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Cosmology's Error Bars - Jul 1, 2008
/article/cosmologys-error-barsDavid F. Coppedge - It wouldn't make much sense to brag about knowing the diameter of a steering wheel to five decimal places on a car headed the wrong way with an engine about to blow, would it? Neither is it sensible to talk of "precision cosmology" in a...
Iapetus: Youth in Black and White - Jun 1, 2008
/article/iapetus-youth-black-whiteDavid F. Coppedge - On the outskirts of the Saturn entourage flies one of the strangest objects in the solar system. Nothing else is quite like it: a large moon that is jet black on one side, and snowy white on the other. It was named Iapetus in 1671 by...
Messenger from Mercury - May 1, 2008
/article/messenger-from-mercuryDavid F. Coppedge - After a 33-year hiatus, we have a message from Mercury. On January 14, NASA's MESSENGER spacecraft (MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging) sent the first close-up images of the innermost planet since Mariner 10...
Christians in Space - Apr 1, 2008
/article/christians-spaceDavid F. Coppedge - Many alive today have witnessed the entire history of space flight. Anyone who looked up to see Sputnik cross the sky on October 4, 1957, remembers the panic that set in across the country. The thought of communists beating us to space was...
The Face on Mars: A Teachable Moment - Mar 1, 2008
/article/face-mars-teachable-momentDavid F. Coppedge - In 1976, Viking snapped a photo from Martian orbit that looked like a human face staring up from the plains of Cydonia. It launched a worldwide enterprise of imagination. For countless hours on late-night radio, enthusiasts offered speculations...
Nebulous Hypotheses - Feb 1, 2008
/article/nebulous-hypothesesDavid F. Coppedge - "Glittering generalities"--a phrase describing grand, panoramic scenarios that sweep difficulties under the rug--appropriately describes theories of planetary evolution. They're not as simple as "add dust, stir, and wait." I...
Inflating the Evidence - Dec 1, 2007
/article/inflating-evidenceDavid F. Coppedge - In their quest to disprove design in the universe, scientists have produced evermore speculative models of cosmology. Big Bang cosmology, for example, relies heavily on a process called inflation, an ad hoc speculation that remains highly...
More Than a Rising Star - Nov 1, 2007
/article/more-than-rising-starDavid F. Coppedge - On his widely popular Cosmos science program in 1980, Carl Sagan described our paltry existence in pathetic terms: "We live on an insignificant planet of a humdrum star, lost in a galaxy, tucked away in some forgotten corner of universe in...
Spewing Hot Rocks on Old Ideas - Oct 1, 2007
/article/spewing-hot-rocks-old-ideasDavid F. Coppedge - The most volcanically active body in the solar system is a little moon of Jupiter named Io. This moon is pumping out the hottest lavas known, from equator to pole, 24/7. That a small body could be this hyperactive is one of the major mysteries for...
Imponderable Substances - Aug 1, 2007
/article/imponderable-substancesDavid F. Coppedge - Science and pseudoscience: how clear is the distinction? We need to look at history to understand the present. Scientists typically admire magician James Randi, who makes a living out of debunking pseudoscientific claims. He has been very clever at...