CircleCount helps you better understand Google+

2013-05-14 11:10:53 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

Welcome back, Chris.

2013-04-22 15:20:59 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 10 +1s)

ISS passing over the Salisbury Plain.

2013-04-17 00:53:27 (1 comments, 5 reshares, 7 +1s)

2013-04-10 21:00:01 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 2 +1s)

Featuring +Chris Hadfield as a candidate for the Order of Canada (http://www.gg.ca/document.aspx?id=72).

[Thanks to +Alain Berinstain who posted this on the other social network.]

2013-04-03 00:36:18 (3 comments, 3 reshares, 8 +1s)

"Using nuclear power in place of fossil-fuel energy sources, such as coal, has prevented some 1.8 million air pollution-related deaths globally and could save millions of more lives in coming decades, concludes a study. The researchers also find that nuclear energy prevents emissions of huge quantities of greenhouse gases. These estimates help make the case that policymakers should continue to rely on and expand nuclear power in place of fossil fuels to mitigate climate change, the authors say (Environ. Sci. Technol., DOI: 10.1021/es3051197)"

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es3051197

also:

'"I was very disturbed by all the negative and in many cases unfounded hysteria regarding nuclear power after the Fukushima accident,” says report coauthor Pushker A. Kharecha, a climate scientist at NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies, in New York.'

2013-03-07 23:32:55 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

A brand new sodium calcuator. How much sodium do you get each day? Thanks, +Doug Manuel!

2013-02-25 15:15:35 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Congratulations to the Indian Space Research Organisation on their successful launch! Now we can detect asteroids: http://www.space.com/19930-asteroid-tracking-satellite-neossat-launch.html

2013-02-14 04:15:42 (4 comments, 0 reshares, 3 +1s)

I was one of the many who linked to stories about how well Google has been tracking the flu season. Perhaps my posts were partly responsible for its poor performance recently...?

2013-02-11 06:34:51 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

I think my job is safe from the robots for at least another decade. How about yours?

2013-02-02 21:53:06 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Further East is Montreal, with Mount Royal very clear at centre.

2013-01-25 02:13:07 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Sgr A G2 gas cloud predicted to make close approach to black hole in late 2013

Sgr A* is believed to be the location of a supermassive black hole.  This is an animation of a gas cloud G2 which is predicted to approach it by late 2013. 

First noticed as something unusual in images of the centre of our galaxy in 2002, the gas cloud G2, which has a mass about 3 times that of the Earth, was confirmed to be likely on a course taking it into the accretion zone of Sgr A* in a paper published in Nature in 2012. Predictions of its orbit suggest it will have a closest approach to the black hole (a perinigricon) in mid to late 2013. At this time the gas cloud will be at a distance of just over 3000 times the radius of the event horizon (or ~260 AU, 36 light hours) from the black hole. Opinions differ as to the effect this might have on both G2 and the black hole. G2 appears to already beb... more »

2013-01-24 03:21:41 (1 comments, 3 reshares, 8 +1s)

Taking a photo of the Sun with a standard camera will provide a familiar image: a yellowish, featureless disk, perhaps colored a bit more red when near the horizon since the light must travel through more of Earth's atmosphere and consequently loses blue wavelengths before getting to the camera's lens. The Sun, in fact, emits light in all colors, but since yellow is the brightest wavelength from the Sun, that is the color we see with our naked eye -- which the camera represents, since one should never look directly at the sun. When all the visible colors are summed together, scientists call this “white light.”

Specialized instruments, either in ground-based or space-based telescopes, however, can observe light far beyond the ranges visible to the naked eye. Different wavelengths convey information about different components of the Sun's surface and atmosphere, so scientists usethe... more »

2013-01-11 17:47:59 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Have "innovation" & new tech stopped driving growth? +The Economist  says not so much: http://econ.st/TMY3EU

Lots of interesting analysis here to take into the weekend, with a provocative coda at the end: "In the end, the main risk to advanced economies may not be that the pace of innovation is too slow, but that institutions have become too rigid to accommodate truly revolutionary changes—which could be a lot more likely than flying cars."

2013-01-14 19:16:30 (8 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

Google Flu Trends offers grim diagnoses for Canada
Achy, feverish, coughing? You’re not alone. Google’s Flu Trends suggests that Canadians are experiencing one of the worst flu seasons in recent years, showing a 250% increase in flu activity compared to last year.
Read more: goo.gl/nk40s

2013-01-02 18:57:44 (1 comments, 2 reshares, 9 +1s)

#BAFact: Happy perihelion! Today the Earth is closer to the Sun than it will be all year: 147,098,161 km.

As we circle the Sun once per year, we don't really circle it: we, um, ellipse it. That it, the Earth's orbit is ever-so-slightly elliptical. That means sometimes we are closer to the Sun, and sometimes farther. Earlier today, at 04:37 UTC (actually last night for US folks like me) the Earth reached perihelion, the closest approach to the Sun in its orbit. From here on out we slowly climb away in our orbit until we reach aphelion (farthest point) in July, and then it starts all over again. But don't expect to see any actual difference in the Sun's size - you'd need to measure it carefully to see any change.

All is explained, with much math nerdery, on my blog: 
more »

2012-12-24 20:27:21 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Affected (uh-oh), Opting (aggh), Surplus (gulp), and now... Appointed (phew)! Life as a scientist in the Canadian Public Service has been a little too exciting recently.

2012-11-28 11:53:57 (4 comments, 3 reshares, 7 +1s)

Saturn's polar vortex, imaged by Cassini. Just spectacular. Thanks Cassini!

2012-11-15 01:59:12 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 4 +1s)

My latest.
Remember the stuff about the record contraction of the thermosphere back in 2010? CO2 bears more responsibility than we realized, as some at the the suspected.

2012-11-13 23:21:08 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 10 +1s)

Canadarm Canoodle
www.google.ca

2012-11-09 02:19:12 (6 comments, 5 reshares, 11 +1s)

We can love science for the pretty space pictures too!

#geekhumor   #scienceiscool   #scienceisfun   #scienceisfact   #sciencegeeks  

2012-10-24 17:05:37 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

A great How-To on catching Alouette by +David Dickinson. A couple of my colleagues gave it a try a couple of weeks ago: https://plus.google.com/u/0/104570540770975204467/posts/g7B7fQHmtJ6

2012-10-15 19:50:57 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

The aurora is going to Hollywood... Magnetic Reconnection will have its world premiere at the American Film Institute's AFI FEST on Sunday, November 4. Here's the trailer: http://www.magneticreconnection.ca/trailer

2012-10-15 02:02:24 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 6 +1s)

The World Premiere of Magnetic Reconnection is due to be announced tomorrow. The trailer looks gorgeous! http://www.magneticreconnection.ca/trailer

2012-10-11 02:07:43 (5 comments, 0 reshares, 14 +1s)

I found the Google Car and it found me: http://goo.gl/maps/jxdyS. (That's me in the black Toyota Echo.)

2012-10-10 05:11:25 (5 comments, 4 reshares, 9 +1s)

Did you feel the #Montreal #earthquake? Fill out the questionnaire at the link below...

2012-10-10 05:05:55 (6 comments, 9 reshares, 23 +1s)

In loving memory of the  #Montreal   #earthquake  ))

2012-10-10 04:21:08 (12 comments, 1 reshares, 5 +1s)

Holy cow! Was that an earthquake in Montréal?!

2012-10-05 02:09:59 (1 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Are you prepared for the flip?
The European Space Agency will be launching a mission called Swarm to monitor the Earth's magnetic field more accurately. Hopefully, it will tell us more about how the magnetic field fluctuates over time, and give us some insight into what we might expect when the flip finally gets into full gear.

Why is it that we don't really know anything about what will happen when the magnetic field of our planet flips? Nobody seems to be able (or is willing) to make any good predictions. Are there just too many variables?

There are some obvious questions: what on Earth that is essential to our survival is affected by the magnetic field? how are those things affected? And, based on that information, how can we plan for reduction, removal, and/or change in polarity?

All I know is that I'm going to invest in candles, screws, duct... more »

2012-10-02 02:07:32 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Space Concordia is going to map the South Atlantic Anomaly.

2012-10-01 18:08:29 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 4 +1s)

A couple of my colleagues managed to catch Alouette-1 just as it turned 50-years old. Congratulations, Pierre Langlois and +Robert Saint-Jean!

Alouette-1 science satellite, as seen from Sainte-Julie, Québec on 27 September 2012 at around 11 pm (EDT).
Transit through the Ursa Major constellation.
Partially cloudy with a gibbous Moon.
Canon T3i, 55 mm lens, ISO 3200, single 30-second exposure on photographic tripod.

SpaceRef has the details about the mission: http://spaceref.ca/space-quarterly/alouette-1---celebrating-50-years-of-canada-in-space.html

2012-09-26 16:58:47 (4 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

Not many people realize that Alouette-1 is still up there, orbiting the Earth once every 105 minutes at an altitude of 1000 kilometers. Maybe someone at the +Virtual Star Party will able to pick it up?

2012-09-26 01:26:57 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 7 +1s)

The Hubble Extreme Deep Field will melt your brain

You are looking at what may be the deepest image of the Universe ever taken: the Hubble Extreme Deep Field, a slice of the cosmos showing galaxies over 13 billion light years away.

This amazing image is the combination of 2000 separate exposure for a total time of 2 million seconds, and shows 5500 galaxies. And for all its scientific awesomeness, I think the more profound impact will be on how people see there place in the Universe...

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2012/09/25/revealing-the-universe-the-hubble-extreme-deep-field/

2012-09-23 21:26:00 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 2 +1s)

Celebrating 50 years of Canadian science in space.

2012-09-23 21:23:51 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

2012-09-18 01:21:06 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 1 +1s)

Super Science Circle - September 2012 Edition

The time has come to share the latest edition of the Super Science Circle. Got a boring stream? Then import this massive list of 400ish people who are active on Google+ and regularly post about science. We've got scientists, journalists, science fans... even a few astronauts. Circle them and your stream will get really busy.

Please reshare this circle... for science!

As always, I highly recommend that you import this circle into a brand new circle. Then you can extract interesting folks into more permanent locations in your circles. Play around with the noise controls in the circle to crank up the volume or turn it down, to get the right mix in your main stream.

Want to be in this circle? I'm always looking for more people who are:
1. Active on Google+ (but not too active)
2. Regularly... more »

2012-09-10 20:10:31 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 3 +1s)

I've been wondering what funding agencies could do to make scientific software more useable. This might do it.

...funders [...] have done a fantastic job with making sure that projects who produce software must publish it as Open Source, we now must run the final mile of re-usability and require that the software is not only Open Source, but that a Virtual Machine Image is made publicly available via the likes of OpenStack and/or Amazon (or both since they use the same APIs!) so that anyone can easily re-use it.

2012-09-18 01:20:02 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 5 +1s)

The guy who swims in the lane beside mine (Alan Clack) is swimming the English Channel today. Wow.

2012-08-31 03:15:41 (3 comments, 1 reshares, 0 +1s)

It would have been nice if Canada had managed to have ORBITALS up in time to keep RBSP company.

http://www.isset.ualberta.ca/index.php?Itemid=61&catid=35:research-areas&id=52:outer-radiation-belt-injection-transport-acceleration-and-loss-satellite-orbitals&option=com_content&view=article

2012-08-21 11:22:12 (0 comments, 2 reshares, 6 +1s)

A brand new app for forecasting the aurora. Thanks +Laureline Sangalli!

2012-08-20 20:07:01 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Super Science Circle - August 2012 Edition

It's time again for the latest edition of my Super Science Circle. If your stream is stale, import this shared circle and never want for knowledge again. And if anyone ever tells you Google+ is a ghost town, point them at this circle and demand they import it.

Please reshare this list, to help it spread wide and far. Do it! For Science!

If you're interested in my criteria, the circle contains:

1. People active on Google+
2. People who often post about science.

I highly recommend that you import these people into a test circle and then evaluate them over the next month. Move over the people who really delight you to a more permanent circle. Then replace the test circle next month, when I share it again.

If you know anyone who should be included in this list, please let me... more »

2012-08-16 15:42:10 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

The National Research Council (NRC) published its 2013-2022 Decadal Survey in Solar and Space Physics today. Read their report in brief! http://go.nasa.gov/R2MwQ7

2012-08-08 19:45:47 (1 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

More yes!!!! Just awesome...

2012-08-06 02:45:34 (3 comments, 2 reshares, 7 +1s)

+Vicky Hipkin, CSA Mission Scientist for the Canadian APXS instrument on MSL, speaking about the thrills in store as Curiosity arrives at Mars. #MSL

2012-06-27 00:25:59 (0 comments, 4 reshares, 10 +1s)

NASA Dynamic Earth

Here's an amazing sequence of computer animations produced by NASA showing how the Sun's activity interacts with the Earth's magnetosphere and climate.

One of the coolest parts about this video is the fact that visualizations were done using real scientific data - not some animator's fevered imagination. This is exactly how the real currents behave, solar winds blast, and the magnetosphere protects.

2012-05-31 01:00:03 (3 comments, 0 reshares, 2 +1s)

It's sounding like a +Dr. Seuss story outside my window...

They'll blow their flu-flubers, they'll bang their tar-tinkers,
They'll blow their hoo-hoovers, they'll bang their gar-dinkers!
They'll beat their trum-tookers, they'll slam their sloo-slunkers!
They'll beat their blum-blookers, they'll wham their hoo-whunkers!
http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/0394800796

2012-05-17 17:12:22 (2 comments, 0 reshares, 4 +1s)

Another telecommunications satellite for Canada. I'm old enough that these matter-of-fact launches still seem like science fiction to me.

2012-05-17 01:06:07 (2 comments, 1 reshares, 3 +1s)

50 things to do before you're 12. There's this list and another Geek-oriented list by Wired: http://www.wired.com/geekmom/2012/05/50-geeky-things-kids-should-do-before-theyre-12/

Thanks +Shannon Moore!

2012-05-16 02:14:30 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 1 +1s)

Spring comes to the Canadian Space Agency.

2012-04-22 17:11:06 (0 comments, 1 reshares, 1 +1s)

Easy access to 3D printers at universities could put sophisticated student designs into space through programs like these: http://www.cubesat.org/. For a more entrepreneurial take on 3D printing, check out the video below.

2012-04-15 19:10:48 (0 comments, 0 reshares, 0 +1s)

Randy Bachman on the first chord of Hard Days Night The Beatles - The REAL First Chord of "A Hard Day's Night"