Monday Links: WiFi to Replace Cables, Global Warming Denialism, and the Longest Sunset

The Economist predicts that 60-GHz range WiFi will quickly replace cables for transferring large amounts of data between home electronics. The obvious objection to using WiFi to connect your computer to monitors, keyboards, phones and printers is that others can eavesdrop on those signals and hack into them. Oddly enough, engineers have a solution for that. While the article in The Economist lacks specifics, I’m curious to see if its predictions pan out.

On Bad Astronomy, Phil Plait discusses global warming denialism and disinformation in politics and the media. His recent post delves into the origins of the term “climate change” as a politically correct euphemism, which ironically happens to describe the effects of global warming pretty accurately. Another post from last week highlights a video lambasting Republicans’ refusal to acknowledge the facts of the matter, as well as a link to a study confirming the accuracy of the “hockey-stick” graph.

And on a more serene note, this week’s “What if?” on xkcd tries to figure out how long the longest sunset on Earth can be.

Monday Links: Space Edition

If someone tells you to get your head of out of the clouds, you have two options: plant your feet on the ground, or fly into space.

This last Thursday, Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, posted a summary of the Planck mission data. Planck is a space telescope operated by the European Space Agency. Its purpose is to scan the Microwave Background Radiation, the highly red-shifted afterglow fo the Big Bang. So far, its readings are the most precise on record, and have several implications for our understanding of the universe. Among them is the fact that the universe is slightly older than expected, and that it is somewhat lopsided. Read Phil's article for the full story.

The Economist surprised me by using the term "Space Archaeology," which is apparently now an actual field. At least, it is for the wealthy founder of Amazon, Jeff Bezos. He has put his millions to good use, and now trawls the oceans for spent boosters from the Apollo mission's lower stages. Mr. Bezos intends to put them on public display. Let's hope so: perhaps it will convince people that exploring space is a nobler pursuit than war.

I really should just post a feed to Phil Plait's blog on my site, now that I think of it, since it's a constant stream of interesting stuff. I checked back there today, and he has a new article up on citizen science: the practice of using laypeople to aid in real scientific research. This usually works via a form of crowdsourcing, where a website will present bits of data for public analysis. I used to participate on one such site, called Galaxy Zoo, which allows you to help catalogue galaxies.

Go ahead: get your head out of the clouds and into someplace useful. Like space.

Monday Links: Mannequins, Higgs, Meteors and Martian Water

A clothing store in Sweden now features mannequins which represent the curvier (and more common) spectrum of the female figure. The reception of their decision is overwhelmingly positive. While I must comment on how the picture in the article appears to obscure the largest of the three mannequins in its photograph, I do believe this news, in itself, is a positive development. Representing the full range of human form can only be a good thing. However, I doubt the underlying issue of idealizing the female figure will vanish until we stop giving a damn about whether a woman is attractive or not.

On the science front, researchers have confirmed that the particle discovered last July 4th is indeed the Higgs boson, or a version thereof. Since it is cagey and rare beast, many more experiments are necessary to determine which theoretical conception of the Higgs this particle matches, if any. However, the article notes that the mass of this Higgs—about 126 times the mass of the proton—is enough to indicate instability in our universe on the billions-of-years scale. They do not specify whether or not this means the Big Crunch is in vogue again.

A post on Magpie and Whiskeyjack features the art of meteorites throughout the ages. It is a lovely record of our fascination with the heavens and their behavior.

Finally, Curiosity's examination of rocks on Mars leaves scientists optimistic that its ancient environment was friendly to life, and thus may have been home to some life forms. Apparently, the evidence indicates that any water that would have existed on Mars billions of years ago would have been potable. Of course, fans of Doctor Who know this to be a trap.

Telling Time in the Renaissance, Part I: A Change in Calendars

Time is a slippery beast. You may believe otherwise, if you live in today’s West. Here, the moments march lockstep in time with the news ticker, Twitter feeds and the stock market bell—every event branded with a number. The precision of industry disguises the artifice that is our experience of time.

In the world of our ancient forbears, however, we had less evidence of time’s passage. The seasons flowed one into another with each year’s refrain, and the phases of the moon signaled the strength of the tides. When those cultures saw fit to measure these intervals, they faced a panoply of decisions in the face of the elements. As civilizations grew, they sometimes saw fit to change those decisions and alter their measure of time. The Renaissance saw at least one such change to fruition.

Science Tidbits: Moon Colonies, Genetic Circuits, and Throwing Rocks at Earth

On Bad Astronomy, I found this video featuring Phil Plait and Dr. Karin Bondar. In the video, Phil speaks briefly on the possibility of applying 3-D printing technology to building settlements on the moon—an option actually under development by NASA. Karin follows up with an equally fascinating development: biologists are manipulating DNA in a manner that I can only describe as genetic computing.

To me, these developments are evidence that we already live in a science fiction world. Every day heralds new discoveries about the natural world, and more knowledge of how we can apply those principles to our technology. As someone who writes science fiction, this is good news for me.

I'll leave you with one last treat: an asteroid impact calculator from Purdue University's website.