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Batteries Are Stuck In The 1990s Because Solid-State Batteries Keep Short-Circuiting

The electric car industry is held back by reliance on conventional energy. Despite spending trillions...

Dogs Have Been 'Man's Best Friend' For 14,000 Years

The bond between humans and dogs is one of the oldest stories in anthropology. It may also be a...

Is This The D'Artagnan Made Famous In 'The Three Musketeers' By Dumas?

“I have lost D’Artagnan, in whom I had every confidence,” wrote King Louis XIV to his Queen...

No Danger, How A Stranger Can Be A Game Changer - A New Book About Making 'Small' Talk

The future career arc for my house is a library bed-and-breakfast. It will be just like it sounds...

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Hank CampbellRSS Feed of this column.

I founded Science 2.0® in 2006 and since then it has become the world's largest independent science communications site, with over 300,000,000 direct readers and reach approaching one billion. Read More »

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Did Something Hit Jupiter? A New Black Spot Appears

Did Something Hit Jupiter? A New Black Spot Appears

Jul 19 2009 | comment(s)

Was there an impact on Jupiter or is that new dark spot just a  temporary anomaly?

Anthony Wesley, who hails from Canberra, Australia, grabbed this shot of a new dark spot near the south pole of Jupiter.   The great thing about astronomy is it's one of the last areas in science where 'amateurs' can still do great things before Big Science gets to it.
Apollo 11 Hoax - Sometimes Roswell That Ends Well

Apollo 11 Hoax - Sometimes Roswell That Ends Well

Jul 18 2009 | comment(s)

In case you've been living under a rock, you probably know that Monday is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.   I don't remember seeing it on TV when I was a lad, though I am told I did (I do remember watching the live liftoff of Apollo 17, since Kennedy is about an hour drive from my boyhood home in Florida and we went to that one) but most everyone middle aged and older will - it remains the most watched program in history(1).
Tangential Science: It's A Google Economy, Stupid

Tangential Science: It's A Google Economy, Stupid

Jul 18 2009 | comment(s)

Tangential Science: it's not necessarily science, but it's still funny.
Take Your Own Apollo 11 Flight (In A Video Game, Anyway)

Take Your Own Apollo 11 Flight (In A Video Game, Anyway)

Jul 17 2009 | comment(s)

Games2Win, an online game company, today announced the launch of Apollo 11: Mission to the Moon, which recreates the historic mission to the moon, without the mind-numbing terror of knowing you were sitting on top of a mess o' solid rocket fuel protected by nothing except parts contracted out to the lowest bidders. The game’s release is schedule to coincide with, and  commemorate, the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s success on July 20, 1969.

"Apollo 11: Mission to the Moon" is what the vendor calls a "free-to-play Flash game" and you can find at http://www.games2win.com/ap1.   The game play mimics pretty small parts of the first manned mission to land on the moon (without the mind-numbing terror of knowing you were sitting on top of a mess o'  ...

California Or Romania? Where Is Your Money Safer?

California Or Romania? Where Is Your Money Safer?

Jul 16 2009 | comment(s)

In the 1980s, Michael Milken went to jail for selling "junk bonds", which were risky debt.  His crime?  Offering to absorb all of the losses if he could have half the profits.   Some of the bonds he sold yielded 18%.   Like I said, risky.   He made a lofty set of claims, vague threats and some questionable promises to get people to buy them.

California state Treasurer Bill Lockyer is also selling junk bonds and using vague threats and questionable promises, but these ones only yield 6%.   Chances of him going to jail?   Not high, because he's exempt unless he engages in dog fighting or runs over a kid in the parking lot.   
Chris Mooney Versus P.Z. Myers And The State Of

Chris Mooney Versus P.Z. Myers And The State Of "Unscientific America - Continued

Jul 15 2009 | comment(s)

I'm assuming most of you here have not followed the ongoing board war between ex-Scienceblogs and current Discover bloggers Chris Mooney/Sheril Kirshenbaum and current Sciencblogs tour de force PZ Myers.

To save you all that time it would take to read it, I encapsulated the first two salvos in Chris Mooney Versus P.Z. Myers And The State Of "Unscientific America" but now I'll just include my thoughts on the latest installments.  I got no dog in this fight but it's the kind of train wreck I can't look away from.