science

The lost island that never was – an un-discovery

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Geologists from the University of Sydney have discovered that a 26km land mass called Sandy Island that can be seen on charts and maps – including Google Maps – does not in fact exist. An island was thought to exist between Australia and the French territory of New Caledonia, but there is no satellite image … Read more

Stars

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I have two Star related items for you today. 100,000 Stars Google has launched a new Chrome Experiment called “100,000 Stars,” which provides a stunning look at the stars that arerelatively close to Earth – you know, just a few light years away. Google explains … Visualizing the exact location of every star in the galaxy is … Read more

Evidence of hunting with stone tipped spears 500,000 years ago

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Its an exciting find, there is now clear evidence that the common ancestor of both humans and Neanderthals hunted with stone tipped spears … half a million years ago. Let that number sink in. The specific news is that we knew that stone spears were in use 300,000 years ago, but a new study now pushes … Read more

Charles Darwin got 4,000 votes in the last US election

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Seriously, he really did, it was not simply some chap with the same name, but the well-known author of “On the Origin of Species” and UK Naturalist, Charles Darwin, a non US citizen. Despite having died over 130 years ago he actually did get 4,000 votes in Athens-Clarke County in a congressional race last week, so apparently being dead is … Read more

Religious Superstition vs Science … does it still happen? … sadly yes.

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Looking back in history there are clear, very obvious and well-known examples of  confrontation between religious superstition and science, for example Galileo Galilei, arrested and hauled before the inquisition for heresy because he supported the observation that the sun stands still and that it is the earth that moves. Rome might indeed have truly “believed” but … Read more

Increasing the flow of information – the rise of new forms of education on a new scale

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The printing press dramatically transformed our world, and so now the Internet is doing the same right across many industries. Information that was once locked away is starting to flow out to all of us. Today’s example of this is an educational one. MIT-Harvard was once the exclusive preserve of those rich enough to gain entry, … Read more