Science

Could we be seeing the start of the Weyland-Yutani Corporation?A new space startup company, Planetary Resources, claims they "will overlay two critical sectors -- space exploration and natural resources". That sounds like space mining! And it's not just a bunch of nuts I've never heard of backing this idea. The investors include Ross Perot Jr., Google co-founder … [Read more...] about Weyland-Yutani Startup?

My Nobody's Business co-blogger Rogier has a pretty good article up about divine delusions v.s. observable reality. It's a plea for rationality, even if faith and mysticism seem like more fun. As is often my way, I have a small quibble. Rogier and his opponent are discussing a Facebook poster's insistence that a bit of lens flare in a photo of a pyramid is actually a sign that … [Read more...] about Goddesses and Falsifiability

A few days ago, at the conservative Illinois Review, an unnamed author who I assume is editor Fran Eaton got excited about some basic science in a post titled "Biology Textbook Author Asserts Life Begins at Conception": When does life begin?  At conception?  When the fertilized egg begins to multiply cells?  When the zygote embeds itself into its source of … [Read more...] about Life at Conception

Yesterday NASA awarded development grants to four corporations for development of human-rated space transportation systems (spaceships). Here are the big winners: $22 million went to Blue Origin, best known for its intricately detailed corporate logo (as well as its founder, Jeff Bezos of Amazon.com fame) which has a creative vertical take-off and landing system which is very … [Read more...] about It’s a Convoy!