Google Mars

Google has rolled out another entertaining map service: Google Mars. Three views are available: elevation, visible, and IR, and you can click to turn on markers for things like crater names, landing sites, and news articles. And you can search for terms like "Olympus Mons" or "Spirit" - differrent color icons indicate landmarks (red), other points of interest (green), and spacecraft (yellow). It's pretty neat! You don't get green cheese when you zoom in all the way though, like you did with Google Moon. ;)

Statement as of 4:55 PM MST on March 14, 2006

For Phoenix, AZ:

Statement as of 4:55 PM MST on March 14, 2006

... Spring or Vernal equinox is Monday March 20th at 1126 am MST...

The sun will be directly over the Equator at 1126 am MST Monday
March 20th... as it Marks the Halfway Point of its six-month journey
northward. This Crossing of the sun directly over the Equator is
known as the Vernal equinox. The sun will continue its northward
journey until the Summer solstice on June 21st.

This is the time of year when days and nights are near equal length.
This is also the time of year when the sun rises directly in the east
and sets directly in the west. Thus... you may find yourself looking
directly into the sun while driving east just after sunrise (around
637 am MST in phoenix) or driving west just before sunset (around
637 PM MST in phoenix). So... please be extra cautious while driving.

Ellis
Wunderground/NWS

Hee, I love everyday astronomy. :)

Press Release Science: Do's

Press release: a comparatively short news blurb about ongoing science. Results are typically released without being checked by other scientists in the field, or have been checked but are based only on a single study, so they are preliminary results and should be taken with a grain of salt. However, they are written in Common English, rather than Science English, and so are more comprehensible to the general public. Additionally, press releases typically come out much sooner than peer reviewed research.

I have seen my very first example of a good press release. The Boston Globe article (first part) tells how one group found that exercising pregnant mice resulted in larger brains in the offspring, but the most impressive part to the whole article is the three paragraphs after the press release, warning the reader that the results are preliminary!

The two other following blurbs do the same thing. I'm not sure when the Globe decided to do it in this manner, but I think I'm going to have to write them a letter of thanks.

Phonebook

I just got my 2006 phone book, and you know what that means: I get to shred the old one and feed it to my worm bin! *grin*

Definitions

A comment from Chestocrates reminded me of recent discussions I had about species-like definitions. It's amazing to me just how many words there are with similar meanings but some subtle differences. My understanding is as follows.

• Species: unique things (animal or plant) that do not breed breed with each other. Of course there's more to that when the species does not have sexual reproduction.


• Subspecies: a subdivision of species that can reproduce with each other, but may not due to either geographic or behavioral differences.


• Breed: a man-made subdivision of animal species that typically can and do reproduce with each other unless humans prevent it.


• Cultivar: a man-made subdivision of plant species that do not reproduce with each other. Often, cultivars are unable to reproduce without human intervention. An example is that broccoli and cabbage are cultivars of the same species of plant (brassica oleracea).


• Morph: a subspecies of animal that do not interbreed due to behavior.


• Strain: in microbiology, a subspecies of bacteria or virus with unique characteristics, such as the H5N1 strain of avian influenza; in animals, especially lab rats, a subspeces specifically bred with certain traits, such as diabetes.

Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong, and I'll update the original post.

Godless mathematics

And to think I was just asking a friend about Diff EQ's this afternoon. Whew, I'm glad I've seen the light!

Creationists still at it

In Utah, Mormon fundie central, legislators tried to pass a law requiring teachers to state that "evolution is not a fact and the state doesn't endorse the theory." (CNN/AP) Fortunately, the state House voted it down 2-1, but the Senate had approved it!

"I don't believe that anybody in there really wants their kids to be taught that their great-grandfather was an ape," [bill sponsor, Republican Senator Chris] Buttars said.

Well of course not! It was something like thousands or millions of generations ago, and they weren't apes, they were homo erectus! Duh.