Wonders of the Universe

[jodieohdoh]

I searched topics in Random Distractions to see if there was one about science & came up with nothing. I just thought you folk who are so funny & knowledgeable might have something to say about science, astronomy, cosmology, the universe in general Personally I'm almost completely ignorant of all things scientific but still manage to find the "popular" science TV programs (e.g. Prof Brian Cox et al) unbelievably fascinating.

Anyway- further to the "Wonders of the Universe" episode last night, I was led to this article.

And the winner of the most dramatic missing of the point goes to...

[RDR]

I tend to think there is almost a backlash against conventional science at the moment.
Alternative therapies seem to hold sway, even though the evidence base is sketchy to say the least.
(tosses that grenade in and waits for the explosion)

[Vinegar Tom]

I wouldn't worry about O'Neill and his band of Contrarian Spiky tw4ts

[rabmania]

I searched topics in Random Distractions to see if there was one about science & came up with nothing. I just thought you folk who are so funny & knowledgeable might have something to say about science, astronomy, cosmology, the universe in general Personally I'm almost completely ignorant of all things scientific but still manage to find the "popular" science TV programs (e.g. Prof Brian Cox et al) unbelievably fascinating.

Anyway- further to the "Wonders of the Universe" episode last night, I was led to this article.

And the winner of the most dramatic missing of the point goes to...

Check out 'The Infinite Monkey Cage' on radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/timc. It's got Prof Cox and others, and can be very funny too.

[minxy]

I searched topics in Random Distractions to see if there was one about science & came up with nothing. I just thought you folk who are so funny & knowledgeable might have something to say about science, astronomy, cosmology, the universe in general Personally I'm almost completely ignorant of all things scientific but still manage to find the "popular" science TV programs (e.g. Prof Brian Cox et al) unbelievably fascinating.

Anyway- further to the "Wonders of the Universe" episode last night, I was led to this article.

And the winner of the most dramatic missing of the point goes to...

Jeezo Jodieohdoh , that article reads more like it came straight from the Sun(the newspaper one I mean), everything about Astronomy and all those big words just enthrall me

[jodieohdoh]

Check out 'The Infinite Monkey Cage' on radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/timc. It's got Prof Cox and others, and can be very funny too.

Thanks for the tip- I do love me podcasts so shall definitely check that one out.

Jeezo Jodieohdoh , that article reads more like it came straight from the Sun(the newspaper one I mean), everything about Astronomy and all those big words just enthrall me

As my niece would put it, "Anooooo!" My favourite bit of the article was the comments at the end by the outraged normal people. Particularly the guy who said "You're just another gob on a stick". Will rip that one off in the future.

I tend to think there is almost a backlash against conventional science at the moment.
Alternative therapies seem to hold sway, even though the evidence base is sketchy to say the least.
(tosses that grenade in and waits for the explosion)

I use the phrase reluctantly, but I feel it's the science equivalent of "political correctness". The media, becoming more & more lazy perhaps with the advent of google, feeling they have to provide a "Balanced view" for us simple folk by providing input from two sides of the argument. Don't worry about the fact that there is little balance in the idea of a homeopathic remedy, scientifically proven to cause no effect (bar the placebo one!), being pitted against medicine- studied, tested, re-tested, measured, for hundreds of years. Or the "Climate sceptics" being wheeled out to "balance" the meteorologists with their satellites, geologists with their readings of carbon from millions of years in giant ice poles bored from glaciers etc.

[rabmania]

Jodie, you may also like the Guardian's weekly science podcast (This week the remarkable Brian Greene talking about multiverses), as well as the almost ubiquitous Dr Karl (wish i knew how to do those smart looking links).

http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/series/science

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/drkarl

and watch Jim...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00yb59m/Everything_and_Nothing_Everything/

[jodieohdoh]

What a treasure trove! Thanks for all that, that'll keep me busy for a while

To reciprocate, I highly recommend reading "Bad Science" by Ben Goldacre- you'll read the papers and watch the news in a new light of scepticism after reading it. I wouldn't recommend following him on twitter though, doesn't half post a load of twaddle

[rabmania]

Read it. Recommend it too. Follow no one on twitter, some nutters follow me and my twitter persona is self evidently fictional.

[stranger]

Anyway- further to the "Wonders of the Universe" episode last night, I was led to this article.

And the winner of the most dramatic missing of the point goes to...

Your point of view was shared almost identically by Prof Cox on Twitter

It seems I should have dumbed #wonders down a bit to give Brendan O'Neil a chance of understanding its subtext!

He also replies in the article comments, around page 6 I think

[jodieohdoh]

Came across this via Twitter, beautiful and fascinating!

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badas ... or-a-star/

Also I've been listening to the Infinite Monkey Cage podcast while walking to and from work... it's one of those, giggling uncontrollably while walking past a mother walking her kids to school, mother puts her arm protectively round her offspring and edges over to the other side of the pavement

Also- http://www.randi.org/site/index.php/swi ... cheek.html. An article about how news organisations around the world regurgitated a story which mixed up astrology with astronomy. Would be funny if it were not so scary.

[jodieohdoh]

Saw this today on the BBC - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-12990213 - about "strangely silent stars". It piqued my curiosity : )

There's a link on the page to a video which explains what the Kepler telescope does, in language for tiny brains like my own (from CBBC!)

[Doorstop]

It never fails to astonish me the level (and number of) coincidences like the twin stars gravitational effect cancelling out the red giants coronal pulsations almost exactly. I mean, what is the probability of two neighbouring stars having exactly the correct mass and orbital frequency to match and dampen the pulsations of their master gravitational attractor?

It has got to be rapidly approaching zero.

Astonishing.

[BrigitDoon]

There'll be something more to it - there are plenty of moons with one side permanently looking at their planet. That seems improbable to me, but then gravity acts on the bulges and imperfections over time and slows the rotational period to the orbital period.

[Doorstop]

Just thought I'd give Jodie (and the others who, like myself, are finding themselves more and more absorbed by this subject) the heads up on a new series "Through the Wormhole" on Discovery Channel, Sundays at 9.00pm.

Highly interesting stuff fronted by the almost hypnotic cadence of Morgan Freeman ( the real one, not the bloke in the diving suit from the insurance ads).

Catch it if you can, as I did last night. It has been sitting on the magic shit pump recording device since Sunday past, waiting for a lull one evening to peruse. Last night was one such lull and bloody good it was too.