April 2009

1st IAA Planetary Defense Conference opens

by Eric on April 27, 2009

While the rest of us worry about the coming swine flu pandemic, engineers and astronomers are meeting in Granada, Spain to discuss the prospects for defending the Earth from Near-Earth Objects (NEOs).

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In a speech to the Annual Meeting of the National Academy of Sciences, President Obama committed the country to expanded science research, especially in the areas of energy independence and health care, and improvements to math and science education.

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During today’s House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing on cap-and-trade legislation, Congressman Joe Barton (R-TX) apparently thought he could stump Secretary of Energy Dr. Steven Chu with a question on the origins of Alaska’s petroleum reserves.

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Newest Exoplanet Is the Lightest One Yet

by Eric on April 21, 2009

Rack up another exoplanet find for Michel Mayor of the University of Geneva. At today’s session of the JENAM conference at the University of Hertfordshire, UK, Mayor announced that yet another planet has been found orbiting that exoplanet superstar Gliese 581.

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UC Berkeley Cal Day Open House 04.18.09

by Eric on April 17, 2009

It’s time for the UC Berkeley annual “Cal Day” open house!
According to the official Cal Day home page: “It’s a day like no other. Spend it in Cal’s classrooms and labs, museums and performance halls, libraries and arenas. Take in all that Berkeley has to offer.”

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Asteroid, the next episode in the History Channel’s geo-mentary series How The Earth Was Made, airs April 21 at 9:00PM.

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f you’re like me, I rather enjoy the opportunity to catch a book author in person, especially if they’re willing to read from their work and maybe take a couple of questions. BookTour bills itself as “the world’s largest, 100% free directory of author events.”

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Pacific Gas and Electric, is requesting permission from the Public Utilities Commission to purchase power from Solaren, a startup company with plans to develop and build a Space Power System (SPS) system, scheduled for operation in 2016.

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This week’s event listings from bayareascience.org.

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Back around February 25th of this year, the California Academy of Sciences released the results of a poll conducted for them in December 2008 by Harris Interactive. The results were not good, but then again, neither was the poll.

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