I am an astrobiologist, sci-fi geek, and professor of everything groovy. I write about science, culture, math, history, space, and science fiction. Perhaps like you, I'm seeking a greater understanding of the nature of life and asking myself why all of this really matters. Come with me, and we'll ask some questions together.
My husky Darwin is decked out in some Humane Society of Boulder Valley gear in this picture for the upcoming Doggie Dash 2018! The huskies are raising some moolah to support our local Humane Society. If you have a moment and might be able to give, check out the fundraiser at this link:
By now you've probably seen (or at least heard of) the video of Weather Channel correspondent Mike Seidel in Wilmington, North Carolina, trying to "fight heavy winds" of Hurricane Florence as he reported live on Friday, only to shortly after have the camera catch two people walking behind him with no troubles with the wind at all. The video is yet another reminder that we can't necessarily trust what we see in the media and a sign of bogus journalism. I just came across Mike Rowe's comments regarding the clip and thought I'd share them here: "Gale-Farce Winds!!! Typically, I don't share videos that have already been viewed millions of times. Feels like old news. But old news is better than fake news, and here, we have an example of fake news so perfectly personified I can't help but bring it to your attention. Watch this clip. Ironically, it's one of the most honest things I've seen in a long time. But not because The Weather Channel is committed to honesty. No, the truth here is accidental, and comes courtesy of the people in the background. Two guys, casually strolling through what the reporter would have us believe are gale force winds. Or "gale-farce," if you will. This is the problem with television today. No one can tell the difference between a commercial and a documentary. There's no line between reality and non-fiction, news and entertainment, or in this case, a weather report and a skit on SNL. No one knows whom to trust anymore, because the landscape is littered with hosts and reporters and correspondents so desperate to hold our attention that they'll do or say anything. And still, in the midst of so much pretense and pandering, they beg us to trust them! They literally beg us, with a level of earnestness that defies credulity. And then, they pretend. They perform. They act. Do yourself a favor - if you're looking for the truth, look behind the scenes. That's where authenticity lives. That's why I've always insisted on hiring a behind-the-scenes camera to document every show I've ever worked on. That's why I'm insistent about incorporating that footage into whatever makes it on the air. Because it shows the truth, in a far more persuasive way than I could ever describe it. Travis McGee, my favorite fictional character, once said, "Be wary of all earnestness." He was right. Earnestness and truth have nothing to do with one another. Consider that the next time you see a news story or a weather report that's preceded by a lurid graphic, dramatic music, and urgent sounding narration, and then ask yourself if the network is trying to inform you, or simply keep you from turning the channel. And remember this too - if a network or a reporter or the host of non-fiction TV show is asking for your trust, it's only because they're too lazy to earn it. Be wary of all earnestness..." You can watch the video here:
I’ve recently agreed to become a co-host of the show Ask an Astrobiologist! Ask an Astrobiologist, brought to you from the community of SAGANet, is a NASA Astrobiology-sponsored show that airs online once each month. In each episode, either myself or Sanjoy Som will interview a guest astrobiologist to ask about their career paths, their scientific research, and the things that drive them to wonder about the nature of life in the universe. Every episode also features a photo contest with the potential to win some NASA swag! Ask an Astrobiologist airs live on SAGANet and on the NASA Astrobiology Facebook page. People watching the show live can ask questions of our interviewees on either streaming platform or on Twitter using #AskAstrobio. I’m definitely excited for becoming more involved with the show! Look for more here in the future, including episodes and my personal comments about what it's like to host a show like this!
You may have seen some of the emoji puzzles that make their way around Facebook and other social media sites. Usually they require that you do some simple algebra (like adding 3 monkey emojis equal the number 15, so what number is one emoji monkey representative of?), but I just saw this little gem that actually required a little bit of fun ol' integral calculus. Give it a look-see:
What do you think? Does it look like fun? Give it a go and then I'll post the answer below. Okay, let's talk about the answer to this fun little puzzle. It starts off pretty easy, just using a little bit of algebra. The first part gives us three bottles of beer added together to equal 30. Easy enough, right? Each bottle must represent the number 10:
After that, we get to mix our beer bottle variable with a new variable, a cheeseburger! Again, pretty easy math. The cheeseburger must represent the number 5:
And then, again, we get to use the variable from the last bit to workout the next part of the problem, where we find that two glasses of foaming ginger beer (hey, it can be whatever you want it to be, really) will represent the number 2:
But after that, things get a little harder. Now we have the following integral:
We can start by plugging in the stuff we already have (in this case, our beer bottle, cheeseburger, and glasses of foaming ginger beer variables). That yields:
Which then can be rewritten as:
If you haven't had much experience with integral calculus, that expression above probably still looks pretty confusing. If this is the case, then you might want to check out Khan Academy's lessons on integral calculus, since that'll give you a good leg up on how this type of math works. But, assuming you already have some experience with integral calculus, you might notice that the above expression is very similar to the improper integral of the sinc function over the positive real numbers. This kind of function actually has a specific name and a well known solution. It's called a Dirichlet Integral, and, in this case, has a solution of pi over 2:
So, if we solve the same way using our previous expression from the problem at hand, we get:
So the answer to the original problem is numerically 5pi/2. But we started off with a mix of emojis and numbers, so why not go back to emojis. We already have emojis for 5 and 2 (cheeseburger and two frosty glasses of ginger beer, respectively), but we need one for the number pi (which is usually represented by the Greek lower case letter). Why not use pie?! We then get a final answer of:
And that makes the problem even more fun! Now I think I'll go enjoy a cheeseburger and some ginger beer and follow up with a little pie. Cheers!
