Sunlight could push killer rocks toward Earth

Report by a team of researchers led by William Bottke of the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colorado. Full report in the November 23 edition the journal Science.

—by Pete at 1:18 PM {PermaLink}

Science experiments

I added two more science experiments to the small collection I’ve started, including Bill’s famous raisins and 7-Up.

—by Pete at 7:26 PM {PermaLink}

Books on Bill’s show

Looking for books that Bill mentioned on the air? Full information for Dr. Edward Teller’s Memoirs and Naturally Dangerous can be found in Dr. Bill’s Reading List.

—by Pete at 6:10 PM {PermaLink}

Funny word variations

I updated the Fun Page to include the old Washington Post article with the definition of the Dopeler Effect and other funny made-up words.

—by Pete at 6:05 PM {PermaLink}

Leonids meteor shower

NASA information on the Leonids meteror shower. Information also at Leonids.org.

—by Pete at 9:36 PM {PermaLink}

Bill’s invention could stop hijacked trucks

NY Times: Urgent Efforts to Prevent Thefts of Trucks for Use as Bombs—The device mentioned in this article is Dr. Bill’s invention—an effort to outfit large trucks with a braking device that could be used by police cars to stop hijacked trucks easily. (Free registration required to view article.)

—by Pete at 8:57 PM {PermaLink}

Baloney science detection

A two-part series of columns in Scientific American (just one page each; Nov. & Dec. issues) gives some good, easy-to-understand rules for detecting junk science and similar frauds: Baloney Detection and More Baloney Detection

—by Pete at 8:50 PM {PermaLink}

Students lack solid grasp on science

So says the National Science Teachers Association.

—by Pete at 1:57 PM {PermaLink}

sharetrails.org

Heard about this site on another radio show. It is home of the BlueRibbon Coalition, which is dedicated to “Preserving our Natural Resources for the Public, instead of from the Public”.

—by Pete at 6:14 PM {PermaLink}

School of the Americas

Several callers to last night’s show brought up the US Army’s “School of the Americas”, labeling it as a terrorist training camp. The calls seem to have been timed to coincide with an annual protest at the now-closed installation in Georgia.

—by Pete at 3:09 PM {PermaLink}

New form of matter or energy?

MSNBC/WashPost: New Form of Matter or Energy Suspected in Neutrino Trial: Northwestern University Experiment may point to new form of matter or energy.

—by Pete at 6:21 PM {PermaLink}

FOXnews.com now covering junk science

It looks like FOXnews.com has a recurring column on scientific fraud. Junk Science is authored by Steven Milloy.

—by Pete at 11:39 AM {PermaLink}

Dr. Bill filling in for Gene Burns

Don’t forget that Dr. Bill will be back on the air this weekend!

—by Pete at 6:05 PM {PermaLink}

The Patent Files

I’m watching a fascinating new TV show, The Patent Files, on the History Channel. It chronicles interesting, important, and little-known patents from throughout our modern history. Airs Tuesday–Friday, November 6–9 at 10pm ET/PT.

Update:The series is no longer being broadcast, but you can buy VHS copies of the four programs that were shown.

—by Pete at 10:27 PM {PermaLink}

Cool science Web log

I just found a neat science Web site, maintained in the form of a Web log

—by Pete at 3:04 PM {PermaLink}

Treating anthrax

Bill referenced an article in the journal Science about a possible means of treating severe anthrax cases. The full article is available online only for a fee (or to online members of AAAS), but a summary is available from Science News.

—by Pete at 9:30 PM {PermaLink}