science

Bill Nye The Science Guy

/ Amanda / Leave a comment

billnyeA few months ago, one of my childhood heroes and one of the most brilliant people ever, Bill Nye (the Science Guy) made an announcement that he would be coming to NYC to do a show at Irving Plaza. I had no idea what he was going to do or say, but I didn’t hesitate to buy tickets (only about $45 a piece, which isn’t at all a bad price)! To me, Bill Nye was the exciting part of science classes at a young age (well, along with the experiments). Whenever a teacher would put on Bill Nye, it wasn’t just watching a boring documentary or educational video that would put us to sleep. The theme song would play, and myself, along with my other classmates would immediately perk up and genuinely be excited to learn. Although I’m no where near a scientist, I still love learning about science, and still get genuinely excited seeing a new experiment, or hearing about a new discovery. In a way, Bill Nye was that fun, quirky teacher that everyone loved attending his class. I’m not alone when I say he’s a major part of my childhood.

Last night was the highly anticipated show! Fellow Nerd-Base member Chris and I showed up closer to 7pm (doors opened at 6:30) and the line literally wrapped around the block. Chris had even made a comment that as many times as he’s been to Irving plaza for concerts and other events, he’s never seen a line that long to get in. It was no surprise all 3 of Bill Nye’s shows this weekend were sold out. I also have to add in here that the staff at Irving Plaza were very friendly Bs1whehCIAA4U1M.jpg-largeand welcoming! Not that I expected jerks to work there, but the staff made jokes while we were waiting in line and were always smiling. It was really nice to have that kind of experience before we even walked in the doors.

When we finally made our way in the building, the staff inside (which I’m not sure if they worked for Bill Nye, Live Nation, or Irving Plaza) were all wearing lab coats! They were very friendly as well, and handed out yellow cards to anyone interested in asking Mr. Nye a question. The halls and stairs were appropriately decorated with Continue reading →

Countdown to a Roland Emmerich movie: The Russian Meteor Event

/ Christopher Lee / Leave a comment

nb meteor bannerI’m sure many of you have already heard the “SyFy movie of the week” worthy news today of the meteor that exploded in the skies above Siberia causing a shockwave that injured nearly 1000 people and caused massive damage to a large area, including some of the factory area where the Russian nuclear weapons facilities are. Scary. Alas, reports state that no real damage was caused there and there is no cause for worry. Besides, with Chernobyl just recently becoming safe enough to venture into (granted, with the proper equipment and safety gear), that would be the last thing Russia needs.

Some reports, mind you, take these with a HUGE grain of salt, say that the meteor was being tracked and shot down by the Russian military. Interestingly, the few of those that I read this morning are mysteriously gone…conspiracy much?

However, science has a better explanation, the 10-15 ton meteor, the type known as a “Bolide“, began it’s firey decent into our atmosphere and between heat, temperature, etc, exploded about 30-60 miles above ground.

Well, our thoughts go out to those injured of course, but I’m calling it now. This type of event will likely soon be made into a film or tv-movie…just keep an eye out on your netflix feed or local video store (if you still have one) shelves.

If you haven’t yet seen the video of the actual incident, after the cut I’ve included two incredible montages of video taken from various sources of the event. I’ve also included a video of some interior surveillance footage from affected buildings which is pretty frightening. Continue reading →

Thanks Pentagon, now Skynet's got another tool in it's belt.

/ Christopher Lee / Leave a comment

Written by: Christopher Lee

As a friend of mine would say, “I, for one, welcome our new robot overlords.”

All kidding aside, this video shows some amazing leaps in mobile robotic technology. Once a practical portable energy source is created (if it has not yet been, where’s our Arc Reactor Mr. Stark?), the world is going to change. Interestingly, and arguably, sadly, it looks as if that change will first come on the fields of battle. 

The “Cheetah”, as it has been dubbed by DARPA, is the latest, fastest, robotic instrument in a long line of alternative, multi-terrain technology. Says DARPA:

“The use of ground robots in military explosive-ordinance-disposal missions already saves many lives and prevents thousands of other casualties.  If the current limitations on mobility and manipulation capabilities of robots can be overcome, robots could much more effectively assist warfighters across a greater range of missions.  DARPA’sMaximum Mobility and Manipulation (M3) program seeks to create and demonstrate significant scientific and engineering advances in robot mobility and manipulation capabilities. “

Okay, so they say this is for defense and bomb disposal, but in my mind (and I can’t lie, in my mind, this scenario looks AWESOME), I see hundreds of atomic powered Robo-cats streaming across the battlefield taking out the opposing forces in one of the most fear-inducing scenes of chrome and blood since the T-1000 pulled it’s eye out in the first “Terminator” movie. I also see a pretty interesting segue into the creation of real-life “rat things” (if you don’t know what I’m talking about, go read “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson and you can thank me later).

But, as said previously, all this, whether it is to be utilized for “good” or “evil”, is still far off until…wait, didn’t I read some theory about the progression of technology creating the fabled AI Singularity very soon? Oh man……we’re screwed…I think we need to stop worrying about the zombie apololypse and start working on civilian level EMP cannons…

-Chris

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