Tag: Science

Farewell to a little-known aircraft that turned into a scientific wonder

  NASA has retired its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), after eight years of operations.  Data from its missions will continue to be analyzed for years to come. From the start of its development in 1996, SOFIA required engineering ingenuity. A Boeing 747SP jetliner had to be modified to carry the 38,000-pound, 100-inch (more… Continue reading Farewell to a little-known aircraft that turned into a scientific wonder

The mausoleum of Genghis Khan – found at last?

  Archaeology World reports: Construction workers employed in road building near the Onon River in the Khentii province of Mongolia, have discovered a mass grave containing the remains of many dozens of human corpses lying upon a large rudimentary stone structure. Forensic experts and archaeologists were called to the site, which was revealed to be… Continue reading The mausoleum of Genghis Khan – found at last?

Food and climate change? As always, “Follow the money”

Cabot Phillips, senior editor at The Daily Wire, has published a series of tweets outlining why Bill Gates is so heavily promoting “synthetic meat”.  Here’s part of the Threadreader digest of the discussion. Bill Gates has quietly become the largest farmland owner in America. At the same time, he’s become a leading voice in the… Continue reading Food and climate change? As always, “Follow the money”

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) – is this the cause?

  As a pastor, I ran into several cases of SIDS – Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.  Every one was tragic.  The parents sometimes went to pieces emotionally, blaming themselves, blaming God, unable to accept that their otherwise perfectly normal, healthy baby had gone to sleep and never woken up again.  Some were able to recover… Continue reading Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) – is this the cause?

Now that’s what I call well-preserved

  I was fascinated by these before-and-after images of what a poster on Gab described as, “A 2000-year-old Roman silver dagger, that was discovered by an archeology intern in 2019 in Germany, before and after nine months of careful restoration work”.  Click the image for a larger view. Intrigued, I looked for more information, and… Continue reading Now that’s what I call well-preserved

Saturday Snippet: Demographics and the rise and fall of nations

  I’m currently reading a very interesting book by Paul Morland titled “The Human Tide: How Population Shaped the Modern World“. The blurb reads: The rise and fall of the British Empire; the emergence of America as a superpower; the ebb and flow of global challenges from Nazi Germany, Imperial Japan, and Soviet Russia. These… Continue reading Saturday Snippet: Demographics and the rise and fall of nations

Big Brother’s going to love this, but it scares the hell out of me

  An ominous article in National Geographic is titled “The controversial quest to make a ‘contagious’ vaccine“. Imagine a cure that’s as contagious as the disease it fights—a vaccine that could replicate in a host’s body and spread to others nearby, quickly and easily protecting a whole population from microbial attacks. That’s the goal of… Continue reading Big Brother’s going to love this, but it scares the hell out of me

Of eggs and nuclear physics

  The latest XKCD cartoon made me smile, but also reminded me of the darker side of the history of nuclear physics. The mouseover text on the cartoon’s Web page reads:  “The foil on the toothpick represents the blue flash”.  The “blue flash” refers to what became known as the “demon core”, used in two… Continue reading Of eggs and nuclear physics

Something is deeply, dangerously wrong with US biological research overseas

  One of the pretexts offered by Russia for its invasion of Ukraine was to neutralize biological weapons in that nation.  For several weeks, allegations from Russia to that effect have been denied, poo-poohed and played down by the West, most particularly the USA. It begins to appear as if the Biden administration has been… Continue reading Something is deeply, dangerously wrong with US biological research overseas