Archive for March, 2010

Nature & Math are Beautifully Intertwined

Our universe is amazing!

Our World is Warming

Scientific insight from the group (NASA) that uses science to successfully launch rockets shows that our world is warming.

This past year, 2009, and 2005 were the warmest years recorded since humanity started keeping track. This past decade, 2000-2009, was the warmest decade on record.

NASAs new website, A Warming World, is a wonderful collection of “articles, videos, data visualizations, space-based imagery and interactive visuals that provide unique NASA perspectives on this topic of global importance.”

http://climate.nasa.gov/warmingworld/

Despite the fact that it snows, our world is warming. The evidence is overwhelming.

Learning How To Make Software

My first experiences in computer programming were in QBasic, a simple DOS based version of BASIC. Qbasic has evolved into VB.NET and it’s sister C# and the development software Visual Studio. While an amazing tool set it just isn’t as simple as it once was. It would likely have overwhelmed me as a 7th grader.

Check out Microsoft’s Small Basic. It makes learning to program simple again, it has a built in turtle (for those that remember LOGO), and it’s free.

Earth’s Day Just Got Shorter

The major Chile earthquake a few days ago appears to have shortened the length of Earth’s day by 1.26 microseconds (1.26 × 10-6 or 0.00000126 seconds) and moved its axis by about 8 cm (3 in).

How could this happen?

Have you ever spun around in a chair and noticed that moving your arms in or out changed your speed? When you put your arms out you rotate slower and pulling them in makes you spin faster. It would seem that the earthquake caused a notable chunk of Earth’s mass to move closer to the center which caused the spinning Earth to speed up.

Source: DiscoblogCNN

Predicting the Future

Something made better in Universe Sandbox 2.

Universe Sandbox is software that simulates gravity, one of the four fundamental forces in the universe. Simulate a rouge star crashing through our solar system or two massive galaxies colliding. More Info