By Adam Frank
I just wanted to pass a long a conversation I had last week when I gave a talk at the Chicago Council on Science & Technology. After I was done giving a presentation on my book, (in a beautiful auditorium on the Chicago campus of Northwestern University), a young man approached me. Rather than ask a question about string theory or my philosophy of science, he quite articulately described why he was happy to have found 13.7 Cosmos and Culture.
“The comments,” he said. “They are so thoughtful and civil.”
I could not agree more. When I go to other sites associated with well-trafficked media outlets and read the comments it can, sometimes, make me fear for humanity. But as the young gentleman observed, the comments on this blog are (in general) thoughtful, respectful, incisive and sometimes very, very funny. I learn a great deal from the commenters to these posts and it’s clear others do too.
“It’s like a breath of fresh air” said the young man before he left. “There is so much hostility everywhere. It’s great to see a place where there’s an actual conversation happening”.
True that.
Thanks everyone.
Nano 101
Adapted from www.nano.gov
What is nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions between approximately 1 and 100 nanometers (nm), where unique phenomena enable novel applications not feasible when working with bulk materials or even with single atoms or molecules. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. A sheet of paper is about 100,000 nanometers thick; a single gold atom is about a third of a nanometer in diameter. Continue reading “Nano 101: Test your Nano knowledge!”
Cold fusion is one of those topics that elicits strong words and sentiments. Due to these powerful feelings and discourse about the topic, it is the perfect subject to be tackled by the filmmakers, whose goal is to show the human side of science. Read more about The Believers at Joanne Manaster’s blog in Scientific American, Making Scientists Seem Human–Through Film!
Fracking is a step in the production of gas and oil by the high pressure fragmentation of shale using water, sand and chemicals. Using fracking to produce shale oil and shale gas has the potential to make the United States largely independent of foreign sources of natural gas and significantly less dependent on foreign sources of oil. The major exploitation of shale oil and gas will depend on dealing with environmental concerns surrounding potential ground water contamination and water depletion that result from the fracking process. Continue reading “FRACKING – the quest for energy independence”
