Science Made Cool

Team Einstein Intercepts!

Physicists at the Italian Gran Sasso laboratory have released a study indicating that the faster-than-light neutrinos reported by the OPERA experiment at CERN must be measurement error. The study is based on the particle energy of the neutrinos, which pretty much matches what one would expect if they were traveling at normal speeds  (i.e. very close to, but not over the speed of light).

So coach Einstein's team has a first down, and are within scoring distance of the CERN end zone, but the scrappy OPERA players aren't giving up yet. This is still anyone's game.

It's kind of neat to watch the process of science taking place in real time. Result is announced, result is tested, some tests confirm it while others contradict it. The tests are tested, and eventually we'll know the truth. This is how science really works.

CERN Pushes Einstein Back Across the 50 Yard Line

The OPERA experiment has gotten a second faster-than-light neutrino result, even after correcting for the possibility of a timing error. This isn't quite a touchdown for the faster-than-light results yet, but it does mean Einsteinian relativity is playing defense right now.

Scientists love it when everything they know turns out to be wrong. Seriously. When a field has gotten too settled and predictable, it's time for a paradigm shift.  

The Ghoul Strikes Again

Back in the pioneering days of space exploration, probes launched to Mars had a shockingly high failure rate. It wasn't until the landings of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers that humans finally managed an overall 50 percent success rate. 

NASA engineers in the old days used to joke rather grimly about the "Great Galactic Ghoul" lurking in space, ready to gobble up vehicles heading for Mars.

Well, the Ghoul is still on the job. The Russian Phobos-Grunt probe (I didn't name it) suffered an engine failure in orbit. Instead of blasting off for Mars it will probably wind up dropping into an ocean somewhere.

The American Curiosity rover is set to launch in two weeks, and if it gets past the Ghoul it may be the last pesky Earth machine to bother Mars for a long time. The Administration is backing away from plans to send more missions in 2016 and 2018, and any thoughts of a manned voyage seem to be permanently on hold.

The Ghoul is winning.

Team Duck Force Wants You!

Want to do some science? Now you can, even if you don't know which end of a test tube to look through. Rockethub is a "crowdsourcing" site for creative projects in a variety of fields, including science. Here's how it works: people in need of funds for a project list what they want to do, and then donors can scroll through the list and contribute whatever amounts they wish to specific projects. All the cool kids are doing it -- Kickstarter is another one, aimed at business startups.

And now Rockethub is hosting a project by none other than our own Science Guru herself. Diane Kelly and her colleague Patricia Brennan are collecting funds to study the mechanical forces within the oviduct of female ducks during mating. This means building their own oviduct out of a suitably durable material, wiring it up with force transducers, and introducing it to some male ducks at a poultry farm in Canada. You can be part of it by contributing. There are goodies, and not the lame Public Television kind of goodies, either.

Join Team Duck Force!