Archive for March, 2012
Have aliens visited Earth?
I would be happy if aliens visited Earth, but I don’t believe they have as of yet. Although there are many reports of UFOs and alien abductions, somehow I think if aliens were really here we would know it. As the FAQ on the SETI Institute web site puts it: “if there were interesting, verifiable […]
Over 60 billion habitable worlds in our galaxy
That’s a new estimate from astronomers, who have calculated that 40% of red dwarf stars (the most common type of star in our galaxy) “have a so-called ‘super-Earth’ planet orbiting in a habitable zone that would allow water to flow on the surface.” More details here… Billions of habitable worlds in Milky Way And that’s […]
For more information on apes
The classification “great ape” consists of bonobos, chimpanzees, gorillas, humans, and orangutans. These are our closest relatives in the animal kingdom — we share 99% of our DNA with chimpanzees and bonobos. Bonobos were only identified as a species distinct from chimpanzees in 1933. Louis Leakey sent three women into the field to learn about […]
Ape House
{4.5/5} “He’d had a two-way conversation with great apes. He’d spoken to them in English, and they’d responded using American Sign Language… He’d looked into their eyes and recognized without a shadow of a doubt that sentient, intelligent beings were looking back.” Ape House by Sara Gruen, published in 2010 This novel tells the story […]
Why did humans start walking upright?
Why our ancestors started walking upright has been one of the big mysteries in human evolution. There have been various theories but we didn’t know for sure. Now researchers have studied chimpanzees — who are relatively similar to our ancestors from 6 million years ago — and discovered that they will walk upright more when […]
Redwall
I started reading Redwall by Brian Jacques because it was on the list. But I’m not going to finish it — it’s not doing it for me, so I’m moving on. There are a number of books marketed to younger readers on the fantasy list. Some of them, like The Golden Compass and Artemis Fowl, […]
Get Low
{4.5/5} “We like to imagine that good and bad, right and wrong, are miles apart. But the truth is, very often they are all tangled up with each other.” Get Low, released in 2010 In the 1930s Felix is a hermit who puts up “no trespassing” signs and scares kids away by shooting his rifle […]
Space is a dangerous place
Something unusual happened on the International Space Station today. The astronauts all got into rockets in case they had to leave the station and return to Earth. Why? Because a piece of space junk was heading their way and they weren’t sure if it was going to hit the station. What does space junk consist […]
The Aliens Among Us
{4.5/5} “Stephens had an idea fixed in his mind that the Earth was about to be invaded, and it was the kind of exciting idea that a young man of Stephens’ temperament would not give up easily.” The Aliens Among Us by James White, published in 1969 Robert J. Sawyer mentioned in his blog that […]
A few articles on climate change
97% of scientists agree that humans have contributed significantly to climate change. It’s a huge issue that we’ll have to deal with sooner or later in the 21st century — sooner would be better. There are some places in the world where people have no choice but to believe that climate change is happening — […]