NASA’s Phoenix has completed its 422 million mile journey, successfully executed its extremely tricky EDL (entry, descent, and landing) sequence, and is safely on the ground on Mars. It is now communicating with NASA at eight megabits per second and preparing to be the first earthly probe to dig below the Martian soil for life. Amazing shit.
Just a few hours until touchdown. Updates here.
Dr. Albert Hoffman has died. Hoffman was the discoverer of LSD.
Six hundred over the past ten days.. “unlike anything scientists have heard..” [Associated Press]
Cool stuff at Discovery News.
Whenever I hear about a poll telling me what a group of Americans think, I generally write it off. Now, folks, I don’t think everyone is stupid – I just think the average American is too distracted or preoccupied or apathetic to pay attention to the stuff that some of us feel is important.
Years ago, I read Pinchbeck’s Breaking Open the Head, and found it to be a good and interesting book, even if somewhat inconclusive.
Somehow I missed Rolling Stone‘s profile of him over a year ago. It’s a really interesting story – his influences and where they took him. I saw Pinchbeck on the Colbert Report a few months ago talking about his new book, 2012: The Return of Quetzalcoatl and I was quite confused.
NASA has some cool new shots from the MRO.
Check out this little dude.
Researchers teaching a creepy baby robot to talk – while others warn that automated killer robots pose “a threat to humanity.”
