Category Archives: Science

The Moons of Mars – Phobos and Deimos

Phobos and Deimos, are the two small moons which orbit Mars. Their origin still remains unclear, but Asteroid capture is the most accepted theory. Interestingly, from the surface of Mars, Phobos rises in the west and sets in the east; … Continue reading

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The Big Bang, Einstein’s Biggest Blunder, and the Age of the Universe

The Big Bang is considered the birth of our Universe and, in consequence, the origin of space and time. It’s hard to wrap your brain around the fact that when looking into the sky at stars and planets light-years away, … Continue reading

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Coelacanth – a Living Prehistoric Creature

Coelacanth is a rare order of fish. The two extant species include the West Indian Ocean Coelacanth (Latimeria chalumnae) and the Indonesian Coelacanth (Latimeria menadoensis). They follow the oldest known living lineage of Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish and tetrapods); this classification … Continue reading

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Chemistry: Calculate the Mass of an Atom [Video]

I created and uploaded this video to youtube back in 2009. This video demonstrates how to solve a simple chemistry problem. I calculate the mass of a Chlorine atom.

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Python – Implementing Caching in Your Applications via Dictionaries

In this blog I demonstrate how you can implement and take advantage of caching in your Python scripts/applications. Caching allows you to complete tasks more rapidly by storing and reusing results for repeated operations using the same criteria. For example, … Continue reading

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University of Berkeley Astronomers Discover Largest Known Black Holes

University of California, Berkeley Astronomers have discovered the largest black holes known to date. The black holes are estimated to be have masses equivalent to about 10 billion suns each (one black hole being slightly bigger than the other). The … Continue reading

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Celebration of Darwin’s 201st birthday

Last month I attended the “9th Annual Evolutionpalooza! – Darwin Day in San Francisco.” The event was at the main branch of the San Francisco Public Library. The short presentation by NASA Astrobiologist Dr. Lynn Rothschild on Darwin and some … Continue reading

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Interesting Facts: Man-made Urea

In the past, organic compounds were restricted to those that could be produced only from living entities. These compounds were thought to contain a “vital force” based on their natural origin. This “vital force” concept was disproved in 1828 by … Continue reading

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