is a better use of that time.

We see this type of fallacious reasoning all the time. Sometimes it is accidental. I know people who avoid the interstates because don’t know if there will be any construction work going on and they can’t be 100% sure that the off ramps will be open. Other people turn off all passenger side airbags because they can’t be 100% sure that theirs won’t be the one that goes off accidentally. I have even heard of one friend of mine who never wears his seat belt because he can’t be 100% sure that he won’t drive off a bridge and drown because he can’t get out of his car. All of these situations are based on an emotional response to something that had happened to them or a persuasive story they heard or saw on the news. Despite ample evidence to the contrary they still stick to that emotional assessment of risk and a desire for 100% surety.

What really bothers me is when others recognize this fact that you can never be 100% sure and exploit it for political and personal gains. Merchants of Doubt is the history of just such political exploitation of science and the public’s misunderstanding of certainty, statistics and risk.

Industry funded scientists focused on and magnified the uncertainty when dealing with the link between cancer and cigarette smoking. The implication being that since they can’t prove 100% that smoking is what gave this guy cancer then we don’t know what did. And therefore smoking is safe. Later on Industry funded scientists focused on and magnified the uncertainty when dealing with the consequences of the arms race. Then after that it was the link between industries and acid rain. Etc, etc, etc. Time and time again Industry funded experts have used the same tired script to justify their in action. What I found most surprising in this book is that time and time again it is the very same scientists pushing this uncertainty on the public, even when the topics are far afield of their area of training and expertise.

I took this book as a warnign to be skeptical anytime somebody encourages action or inaction just based on the fact that we can't be 100% certian. Do the research and weigh the risks. Sure, absolute certianty is rare, but relative certianty is much more common. I many not no for sure if I'm gonna get driven off a bridge, but I'm far more likely to get into an accident that does not involve a bridge and so I'm gonna continue to wear my seat belt. And the same goes for the other controvertial issues detailed in Merchants of Doubt.
]]> http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/feeds/8208872524230489867/comments/default 0 Bad Universe http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/08/bad-universe.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=bad-universe http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/08/bad-universe.html#comments Tue, 10 Aug 2010 20:53:00 +0000 Michael

So one of my favorite astronomers, yes I have more than one favorite astronomer, appears that he is getting a series based on his book and blog.

Very cool! I might have to actually get something besides broadcast TV.
]]> http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/feeds/8073464080776840510/comments/default 0 Riding in Cars with Boys http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/05/riding-in-cars-with-boys.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=riding-in-cars-with-boys http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/05/riding-in-cars-with-boys.html#comments Sun, 23 May 2010 02:43:00 +0000 Michael
Noah: I'm telekinetic
Me: Oh really? Well if you're telekinetic raise my hand.
pause
Me: But I really am telekinetic.
Boy1: Oh Yeah, prove it.
Me: I can make everybody in this car suddenly lurch forward.
At this point I was coming to a stop anyway so I hit the brakes a little harder that I normally would have.
Noah, Boy1 and Boy2: (in unison) That's not telekinetic. That's just kinetic.
]]>
Noah: I'm telekinetic
Me: Oh really? Well if you're telekinetic raise my hand.
pause
Me: But I really am telekinetic.
Boy1: Oh Yeah, prove it.
Me: I can make everybody in this car suddenly lurch forward.
At this point I was coming to a stop anyway so I hit the brakes a little harder that I normally would have.
Noah, Boy1 and Boy2: (in unison) That's not telekinetic. That's just kinetic.
]]> http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/feeds/3781899498868181944/comments/default 0 Your Inner Fish http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/04/your-inner-fish.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=your-inner-fish http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/04/your-inner-fish.html#comments Mon, 19 Apr 2010 21:01:00 +0000 Michael At the recommendation of Teacherninja I recently read Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. Thanks for the recommendation. I really enjoyed it.
Shubin is a paleontologist and it was his research that discovered Tiktalik, a fossil animal that was almost exactly what was predicted to have existed halfway between fish and land animals. Much of the book describes that expedition and the others that lead up to it.
The book does not stop at just Tiktalik. He builds on the similarities and spends a great deal of time showing how so much of biology is based on remarkably similar structures. He show how early in the development of nearly every embryo, chicken, fish, squirrel or human the same organs form from the same rows of cells in each species even though they may have drastically different uses in the final creature. I found these chapters very fascinating.
Shubin avoids pretty much entirely that political debate that is currently going on about teaching evolution in schools. I guess from his perspective evolution via natural selection is such an established fact he felt no need to defend it. I agree with this position. It was a science book and I don’t fault him for setting all politics aside and just speaking to the science. I would like to point out that Shubin’s discovery of Tiktalik was predicted by evolution and that Tiktalik made his appearance during the middle of the Dover school board’s attack on teaching evolution in school. I’m sure Shubin didn’t plan it this way, but at the same time the Dover school board had “experts” testifying that no transitional fossils had ever been found, Shubin was uncovering yet another transitional fossil.
I listened to this book on CD while working. I plan on going back and reading it for real when I get a chance. Some of the details in the middle of the book deserve more attention than I could give them just listening while working.
]]> At the recommendation of Teacherninja I recently read Your Inner Fish by Neil Shubin. Thanks for the recommendation. I really enjoyed it.
Shubin is a paleontologist and it was his research that discovered Tiktalik, a fossil animal that was almost exactly what was predicted to have existed halfway between fish and land animals. Much of the book describes that expedition and the others that lead up to it.
The book does not stop at just Tiktalik. He builds on the similarities and spends a great deal of time showing how so much of biology is based on remarkably similar structures. He show how early in the development of nearly every embryo, chicken, fish, squirrel or human the same organs form from the same rows of cells in each species even though they may have drastically different uses in the final creature. I found these chapters very fascinating.
Shubin avoids pretty much entirely that political debate that is currently going on about teaching evolution in schools. I guess from his perspective evolution via natural selection is such an established fact he felt no need to defend it. I agree with this position. It was a science book and I don’t fault him for setting all politics aside and just speaking to the science. I would like to point out that Shubin’s discovery of Tiktalik was predicted by evolution and that Tiktalik made his appearance during the middle of the Dover school board’s attack on teaching evolution in school. I’m sure Shubin didn’t plan it this way, but at the same time the Dover school board had “experts” testifying that no transitional fossils had ever been found, Shubin was uncovering yet another transitional fossil.
I listened to this book on CD while working. I plan on going back and reading it for real when I get a chance. Some of the details in the middle of the book deserve more attention than I could give them just listening while working.
]]> http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/feeds/6693182270894030814/comments/default 0 Sibling Solidarity http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/03/sibling-solidarity.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sibling-solidarity http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/03/sibling-solidarity.html#comments Thu, 25 Mar 2010 12:37:00 +0000 Michael (This is another personal post that will likely upset some readers.)

I love my kids. Sure they can frustrate the hell out of me sometimes but I still love them. I didn’t enjoy being a teenager and I can tell that my two teenagers aren’t exactly digging it either. It seems that most of their troubles come from peer pressure; so-called friends attacking them, frequently physically, for their opinions and beliefs and trying to get them to just go along with the crowd. What’s really upsetting to them is that most of this criticism comes from people whom they think should know better, members of our church. As a parent few thing make me more proud than when one kid stands up for the other, especially in a situation where they really don’t have anything to gain my doing it. We had just such a situation last night. And although it was very traumatic for her, I couldn’t have been more proud of my oldest daughter.
A little back history: Aaron hasn’t been attending church at our ward for the better part of a year now. He has been arranging, on his own, to get rides back and forth from the Brocket Ward. He gets along with the kids in that ward better, they accept him and genuinely love him. In stark contrast, the kids in our ward tease him, call him a Satanist and frequently physically assault him. In his own words it is rather ironic that the least spiritual hours of his week are spent at church. He doesn’t participate in the Varsity scout program on Wednesday night. We’ve moved him to another troop that is a real community troop where sharing the same religious upbringing is not a requirement to hold positions. He gets along much better with these guys. On Wednesday he even arranges for rides over to Brockett to hang out with the kids from that ward that he gets along with so well. In the entire time that he has been attending that Ward only one person from our ward has asked about Aaron. He was genuinely concerned and I thanked him for caring and not forgetting about him. Not a single other person has given us the slightest clue that they’ve even noticed his absence. In stark contrast, the leaders from Brockett comment to us about how they enjoy having him there and miss him when he’s gone.
Well last night I dropped Rachel off at the church for her Young Women’s activity. She typically doesn’t have the same issues as Aaron so I was a little surprised when Victoria brought her home and she was in tears. I asked her what was wrong. Rachel then proceeded to ask if she too could attend Brockett Ward rather than our ward. Apparently even in his absence Aaron is still a topic of conversation. A few of the kids were making fun of him and it really upset Rachel. I found a bit odd that their primary criticism of Aaron is that he “believes in evolution”. Rachel has never been one to gossip and hence she refused to tell me which kids were involved. But she did say that it really surprised her because she had though that these kids were above that. Apparently she had spent half of the meeting outside crying and just waiting for us to come pick her up.
Rachel didn’t openly defy these kids, that’s just not her style, but she did refuse to be a part of what they were doing. They still fight like, well brothers and sisters, but when the chips are down it’s really nice to see them standing up for what they know is right. Rachel didn’t want to tell anybody, especially Aaron, about what happened. I thought that he needed to hear it. After he was dropped off from his activity at Brockett we talked about it and he gave his little sister a nice big hug.

I chose to post this in order to add my name to Rachel’s. I stand behind my family. You criticize one of us you criticize us all. And we won’t tolerate it.

As far as the chief complaint lobbied again Aaron goes, Evolution is a fact. Get used to it. It used to be a theory but it has long ago graduated to a fact as far as I am concerned. I would even go so far as to say that evolution is more of a fact than gravity. Gravity is still lacking a clear definition of how it works. Like evolution gravity has been tested and tested and tested thousands of times but gravity is still lacking a carrier. We don’t quite know how it works. We have hypothesized the existence of the graviton, but haven’t actually seen one. In contrast we have found DNA and natural selection, the elements that make evolution work. So in a very real sense there is more evidence supporting evolution than gravity. In the past when people have asked me if I “believe” evolution I’ve had to rephrase their question in my answer. Because belief requires faith I don’t think it applies to evolution. Faith is a belief without evidence or even in spite of the evidence. You just aren’t looking if you don’t see evidence of evolution. So I respond something like this, “I accept the overwhelming evidence that life evolved via natural selection.”

"If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality." The Dalai Lama
Wise words. It's a shame more people don't apply this same idea to thier own beliefs. I'm glad my kids are.
]]> (This is another personal post that will likely upset some readers.)

I love my kids. Sure they can frustrate the hell out of me sometimes but I still love them. I didn’t enjoy being a teenager and I can tell that my two teenagers aren’t exactly digging it either. It seems that most of their troubles come from peer pressure; so-called friends attacking them, frequently physically, for their opinions and beliefs and trying to get them to just go along with the crowd. What’s really upsetting to them is that most of this criticism comes from people whom they think should know better, members of our church. As a parent few thing make me more proud than when one kid stands up for the other, especially in a situation where they really don’t have anything to gain my doing it. We had just such a situation last night. And although it was very traumatic for her, I couldn’t have been more proud of my oldest daughter.
A little back history: Aaron hasn’t been attending church at our ward for the better part of a year now. He has been arranging, on his own, to get rides back and forth from the Brocket Ward. He gets along with the kids in that ward better, they accept him and genuinely love him. In stark contrast, the kids in our ward tease him, call him a Satanist and frequently physically assault him. In his own words it is rather ironic that the least spiritual hours of his week are spent at church. He doesn’t participate in the Varsity scout program on Wednesday night. We’ve moved him to another troop that is a real community troop where sharing the same religious upbringing is not a requirement to hold positions. He gets along much better with these guys. On Wednesday he even arranges for rides over to Brockett to hang out with the kids from that ward that he gets along with so well. In the entire time that he has been attending that Ward only one person from our ward has asked about Aaron. He was genuinely concerned and I thanked him for caring and not forgetting about him. Not a single other person has given us the slightest clue that they’ve even noticed his absence. In stark contrast, the leaders from Brockett comment to us about how they enjoy having him there and miss him when he’s gone.
Well last night I dropped Rachel off at the church for her Young Women’s activity. She typically doesn’t have the same issues as Aaron so I was a little surprised when Victoria brought her home and she was in tears. I asked her what was wrong. Rachel then proceeded to ask if she too could attend Brockett Ward rather than our ward. Apparently even in his absence Aaron is still a topic of conversation. A few of the kids were making fun of him and it really upset Rachel. I found a bit odd that their primary criticism of Aaron is that he “believes in evolution”. Rachel has never been one to gossip and hence she refused to tell me which kids were involved. But she did say that it really surprised her because she had though that these kids were above that. Apparently she had spent half of the meeting outside crying and just waiting for us to come pick her up.
Rachel didn’t openly defy these kids, that’s just not her style, but she did refuse to be a part of what they were doing. They still fight like, well brothers and sisters, but when the chips are down it’s really nice to see them standing up for what they know is right. Rachel didn’t want to tell anybody, especially Aaron, about what happened. I thought that he needed to hear it. After he was dropped off from his activity at Brockett we talked about it and he gave his little sister a nice big hug.

I chose to post this in order to add my name to Rachel’s. I stand behind my family. You criticize one of us you criticize us all. And we won’t tolerate it.

As far as the chief complaint lobbied again Aaron goes, Evolution is a fact. Get used to it. It used to be a theory but it has long ago graduated to a fact as far as I am concerned. I would even go so far as to say that evolution is more of a fact than gravity. Gravity is still lacking a clear definition of how it works. Like evolution gravity has been tested and tested and tested thousands of times but gravity is still lacking a carrier. We don’t quite know how it works. We have hypothesized the existence of the graviton, but haven’t actually seen one. In contrast we have found DNA and natural selection, the elements that make evolution work. So in a very real sense there is more evidence supporting evolution than gravity. In the past when people have asked me if I “believe” evolution I’ve had to rephrase their question in my answer. Because belief requires faith I don’t think it applies to evolution. Faith is a belief without evidence or even in spite of the evidence. You just aren’t looking if you don’t see evidence of evolution. So I respond something like this, “I accept the overwhelming evidence that life evolved via natural selection.”

"If science proves some belief of Buddhism wrong, then Buddhism will have to change. In my view, science and Buddhism share a search for the truth and for understanding reality." The Dalai Lama
Wise words. It's a shame more people don't apply this same idea to thier own beliefs. I'm glad my kids are.
]]> http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/feeds/3741635653606063658/comments/default 0 Awesome http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/03/awesome.html?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=awesome http://freephilosophicaldiscussions.blogspot.com/2010/03/awesome.html#comments Sat, 06 Mar 2010 14:08:00 +0000 Michael The White Mountain from charles on Vimeo.

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The White Mountain from charles on Vimeo.

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