Category Archives: Science

The Artemis Accords

Posted on October 14, 2020 by John Swinburn

A 1967 treaty holds “that the moon and other celestial bodies are exempt from national claims of ownership,” according to an article on Aljazeera.com. That tidbit was included in an article about the Artemis Accords, an eight-nation international pact regarding … Continue reading →

Posted in Economics, Government, Science | 2 Comments

Pseudo-Scientific Rambling

Posted on August 11, 2019 by John Swinburn

The universe adjusts to accommodate us. As we move through space, the shape of the air around us adjusts to fit our forms. When the air moves to adapt to our motion, we do not propel only the molecules of … Continue reading →

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Time Crystals: A New Form of Matter

Posted on May 3, 2017 by John Swinburn

Four years ago, I read an article in Wired magazine about a concept advanced by a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Frank Wilczek. According to the article, Wilczek “developed an apparent proof of “time crystals” — physical structures that move in a repeating … Continue reading →

Posted in Physics, Science | Leave a comment

Autos and the Population Density of Vultures

Posted on April 8, 2017 by John Swinburn

I have, for years, wondered whether the advent of automobiles and the roads to carry them contribute to the population of vultures and other carrion-eaters. This question emerges from observations of vast numbers of corpses of dead animals killed by … Continue reading →

Posted in Cars, Nature, Science | Leave a comment

Speaking of Trees

Posted on April 3, 2017 by John Swinburn

I’ve begun reading The Secret Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate, by Peter Wohlleben. In the foreword to the book, Tim Flannery suggests the reason many people fail to understand trees is that humans live our lives on … Continue reading →

Posted in Nature, Science | Leave a comment

Physicsal Education

Posted on July 4, 2015 by John Swinburn

There is something to physics, after all. It’s not just a mystical web of mathematical equations used to describe the nature of matter and energy and the interaction between them. It’s actually an elegant framework for understanding the universe and … Continue reading →

Posted in Education, Mathematics, Physics, Science | Leave a comment

Scientific Inquiry

Posted on March 20, 2015 by John Swinburn

The older I get, the more I appreciate the magnificence of scientific inquiry and the more I appreciate its civility. Science and politics are worlds apart, one populated by people who strive to understand the world, the other by a … Continue reading →

Posted in Language, Science | 2 Comments

The Power of Routine Observation

Posted on January 23, 2015 by John Swinburn

The sun’s position as it becomes visible as a bright red-orange ball on clear mornings changes every day. I can tell because, over the past few months, at sunrise I have had to move from the spot where I work at my … Continue reading →

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So Small

Posted on October 12, 2014 by John Swinburn

Several times during the last few days, I have gone back to a series of images posted by an “information/entertainment” site on the internet. The images show the scale of the earth to objects in our solar system, then in … Continue reading →

Posted in Just Thinking, Science | Leave a comment

Pale Blue Dot

Posted on September 5, 2014 by John Swinburn

Watch this and consider.

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“Take this longing from my tongue…”

Posted on September 3, 2014 by John Swinburn

I learned, quite by accident, that the human tongue is a muscular hydrostat.  A muscular hydrostat is a biological structure (consisting primarily of muscles with no skeletal support structure) in animals used to manipulate objects or for locomotion of its host.  Other muscular hydrostats … Continue reading →

Posted in Essay, Mathematics, Science | Leave a comment

Why It Hurts So Good

Posted on July 2, 2014 by John Swinburn

Have you ever wondered why eating hot food makes you sweat? I have wondered, but until yesterday, I knew only that there was a relationship between the amount of capsaicin in a the ingredients of a dish and sweating. I … Continue reading →

Posted in Food, Science | 2 Comments