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There Is No Such Thing as a "Nuclear Scientist". There Are Only Physicists

Let’s bury the dangerous, lazy, and politically convenient idea that there exists a distinct...

The Thirty Meter Telescope May Be Cancelled Not by Ordinary People's Protest, but by Wealthy People's Whim

Astronomy, it seems, finds itself at the mercy of political caprice and economic machinations yet...

NASA Predicts Asteroid 2024 YR4 Might Hit The Moon.

According to observations made by NASA using the James Webb Space Telescope, there is a three point...

Basically No chance 2024 YR4 will hit Earth.

Recent observations have virtually eliminated any concern about an impact from asteroid 2024 YR4...

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Hontas FarmerRSS Feed of this column.

My research focuses on astrophysics from massive star formation to astroparticle physics. Born and raised in Chicagoland I have lived in Bellwood, IL since 1984 and attended public schools here... Read More »

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Why Ebenezer the fossilized Allosaurus does not prove young Earth Creationism.

Why Ebenezer the fossilized Allosaurus does not prove young Earth Creationism.

May 26 2014 | comment(s)

Four simple reasons that Ebenezer the dinosaur does not prove young Earth creationism. Young Earth creationist are happy to have their own museum at which to present their case. In brief, a dinosaur fossil found in flood deposits means that it was killed in the biblical great flood.  (Of course, it could not have been killed in any of the other mythical or mytho-historical  floods spoke of in written and oral histories around the world.)   
Here are the reasons why young Earth creation science is wrong:
The faint signs of life on Kepler 186-f

The faint signs of life on Kepler 186-f

May 23 2014 | comment(s)

SETI scientist Gerry Harp writes of a "secret" experiment involving Kepler 186-f.   The senior scientist look only for a tuning fork like signal.  The least likely signal ET would send. Real signs of ET intelligence will be, and if I am correct are in fact, much fainter and on a broad band like channel.  A serious scientific search should not attempt to rely only on radio data, or look only for a strictly monochromatic, one frequency, radio signal.
Most people in the USA are not confident of the big bang, evolution or the age of the Earth

Most people in the USA are not confident of the big bang, evolution or the age of the Earth

Apr 22 2014 | comment(s)

Where science and religion conflict most Americans choose religion. According to the AP-GFK poll most  Americans lack confidence in the greenhouse effect, the 4.5 billion year age of the Earth, the theory of evolution, and the big bang theory.   This article could be called why having a TV show like Cosmos matters, or no wonder it's ratings aren't much higher.  It isn't instead let us look at the numbers and worry about the state of science literacy in this country. 

This is the table from page two of the poll results.  

A better than 50/50 chance Kepler-186f has technological life. (Updated)

A better than 50/50 chance Kepler-186f has technological life. (Updated)

Apr 19 2014 | comment(s)

SETI Live's data on Kepler-186's solar system could be revealing evidence of extraterrestrial life. SETI may have seen ET's satellite signals already. Here is the data and my analysis.   From my own expertise and experience in astronomy, specifically classifying signals for SETI Live... I say there is a better than 50/50 chance we have found that we are not alone.
NASA's newly found planet Kepler-186f, is at most habitable, a

NASA's newly found planet Kepler-186f, is at most habitable, a "Snow Ball Earth".

Apr 17 2014 | comment(s)

The habitable zone planet announced by NASA today is most probably Mars Like...at best a frozen snowball or slushball.  I make this determination based on a sober reading of NASA'S press release.   Kepler-186f is a star approximately 500 light years away in the Kepler 186 system.  Kepler 186 is a red dwarf, and 186f is the fifth planet from it's star, and it is smaller than the other planets in it's system.  This planet receives much less solar heat than Earth.  If it is not Venus like or Mars like in it's atmosphere then it is habitable.  Even then it is likely much colder than Earth.
As icy as it is in NASA's Image seen all over the web...
Why Cosmos's ratings don't matter.

Why Cosmos's ratings don't matter.

Apr 08 2014 | comment(s)

This is a TV show which will be more appreciated in ten to twenty years than it is now.   The nation may not be as ready as we would like to hear this content from any host much less one like Dr. Niel D. Tyson. "Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey" has settled at a two week plateau in the ratings on Fox where it has a respectable 4.01 million viewers.  For a documentary on network TV up against pure entertainment programs that is pretty good.