[writing|science] Geeking out over asteroid strikes
One of the things I love about writing is research. One of the things I love about research is interviewing experts. An acquaintance (and fan) is an asteroid geologist and runs a meteorite laboratory. I asked her about the kinetic strike on Seattle that occurs in my METAtropolis: Green Space novella, “Rock of Ages”. Here is part of what she sent me, redacted somewhat for clarity and confidentiality:
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Tags: Cool, friends, Science, Writing
Posted: 5:24 am Thu May 16 2013 | Comments(9) |
[science|child] We went to Mars for a little while
Last night after our return from the coast, ![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif?v=1)
the_child and I scooted over to the OMSI for their Mars landing viewing party. This was held in the planetarium there, with NASA’s JPL feed projected on the dome, and a second projection of a very sophisticated Mars lander simulator.
We’d planned on meeting davidlevine and kateyule there, and had even saved them seats in the planetarium, but by the time they arrived the ushers were directing people to overflow seating in the theater. @rick_lovett did find us there. He was on assignment for National Geographic (I think) covering public reactions to the landing. the_child wound up talking to him for a while.
The planetarium was packed. As David said to me in a text, science is popular in Portland. There was a big turnout of uniformed Civil Air Patrol cadets, and a ton of regular people. Interestingly, it was a cross-section of folks. Not just obvious geeks is what I mean. They had a few speakers and presentations, but mostly focused on the NASA feed. Plus there was a giant, inflatable Curiosity in the lobby.
the_child very much got into the spirit of things. Especially the nerve-wracking period of time once the lander was committed to de-orbiting. The room reflected the tension of the JPL team. She asked a lot of questions, some of them quite insightful and some of them inane. Those latter were her bleeding off her own nervousness.
Interestingly to me, she was able to articulate the basic issues of lightspeed lag and simultaneity simply from paying attention to the NASA feed. We wound up having a long talk about that in the car on the way home, and also about conservation of momentum. Newton’s first law isn’t intuitive to her. She’s still trying to wrap her head around that one. I love the way her brain works.
As we all know by now, Curiosity touched down successfully. the_child and I went home and crashed out. (Or at least I did.)
Of course we could have watched this in my living room on our laptops. It’s not like we were at JPL, let alone on Mars ourselves. But the shared experience of watching with a group of interested, fascinated fellow citizens was worth the trouble. The group energy of science isn’t something one gets to be a part of very often in everyday American life. The wild applause and the beaming pride at the successful landing was very uplifting indeed.
And, hey, Curiosity is on Mars, and my kid got to think some big thoughts.
As I said to Rick at the event, history begins here.
Tags: Child, Cool, friends, Mars, Portland, Science
Posted: 5:36 am Mon August 06 2012 | Comments(0) |
[personal|science] Death from the Skies Comes to Portland
Last night I went to OMSI Science Pub at the Bagdad with lillypond (a/k/a my sister), rekr8 and a bunch of other folks to hear Phil Plait, the Bad Astronomer, give his Death From the Skies talk.
The BA was every bit as erudite and entertaining as I had hoped. He’s a very engaging speaker with a personal style that is in the same quadrant as my own. In part, I was taking mental notes on how to improve my speaking skills, as there were a number of things I could learn directly from him. The presentation itself covered a topic with which I am already reasonably familiar — asteroids, comets and Earth impacts — but colored in an enormous amount of detail for me. I learned a lot in that respect, as well.
Afterwards, I got to hang a little while with the Science Pub crew as they took him out for a drink.
I don’t fanboi out much, but did enough to get that photo and chat Dr. Plait up a bit. A lot of fun, if a rather late night for me.
Photo © 2012 Scott Frey, used with permission.
Tags: Cool, Family, friends, Personal, Photos, Portland, Science
Posted: 5:37 am Thu August 02 2012 | Comments(0) |
[science] Evolutionary overdesign in the East African Plains Ape
A topic of conversation that’s cropped up several times recently is the question of evolutionary overdesign in the East African Plains Ape, also known as Homo sapiens. Which is to say, us.
Consider some of the basic performance specs for said plains ape.
- Sustained running speed of 8 mph
- Bursted running speed of 12 mph
- Daily walking range of 20 miles
- Deadweight lifting capacity 50-100% of body weight
- Throwing accuracy to twenty yards
- Sufficient social organization for group hunting and long-term foraging
So this five to six foot tall ape that runs about as fast as a moderately slow herd animal and can knock fruit out of a tree with a rock goes on to do what…
- Pilot an aircraft upside down at 900 mph 100 feet above the earth
- Break the four minute mile and run ultra marathons
- Invent cost accounting and actuarial tables
- Compose breathtaking symphonies
- Build thousand-mile-long walls
- Create instruments that see through time almost to the beginning of the Universe
How is any of that implied in the design specs? What was the evolutionary selection pressure that gave us the capacity for differential calculus or pentatonic scales? Why can anyone manage a parachute jump or a deep sea dive? How does looking for ripe fruit in the jungle canopy correspond to hunting for exoplanets?
Our species’ evolutionary overdesign allows us to work marvels, every day. I am continually astonished at all we do, from small tasks in the kitchen to the workings of entire cultures the world over.
if I were sufficiently deranged and mentally incapacitated to be a Creationist, I would take all this as evidence for a Creator or an Intelligent Designer. Since I actually have a logical mind capable of empirical thinking, I take this a signifier of the majesty of nature and all her creations.
We don’t need to look to the world of the imaginary for miracles. We are miracles.
Tags: Cool, nature, Religion, Science
Posted: 5:36 am Tue June 26 2012 | Comments(1) |
[science] I love Pluto
Wisdom of the Niece:
My five year old niece recently discovered – to her dismay – that Pluto is no longer a planet. So she drew a picture of Pluto and wrote, “I Love Pluto. I think Pluto is a planet.”
© 2009 D. Otteman and M. Lake. All rights reserved.
Tags: Funny, Photos, Science
Posted: 6:07 pm Tue November 10 2009 | Comments(1) |
[science|photos] The Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory
Today, at the invitation of Dr. Melinda Hutson, and I visited the Cascadia Meteorite Laboratory on the campus of Portland State University, here in sunny Portland, OR.
There we got to hold in our hands pieces of outer space, including fragments of the Moon and Mars. That may be one of the coolest things we’ve ever done.
Dr. Hutson showed us the lab facility itself, along with a number of samples, as well some of the research processes in which they engage. In explaining the following, any errors in the science are certainly my own, rather than Dr. Hutson’s.
They’re one of about dozen labs in the United States, perhaps a score worldwide, that engages in meteorite classification and analysis. Classification is important, because it’s how all other study begins. She showed us examples of chondrites (or stony) meteorites, nickel-iron meteorites, mixed meteorites, as well as Lunar and Martian meteorites.
A fragment of the Salem meteorite, the only chondrite ever found in Oregon, sealed in nitrogen (very few meteorites have ever been found in Oregon, as they look pretty much just like the native basalt which is everywhere)
A nickel-iron meteorite, sliced open and polished for study
A mixed meteorite
A Lunar meteorite
A Martian meteorite
The Lunar and Martian falls are a result of large impactors striking the surface of those respective bodies with sufficient force to loft ejecta moving faster than local escape velocity. Dr. Hutson explained that the classification relies on the mineral content and ratios, and there’s no overlap between the source bodies. The Martian sources can be confirmed by spectroscopic analysis of gasses trapped in the meteorite during its exit from Mars, as the heated rock is cooled and quenched by the atmosphere through which it passes. That gas profile in turn can be compared to observations from the Viking landers.
Though we did not get to touch the rocks directly, we were able to handle the sample cases and look at them closely. and I both had pieces of other planets in our hands this afternoon.
Dr. Hutson talked about all sorts of meteorite lore. For example, some nickel-iron meteorites are in effect stainless steel. Due to the conditions of their formation, they have unusual crystalline structures in the metal which are not found in terrestrial iron.
Another nickel-iron meteorite — note the patterns in the metal
Steel blades with evidence of these structures have been found in Scythian tombs, Egyptian tombs and elsewhere in the ancient world. This is clear evidence that some cultures forged the skyfall into weapons that would hold an edge far superior to ordinary metal, and not rust. As Dr. Hutson said, “Where do you think the idea of the sword in the stone came from?”
We also talked about the work this lab does, primarily on shock deformation of mixed meteorites, resulting in metallic inclusions in chondritic materials. This is significant because it affects modeling of how the early Solar System was formed.
A prepared sample, known as a “thin slice”
Setting the thin slice on the optical microscope
The microscope’s output
Going through the research notes on the thin slice, including results from a Scanning Electron Microscope
While their major projects, including the shock deformation research, are funded by NASA, the NSF and other sources, nothing gets done without the initial classification work. The lab has literally hundreds of samples, and about 150 are awaiting classification, with more coming in all the time.
Classification costs about $400 to $500 per sample, for supplies, equipment run time and other direct expenses, and that is completely unfunded. The lab is only able to classify samples through the support of private donations.
A “lava bomb”, molten rock ejected from a volcano which quenched and cooled in flight
Me and Dr. Hutson, in front of the lava bomb
her own self
If you’re interested in meteors or meteoritology, consider making a donation to the lab. I know I will be. Dr. Hutson and her fellow researchers have accomplished an enormous amount on a very limited budget, but the backlog only grows, and nothing in the classification processhappens without direct support from individuals and corporate gifts.
Most importantly, I want to thank Dr. Hutson for her time in showing me and these fragments from around our solar system. To see and hold them was a special kind of magic, a skyfall of our own.
As usual, more at the Flickr set.
© 2009 by B. Lake and Joseph E. Lake, Jr.
This work by B. Lake and Joseph E. Lake, Jr. is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
Tags: Child, Cool, Personal, Photos, Portland, Science
Posted: 7:46 pm Tue September 01 2009 | Comments(1) |
[writing] Tourbillon progris riport, day 45
Today’s wordage: 3,600
Today’s writing time: 2 hours
Total wordage: 175,000
Total writing time: 97 hours, 30 minutes
WIP: Read the rest of this entry »
Tags: Books, Tourbillion, wip, Writing
Posted: 6:22 pm Tue October 28 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad, never never on a Sunday
What philosophy do you follow? — Apparently I am 100% Existentialist and 100% Hedonist, with much lower scores on everything else. Is that even possible?
Ex-planet gets namesakes — Plutoids? Really? (Thanks to lt260.)
How the Romans invented grammar — Language Log with a (very) brief history of grammar.
Shorpy with a 1902 photo of the Wright flyer
Stephen Hawking: ministers’ £80m error puts science at risk — Money shot: “The notion that scientists will make a more valuable contribution to the economic and social wellbeing of the world if their research is closely directed by politicians is the most astonishing piece of nonsense I have had the misfortune to come across in a long time,” Cox said. Luckily, here in the United States we don’t let political considerations dictate science policy. Oh, wait, never mind. (Hat tip to Bad Astronomy Blog.)
Iraq, the sovereign colony? — Read this and ask yourself if this is how our country should behave. If you’re a conservative who thinks the Iraq War is a key issue and the president should do anything he can despite the Senate, ask yourself how you’d feel about President Obama doing such an end run. We have checks and balances for a reason, and the GOP lost sight of that reason a long time ago.
6/15/08
Time in saddle: 0 minutes (still recovering from surgery)
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: 260.6
Currently reading: The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia [ Amazon
]
Tags: Language, Links, Personal, Politics, Science
Posted: 6:47 am Sun June 15 2008 | Comments(0) |
[links] Link salad for a lazy Sunday
Hundreds honor fallen Battle Ground soldier — The funeral yesterday of ‘s nephew, who was killed in Afghanistan at age 19 two weeks into his first deployment. More here.
Drugs to grow your brain — A novel approach to psychiatric and physiological care.
More on Atlantropa — Atlantropa was covered a while back on this blog. Talk about thinking big.
Clarke On Iraq War Architects: ‘We Shouldn’t Let These People Back Into Polite Society’ — Truth is that there’s very little discussion of accountability for the Iraq War decision making in Your Liberal Media or the general public discourse.
Democrats in rural strongholds refuse to give backing to Obama — Classy.
Humorless? — The Edge of the American West commenting on the problems of caricaturing Obama in political discourse.
The Real Question is, Would a President McCain be good for Women? — Juan Cole with a thoughtful post on identity politics in the Democratic primaries.
6/8/08
Time in saddle: 0 minutes (still recovering from surgery)
Last night’s weigh-out: n/a
This morning’s weigh-in: 260.8
Currently reading: The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia [ Amazon ]
Tags: Cool, Links, Personal, Politics, Science
Posted: 8:40 am Sun June 08 2008 | Comments(0) |
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