Thank You, Internet

The internet has changed my life. I've been able to easily keep up with old friends, find new friends that share my interests, and keep myself educated on everything from history to electronics. And of course, this blog would be nothing more than a personal journal if I couldn't share it online.

The flag shown above was created by Google and is comprised of several quotes about what makes the internet awesome. Check out some of the quotes in detail in the video embedded below, and add your quote at Google's site.

#ScienceLooksGood: This July 4th Could Explain Everything

This July 4th can explain everything. And I mean EVERYTHING, as in how the universe works. Scientists have been puzzeld for decades as to why some particles have mass and some don't, and they have hypotehsized the existence of something known as the Higgs Boson particle that would explain why. It's rumored that scientists will announce the discovery of the Higgs Boson, or "God particle", on July 4th.

Ezra Klein made me SO happy by geeking out and going into the importance of the Higgs boson. It's a great primer - check it out!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

There are many other videos on the history of the Higgs boson on a very helpful MSNBC page. 

The Minute Physics YouTube channel that Ezra refers to is also beyond awesome.  Here's a quick one, which covers the equation called the Standard Model that predicts the existence of the Higgs Boson:

Check out Minutephysics on Facebook, Twitter, and Google+!

#ScienceLooksGood: Carl Sagan is the Man

My good friend Monika Brooks alerted me to this wonderful PBS post that challenges scientists to explain concepts to a group of 11 year olds. The topic, as shown in the video below, is "What Is a Flame?"

The contest is appropriately named after one of my heroes - Carl Sagan. He was an astronomer with an uncanny ability to explain complex terms in a normal way. 

Hey Carl!

This was best exemplified in his book and TV series Cosmos, which defined space exploration for many folks in the 80s. I didn't discover Cosmos until 2002, and I immediately fell in love with it.  Check out the Cosmos intro below:

#ScienceLooksGood: Bringing Light to the Dark Universe

The Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is celebrating its 50th anniversary this week. It previously served as the staging area for the Space Shuttle program.  This has helped us to bring light to previously unknown things about the universe, and has enabled us to launch everything from satellites to parts of the International Space Station (ISS) to the Hubble Telescope.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking to bring light to the darkness by clearing a mission to  launch the Euclid telescope in 2020. All of the things that we can see with our weak human eyes - planets, stars, people, etc - make up about 4% of the actual universe. The rest of the universe is known as "dark matter" - a substance that only a power telescope can begin to detect.

The telescope will capture images for six years - check out the main mission site here.

#ScienceLooksGood: Don Petit Returns To Earth

Since the Shuttle program was disbanded last year, the US relies on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft for travel between Earth and the International Space Station (ISS). This weekend, the Soyuz returned to earth, carrying aboard Astronaut Don Petit.

Don is very active on networks including Twitter, Facebook, and Flickr. His Smithsonian Air and Space blog "Letters To Earth" covers more detailed thoughts on the experiments that he performs at the station. Check out the following excerpt from his most recent post:

On Earth, the frontiers opened slowly. The technology of sailing was known and advanced for over a thousand years before the Earth was circumnavigated. Such bold acts require the technology, the will, and the audacity to explore. Sometimes you have one, but not the others.

I only hope that my small efforts here, perhaps adding one grain of sand to the beach of knowledge, will help enable a generation of people in the future to call space “home.”

Well said, Don. I hope that I can someday have the impact of a hero like Don.