The Origins of the Universe

When pondering over the origins of the universe, the standard religious answer is “God did it, problem solved, now let’s move on to believing”. Oh wait. Evidence for this claim is … well so far, it is exactly zero. It also has a rather fatal flaw because you then need to explain the origins of this god. The … Read more

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s has a new late night TV show … yea.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, famous for the Cosmos reboot (if you missed that, you should check it out) is back on TV with his own late night slot … …will premiere his new late night program StarTalk on National Geographic Channel on April 20th, according to the cable network. Variety reports that guests will include, “Former US president Jimmy Carter, biologist Richard Dawkins, … Read more

Preventing Cancer

My Father had colon cancer, my grandfather had colon cancer, my great-grandfather had colon cancer (are you seeing a pattern here yet?), so if you have a family history like this then please keep reading. Now here is the challenge, colorectal cancer can be present for several years before symptoms develop, and by the time … Read more

Twitter Storm on Climate Change and Balance at the BBC

Physicist Helen Czerski has managed to stir things up recently when tweeting about Climate Change: The Inconvenient Facts. To set the ball rolling climate scientist Michael Mann took to Twitter to complain that the BBC was “actively promoting misinformation” about man-made climate change, and in reply Helen Czerski, responded that the show is “v. balanced in sense … Read more

Pac-Man is now available in Google Maps … yes really

Nothing serious today, time for a break. So when it comes to April 1st, Google won the Internet for the day (and perhaps every other day as well). Go to Google Maps, click any location, then right beside the usual satellite view, click that new logo, and it renders the map into a Pac-Man game that … Read more

Arctic sea ice reaches lowest maximum ever recorded

As you might indeed expect, the ice covering the Arctic sea oscillates, we have the summer melt that is then followed by the winter freeze, and as we pass through these regular cycles the National Snow and Ice Data Centre measures what is happening and reports the latest on a daily basis. How? They get reliable measurements … Read more