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The Azolla Event: when is a fern not a fern?

...

Betelgeuse, Gamow, and a Big Red Horse

There has been a lot of talk recently of Betelgeuse possibly going supernova this century or not...

Climate Change, the Walrus and the Carpenter

I have recently watched two videos on climate change by Sabine Hossenfelder. The first one...

A Very Large Hadron Collider?

Frontpage image: Illustration of spherical explosion (kilonova) of two neutron stars (AT2017gfo/GW170817)...

Robert H Olley

Until recently, I worked in the Polymer Physics Group of the Physics Department at the University of Reading.

I would describe myself as a Polymer Morphologist. I am not an astronaut,

Horsetails And The Hidden Marriage

May 07 2011 | comment(s)

As a teenager, in the early 1960s, I developed an interest in botany, and in particular ferns and the so-called “fern-allies”. So, living in the drier South-East of England, I welcomed trips to places where these plants about, such as Wales, mountainous Scotland, and Cornwall.

But today I am travelling through time, showing how our knowledge of this branch of the Plant Kingdom has expanded over the last 200 years or so.

GM not the devil

May 04 2011 | comment(s)

In yesterday’s article on Science 2.0, Oh, Health Ranger...You Make Me Ill, said person was taken to task for saying:

"The use of GMOs is the closest thing to 'Satanic' that you'll find in modern agriculture. The agenda behind this is pure evil."

This attitude is, alas, all too widespread, as evidenced by the following in today’s Daily Telegraph:

GM soy: The invisible ingredient 'poisoning' children

BPA, and a hidden cause of obesity?

Apr 20 2011 | comment(s)

I’m not sure how come Real Clear Science came to replace Live Science on the board, but they do have a lot of jolly good stuff. Today, following one of their links, I was heartened to read something in favour of plastics:

A Toxic Setback for the Anti-Plastic Campaigners

Neutrinos (for Brits only)

Apr 14 2011 | comment(s)

This morning this programme (45 minutes) was on BBC Radio 4.

In Our Time: the Neutrino

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0106tjc0

Melvyn Bragg and his guests discuss the neutrino.

      with:

      Frank Close, Professor of Physics at Exeter College at the University of Oxford

      Susan Cartwright, Senior Lecturer in Particle Physics and

White Dwarfs, Neutrons And Neutrinos

Apr 13 2011 | comment(s)

White Dwarfs

Fancy a trip to Sirius? This is what you might see as you are approaching your destination.

The End of Everything?

Apr 05 2011 | comment(s)

I say: O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days, Thou whose years endure throughout all generations.

Of old Thou didst lay the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the work of Thy hands.

They shall perish, but Thou shalt endure; yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt Thou change them, and they shall pass away;

Three sources have recently drawn my attention to the likely state of our world in 100 billion years’ time.