listosaur.com

Every discipline of science has its accompanying branch of pseudoscience. Chemistry has alchemy. Astronomy has astrology. There are those who would even refute Relativity and Newtonian gravity despite evidence to the contrary. Real science has predictive power, the ability to state something about the reality of the universe. And while scientists of old often financed their research by dabbling in astrology, alchemy and numerology, modern science has long sense parted ways with these black arts. Still, fringe ideas continue to persist and seem to find new niches to thrive and grow on the Internet. Just check out some of these very strange ideas about the Earth that persist to this day.

Launched into low Earth orbit in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our view of the cosmos. But many people don’t realize that Hubble is but one of a fleet of space telescopes observing our universe. Without question, Hubble generates most of the headlines, perhaps because it makes observations in the visible light wavelengths. But many other space-based telescopes have made discoveries that are just as astounding. Here are just some of these other notable instruments and the wondrous discoveries they’ve made.

The world of Star Trek is almost upon us. We now possess personal communicators, talking computers and soon every household may possess a replicator in the form of a 3D printer.  And while warp drive and phasers may be a ways off, 3D printers may usher in another technological revolution. They do sound like the stuff of science fiction: one day soon you may simply download, or create yourself, the specs for countless different items, which a printer can print at home, in the office or at the worksite. As with any technology, it’s impossible to foresee the unpredictable directions people will take it as the technology progresses; witness the recent controversy when a group offered specs allowing a 3D printer to create an operable plastic handgun. Here are five thoughts and observations about the future of 3D printing.

We’ve all seen video images from the International Space Station, of astronauts and cosmonauts floating around in the low gravity, sending their greetings to Earth. But the ISS is far more than just an orbiting outpost; its primary purpose is research, and in its 15-year history, hundreds of experiments have been carried out aboard the ISS, spanning scientific disciplines from weather and physiology to earth observation and physics. Many of these experiments can only be carried out aboard the ISS due to power requirements or the need for a microgravity environment and close observation. The station has racks both for interior experiments and exterior ones for those requiring exposure to the hard vacuum of space. Here’s a look at 10 of these fascinating experiments, both from the past and those planned for the next few years.

One of the biggest mysteries in science is what makes our planet so special. Why did life take hold and thrive on Earth? When we look out across our solar system, we see nothing but barren planets inhospitable to life. Is life a foregone conclusion on a planet like ours, or a series of fortuitous events? One piece of the puzzle is the presence of our Moon. No other planet in our solar system has such a proportionally large Moon, which measures 27 percent the diameter of Earth and 1.2 percent of its mass. And we may just have the Moon to thank for our existence. If this is the case, it would have huge implications for the scarcity of life in the universe. Here are five key roles the Moon may have played in the story of life on Earth.

First, the Internet transformed commerce, communications and shopping. Now, it’s changing the television industry. More and more households are dropping their cable TV package, for several reasons. Ever-faster broadband speeds and better home wireless networks have helped drive this trend, and many new web startups have arisen to fill the need for alternative viewing options. What’s ironic is that cable TV providers now face the same dilemma that they themselves provoked when they took on network TV 1980s. And similar to that era, we’re hearing how programming quality will suffer, much as the networks told us in the ’80s that they would no longer be able to provide programs such as The Love Boat and Fantasy Island if cable came to pass. That said, here are five good reasons to ditch your pay-TV provider, and why if you’re not ready to take that step today, you may be ready in the next couple of years.

Modern science is filled with puzzles that often defy common sense. We evolved to fit into our environment and understand the world around us from our everyday frame of reference. We can understand something like the distance to the nearest star, Alpha Centauri, on an intellectual level, but our brains just aren’t equipped to understand the actual mind-boggling distance of four light years. Many scientific paradoxes, like science itself, have their roots in mathematics and philosophy. Despite what our senses tell us, these conundrums have predictive power and tell us something about how the universe really works. Here, in no particular order, are 10 of the best-known scientific paradoxes. If you have a hard time grasping these concepts, don’t worry — even the greatest scientific minds have struggled to explain some of these.

Seems you can’t believe anything you read or hear on April Fools’ Day anymore, as many respectable media outlets and organizations try to outdo themselves with an outlandish news story. If anything, the faster news cycle and the instantaneous nature of the Internet has fueled even more ridiculous April Fools’ pranks, which can now travel around the globe in a flash. Some even start March 30 and 31 to “gain traction” as everyone now expects them on April 1. Scientific organizations aren’t above concocting a gag or two around this date. What’s especially amusing is to see the mainstream media take these stories and rehash them as fact, sometimes for years to come.  Here are just few classic jokes in the science world from April Fools’ past.

Nothing spurs development and innovation like a cash incentive. Cash awards have inspired some great achievements in exploration and science; Charles Lindbergh’s solo flight across the Atlantic in 1927 came about as he pursued a $25,000 cash award. More recently, Scaled Composites claimed the $10 million Ansari Prize in 2004 when it became the first private organization to launch a reusable manned spacecraft into orbit twice in two weeks. Some question why an organization awards a cash prize for a given breakthrough rather than simply spending the money on research. Perhaps it’s to instill competition, or focus on a specific breakthrough. Another argument holds that it’s less expensive and draws good PR. Following are 10 notable and lucrative inducement prizes that have either been recently awarded or have yet to be claimed.

Perhaps no scientific issue is more polarizing in the minds of the American public than climate change. And while many argue that it is an unproven theory, the scientific consensus is that climate change is a reality and human activity is a primary cause. Climate, however, is a complex issue and that’s a problem in today’s society when many people want things to be simple and clear cut. Political agendas further muddle the issue. Many skeptics suspect that talk about climate change is a ruse to stifle the growth of the American economy, while others fear that we’re conducting a global experiment with unforeseen consequences. What follows are five issues complicating the climate change puzzle.