Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Early migration of Jupiter to within 1.5 AU?
Just read an article from Astrobiology Magazine. Researchers from Southwest Research Institute have recently released findings from many simulations of solar system formation and orbital dynamics which suggest that Jupiter may have, at one time, migrated to within 1.5 AU of Sol. This may explain the small size of Mars relative to Earth and Venus, as well as the mixed population of the asteroid belt. Very interesting. I'm sure this new model will be tested and re-tested before anyone is certain of its likelihood, but it is still interesting. If Jupiter could have migrated inward long ago and then later migrated back out to where it is now, that may shed some light on solar system dynamics in the universe. We've found many large planets that are very close to their stars in the hunt for exoplanets. Perhaps these planets may one day migrate back away from their stars to sit in positions much like our gas giants do now.
New Office and Kicking Off the Grad Student Life
Well, I finally have my very own office! So excited about that. Now it's time to (slowly) merge myself into the grad student life. Starting off by taking the morning to sit and catch up on astrobiology and geology news from around the globe. In the picture above (sorry for the blur) you'll notice the large chunk of sulfur and the bowl full of space rock candy on my desk. What can I say, I guess I'm a bit into nostalgia.
Friday, May 13, 2011
Beamline 4-3 and the start of my grad research
This weekend I am officially getting started on collecting data which I may use for my graduate research. I'm sitting on beamline 4-3 at the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Lightsource (SSRL). Behind me a synchrotron particle accelerator is producing a constant 3 billion electron volts of energy. Beamline 4-3 is good for doing x-ray absorption spectroscopy (XAS) on samples containing elements like sulfur and chlorine.
I'm here to do x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy and maybe even some extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy on sulfur-containing compounds from the lab (such as lab sulfur, sodium nitrite, sodium tetrathionate, iron sulfide, etc) and from samples taken from our research site in the high arctic by some of my soon to be colleagues. It's so exciting to be here and to be running samples of my own for the first time. The last three times I was here were an adventure, but this is the first time I get to be on my own with my own beamline and my own samples. So awesome. I would write more, but I'm too darned busy with all there is to do. Expect lots more info about this research in coming months and years :)
I'm here to do x-ray absorption near edge structure (XANES) spectroscopy and maybe even some extended x-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) spectroscopy on sulfur-containing compounds from the lab (such as lab sulfur, sodium nitrite, sodium tetrathionate, iron sulfide, etc) and from samples taken from our research site in the high arctic by some of my soon to be colleagues. It's so exciting to be here and to be running samples of my own for the first time. The last three times I was here were an adventure, but this is the first time I get to be on my own with my own beamline and my own samples. So awesome. I would write more, but I'm too darned busy with all there is to do. Expect lots more info about this research in coming months and years :)
This is the interior of the hutch at BL 4-3 at SSRL.
Sunday, April 24, 2011
Where's the love for the awkward?
So this happened the other day, and I just wanted to write about it here...
I was sitting in the engineering center at CU, waiting for class to start and enjoying a sandwich, when I overheard a weird conversation. Normal chit-chat for some folk, but I always tend overthink everything. I found their conversation to be comical, alarming, and disheartening; all at the same time.
Here’s the conversation:
A: “…so they just made their roommate wait out in the car?”
B: “Ya, dude, he just sat in there doing whatever.”
A: “how long were they gone?”
B: “Dude, they were in there for like a half an hour."
Shared laughing.
B: “They told [person who they were visiting: let's say person C] that he was out in the car, but when C asked why they just said, ‘you don’t want him in here’”
A: “What? Really?”
laughing
B: “Ya, dude, well, he’s so socially awkward. They wouldn’t want to hang out with him anyway.”
More laughing. They walk away.
I found it comical because I could imagine making one of my friends sit for a half hour in a car while I was hanging out and doing something, even though it wouldn't really be fair to my friends. I found it alarming because these two guys (A and B) were so disinterested in how the person sitting in the car probably felt. I mean, imagine sitting and waiting for someone you think is your friend while they insult you and disrespect you. If you found out about it, you would be pissed off. I don't think I would have stayed in the car the whole time. Maybe I would have hit the horn or maybe got out and found something else to do. I found it disheartening because there are a lot of socially awkward people in this world who have a hard enough time talking to people and fitting in that they shouldn't have to deal with some jerks who pretend to be their friends. I don't know, just thought it was silly that these guys were so openly uncaring for someone who they choose to spend their time with.
I was sitting in the engineering center at CU, waiting for class to start and enjoying a sandwich, when I overheard a weird conversation. Normal chit-chat for some folk, but I always tend overthink everything. I found their conversation to be comical, alarming, and disheartening; all at the same time.
Here’s the conversation:
A: “…so they just made their roommate wait out in the car?”
B: “Ya, dude, he just sat in there doing whatever.”
A: “how long were they gone?”
B: “Dude, they were in there for like a half an hour."
Shared laughing.
B: “They told [person who they were visiting: let's say person C] that he was out in the car, but when C asked why they just said, ‘you don’t want him in here’”
A: “What? Really?”
laughing
B: “Ya, dude, well, he’s so socially awkward. They wouldn’t want to hang out with him anyway.”
More laughing. They walk away.
I found it comical because I could imagine making one of my friends sit for a half hour in a car while I was hanging out and doing something, even though it wouldn't really be fair to my friends. I found it alarming because these two guys (A and B) were so disinterested in how the person sitting in the car probably felt. I mean, imagine sitting and waiting for someone you think is your friend while they insult you and disrespect you. If you found out about it, you would be pissed off. I don't think I would have stayed in the car the whole time. Maybe I would have hit the horn or maybe got out and found something else to do. I found it disheartening because there are a lot of socially awkward people in this world who have a hard enough time talking to people and fitting in that they shouldn't have to deal with some jerks who pretend to be their friends. I don't know, just thought it was silly that these guys were so openly uncaring for someone who they choose to spend their time with.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Dogon Dance and the Celebration of Death
Just watched a video in my ancient astronomy course today. The video was about the Dogon people of Mali. These people have a certain cosmology which is ingrained in their spirituality. Also, the Dogon people consider all of life to be a dance. They dance to celebrate life.
The highlight of the video dealt with the Dogon’s dance for death. They dance to celebrate death. They dance people into their death and beyond. So unlike the modern technological society I am a part of. In western society, the propagation of the judeo-christian religions brought the idea that suicide was wrong, that death was bad and not a part of life, that death could be dangerous. Jack Kavorkian was put in jail because he wanted to help people in pain to find their death. We have forced death as far outside of our realm of thought as we could, as if death is wrong or bad. I love how the Dogon celebrate death. I love the idea of dancing our loved ones into their death. Why should we fear death? Why should we consider suicide to be wrong? It makes no sense to fear a natural part of life.
Of course, the Dogon don’t wish for death or seek it, but they respect death as part of life and they dance in honor of death. I wish more people in this modern technological culture were open with death and unafraid. It’s hard to deal with that. I'd like to be open about death. I'd like to dance to celebrate death. And, I hope that when I die someone will dance to celebrate my death.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Human breeding programs
I'm reading the book "The Science of Dune" right now. It's a very intriguing collection of essays from scientists of many backgrounds which discuss certain aspects of the Dune saga as they are related to modern science and possible future science. I've read so far about the possibility for synthetic eyes, about the use of hallucinogenic drugs and if we'll ever have a hallucinogen which also extends life, about the possible biology of the sandworms of Dune, and about the actual physics of the dunes of Arrakis.
The most recent essay I've read was from Carol Hart, Ph.D., concerning the human breeding programs of the Bene Gesserit in the Dune universe. This society of women with prescience were conducting a 90 generations long breeding program to produce the universe's sueper being, the Kwisatz Haderach. Of course, for those who've read the book know, the super being Maud'Dib came a generation early and had the unforeseen side-effect of being independent and uncontrollable by the Bene Gesserit sisterhood.
The author of this article does a fantastic, if brief, job of highlighting the fact that we humans have spent the better part of the past 15,000 or more years domesticating wolves to make our household dog, and now we breed dogs for all kinds of traits (some of which, like in the case of the smash face pugs, is really bad for the animal but makes people think it looks cute). However, we have not been as careful in our own breeding. Many people will have children regardless of their own genetic pitfalls. It makes me wonder, if at some point in the future we will need to start directing human breeding so that our species can continue to evolve. What if we seek to colonize Mars or travel beyond our solar system. Might it be better for us to selectively breed the type of people who will be biologically optimized for the psychological stress of space travel, or for stronger defense against radiation damage, or even for the ability to breathe less oxygen and still perform well? This question definitely jumps deep into the realm of bioethics. Any thoughts?
The most recent essay I've read was from Carol Hart, Ph.D., concerning the human breeding programs of the Bene Gesserit in the Dune universe. This society of women with prescience were conducting a 90 generations long breeding program to produce the universe's sueper being, the Kwisatz Haderach. Of course, for those who've read the book know, the super being Maud'Dib came a generation early and had the unforeseen side-effect of being independent and uncontrollable by the Bene Gesserit sisterhood.
The author of this article does a fantastic, if brief, job of highlighting the fact that we humans have spent the better part of the past 15,000 or more years domesticating wolves to make our household dog, and now we breed dogs for all kinds of traits (some of which, like in the case of the smash face pugs, is really bad for the animal but makes people think it looks cute). However, we have not been as careful in our own breeding. Many people will have children regardless of their own genetic pitfalls. It makes me wonder, if at some point in the future we will need to start directing human breeding so that our species can continue to evolve. What if we seek to colonize Mars or travel beyond our solar system. Might it be better for us to selectively breed the type of people who will be biologically optimized for the psychological stress of space travel, or for stronger defense against radiation damage, or even for the ability to breathe less oxygen and still perform well? This question definitely jumps deep into the realm of bioethics. Any thoughts?
Sunday, February 13, 2011
The University Rover Challenge
Last summer I traveled with my buddy Ryan Kobrick (http://www.ryinspace.com/) down to the desert in Utah to help staff the University Rover Challenge (URC). The URC is an annual international competition hosted by the Mars Society where teams of university/college students compete in Mars-rover style tasks using rovers that the teams have designed and built at their home institutions. It was great to be a part of the competition. I'll be heading out there again this coming summer for the 5th annual event. Should be an awesome time. I'm sure we'll have some great teams once again. This time I hope to take some people along with me to make sure we can really get things set up quick and keep the competition rolling smoothly. I'll be sure to take lots of awesome pictures and share them with all of my friends online.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
"This thing is older than mommy!"
This past Monday evening, I drove down to the Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy in Colorado Springs to share my love of astrobiology with some middle school students and their parents. The Jack Swigert Aerospace Academy had been a failing middle school, when the Space Foundation stepped in and gave the school a purpose: to teach children the basic american middle school curriculum, using aerospace as a tool for inspiration. The school is doing much better now.
The Festival of Science is kind of like a symposium for local people involved in the sciences to communicate with students from the school. There was an astronomical society there, a robotics group, the Cheyenne mountain zoo, the girl scouts, the boy scouts, and several other presenters who had hands on activities and displays to get the students thinking about science. I went down on behalf of the CU Astrobiology Club. I also brought two members of CU-SEDS so they could share some cool stuff with the students.
At my Astrobiology Club table, I had some information about the Arecibo radio message that was sent to the M13 star cluster in 1974, a picture of organic molecules found in space, a picture of the ALH84001 meteorite and a micrograph of the debated "martian" in that meteorite that was announced in 1996. I also had a Giant Microbe version of the "Martian Life" (pretty much a stuffed-animal worm), and I had one of my chondrite meteorites. It was fun to talk with middle school students about extraterrestrial life and show them some of the things I had brought.
The best part of the evening was when a mother and three young children walked up to my table. I was talking to the mother about my meteorite, informing her about the current theory of how our solar system formed, and so I told her that my meteorite likely formed over 4.5 billion years ago. She took in her hand and showed it to her children saying, "Look guys, this thing is older than mommy!" One of her children went wide-eyed. I started laughing pretty hard. She looked at me and said, "I have to put it in their perspective". I guess everything really is relative when it comes to our understanding of our universe around us.
The Festival of Science is kind of like a symposium for local people involved in the sciences to communicate with students from the school. There was an astronomical society there, a robotics group, the Cheyenne mountain zoo, the girl scouts, the boy scouts, and several other presenters who had hands on activities and displays to get the students thinking about science. I went down on behalf of the CU Astrobiology Club. I also brought two members of CU-SEDS so they could share some cool stuff with the students.
At my Astrobiology Club table, I had some information about the Arecibo radio message that was sent to the M13 star cluster in 1974, a picture of organic molecules found in space, a picture of the ALH84001 meteorite and a micrograph of the debated "martian" in that meteorite that was announced in 1996. I also had a Giant Microbe version of the "Martian Life" (pretty much a stuffed-animal worm), and I had one of my chondrite meteorites. It was fun to talk with middle school students about extraterrestrial life and show them some of the things I had brought.
The best part of the evening was when a mother and three young children walked up to my table. I was talking to the mother about my meteorite, informing her about the current theory of how our solar system formed, and so I told her that my meteorite likely formed over 4.5 billion years ago. She took in her hand and showed it to her children saying, "Look guys, this thing is older than mommy!" One of her children went wide-eyed. I started laughing pretty hard. She looked at me and said, "I have to put it in their perspective". I guess everything really is relative when it comes to our understanding of our universe around us.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Need to catch up...
I haven't been maintaining this blog as much as I would like. Gotta keep up on it :)
Here's a short thought I had that might be the beginning of a story (if I ever choose to write it):
She watched the snow drifting down from behind her glass cage. The warmth and the light inside were reassuring, yet she felt abandoned and trapped, lost to the world and alone. She had no means of escape, other than running out into that dark, snow-covered world beyond the glass. She stared into the falling snow and imagined herself running. She could see herself, cold and scared, running through the snow. She imagined herself running further into the cold night as the dim lights of her home disappeared into the surrounding white of the falling snow. She would disappear into the cold night and no one would know. She felt a chill sweep down her body as the cold from the window glass reached out and grabbed her. For a moment she was fully aware of the glass; its hard, vitreous surface, which allowed her to view the outside world, was at war with the energy imbalances between the room inside and the snowy night outside. She felt herself moving away from the glass. She couldn’t be part of this battle. She let the warmth of the room fill her. She smiled, but the action felt fake, forced.
Here's a short thought I had that might be the beginning of a story (if I ever choose to write it):
She watched the snow drifting down from behind her glass cage. The warmth and the light inside were reassuring, yet she felt abandoned and trapped, lost to the world and alone. She had no means of escape, other than running out into that dark, snow-covered world beyond the glass. She stared into the falling snow and imagined herself running. She could see herself, cold and scared, running through the snow. She imagined herself running further into the cold night as the dim lights of her home disappeared into the surrounding white of the falling snow. She would disappear into the cold night and no one would know. She felt a chill sweep down her body as the cold from the window glass reached out and grabbed her. For a moment she was fully aware of the glass; its hard, vitreous surface, which allowed her to view the outside world, was at war with the energy imbalances between the room inside and the snowy night outside. She felt herself moving away from the glass. She couldn’t be part of this battle. She let the warmth of the room fill her. She smiled, but the action felt fake, forced.
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