The Cyborgs are Here!

By | 2018-02-28T14:26:27-08:00 February 27th, 2018|Biology, Featured, Technology|

NEWS FLASH!  The cyborgs are here and they've been here for a long time. One of these cyborgs is Neil Harbisson, who decided to combat his colorblindness by implanting an antenna into his skull.  Yes, an antenna is sticking out of his skull. On the other end of the antenna is a sensor that detects color and converts the visual data into auditory signals.  From there his neurons pick up the signal inside his brain and convert the input into a useful mental image.  With this antenna he can hear colors even outside the normal visual range (infrared, ultraviolet, ect...) and [...]

The Science of STAR WARS….SPOILERS!

By | 2017-12-21T14:41:59-08:00 December 21st, 2017|Astronomy, Featured, Physics, Technology|

There are plenty of concepts in Star Wars that just straight up require a suspension of scientific understanding.  Some of the classic are: no sound in space, explosive fireballs in space, and the basic laws of gravity.  However; all of these blights allow for a more entertaining movie so we allow them without much questioning. Also...why does every spaceship in Star Wars always orientate itself to be right-side up?  There is no right side up in space! The first scene of "The Last Jedi" starts out with an iconic space battle.  Poe Dameron and Leia Skywalker are leading a bombing run on a [...]

STUXNET: The Dawn of Cyber Warfare

By | 2016-09-04T17:35:56-07:00 August 26th, 2016|Featured, Politics, Technology|

Prepare yourself for extreme paranoia.   In March of 2010, a weapon unlike any the world had seen before was unleashed upon a nuclear facility in Natanz, Iran.  It was explosive but not a bomb; stealth but not a spy. The weapon was a computer virus: a string of 1's and 0's that set the Iranian Nuclear Program back over 2 years. Once the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Nuclear Facility was infected, the virus wormed its way into the computers controlling the plant's centrifuges (large industrial machines that spin in order to enrich uranium, pictured below) and began speeding them up. Usually, this would [...]

Why do we dream?: A Sensory Deprivation Chamber Story

By | 2016-08-23T11:28:06-07:00 May 19th, 2016|Biology, Featured, Philosophy, Science, Technology|

It was beyond darkness; it was emptiness. A short time ago, I went with some friends to spend 2 hours in a sensory deprivation chamber.  As strange as that may sound, the idea behind the chamber is simply to eliminate all of your senses so that your mind is free to roam and meditate. In practice, the chamber is really just a shallow hot tub in a closet.  Inside the steel door is 2 feet of water with 800 pounds of dissolved salt, silence, and complete darkness.  But once you begin floating inside this confined abyss; you somehow forget that your [...]

What SpaceX Means to Space Travel

By | 2016-04-29T12:06:26-07:00 April 21st, 2016|Astronomy, Featured, Science, Technology|

Ask any expert and they will tell you that SpaceX will not be the first to take a man to Mars.  This is quite a strange consensus since Elon Musk founded his space technologies company for that exact purpose.  He can even be caught repping the tagline, "Occupy Mars," across his T-shirt as he walks around his state of the art facility. “My proceeds from the PayPal acquisition were $180 million. I put $100 million in SpaceX, $70m in Tesla, and $10m in Solar City. I had to borrow money for rent." -Elon Musk "Stop fighting, WWIII would ruin our [...]

What are Gravitational Waves and why do I care?

By | 2016-03-02T06:37:34-08:00 February 12th, 2016|Astronomy, Featured, Physics, Science, Technology|

(Image: one of two LIGO research facilities that detected gravitational waves, Washington State)  By now you most likely have heard the news about the discovery of gravitational waves and that it is being lauded as the biggest discovery of the last century. So what is a gravitational wave? Image depicts warping of space around earth. The discovery of a gravitational wave really solidifies a theory that we had a fairly firm understanding of previously.  And that is that that space can be bent and warped in the presence of matter and energy.  This bending is what we call gravity. However; [...]

Why Medical Devices are not for Kids but should be

By | 2016-03-03T06:00:16-08:00 November 2nd, 2015|Biology, Featured, Politics, Science, Technology|

There is a scary fact about our medical system.  It is not equipped to serve children; at least not unilaterally and with the latest technology.  Barring specialized childrens' hospitals (like the one seen in the above video) that are few and far between, most hospitals are specifically geared to deal with the ailments of the adult population. The area of weakness that is most troublesome is Medical Devices.  As a medical device specialist myself, I have seen multiple cases where doctors were forced to use a device off-label and left to there own devices to jury-rig a solution for their pediatric [...]

Time Traveling Crime Fighters

By | 2016-03-22T04:52:26-07:00 August 17th, 2015|Featured, Philosophy, Physics, Science, Technology|

  "So this is how freedom dies...with thunderous applause." - George Lucas Thousand of miles above crime ridden Mexico City flew the fabled "eye in the sky."  A demo by Persistant Survalence Systems is nothing but a dot in the clouds to those below but up above, an aircraft equipped with high tech cameras is watching every citizen's move. These wide angle cameras can see a huge area of land in high enough definition to track the movement of cars and even people.  All the law enforcement had to do was wait for a crime to be reported. Once a call [...]

Man and Machine

By | 2015-11-11T07:25:00-08:00 October 28th, 2014|Biology, Philosophy, Science, Technology|

Could it be that mankind is no more than biological machines?   Are we simply products of complex chemistry that produce complex results; hardwired and mechanical? Science answers this question with a resounding "yes" followed by a rebuking, "get over it"  because the truth is that world is made of matter and we are no different.  We are governed by the laws of nature and our behaviors reflect of these laws.  We are simply more complex. (In fact, studying behavioral biology at the University of Oregon.  I was repetitively assured that man follows the same evolutionary and behavior rules as do all organisms. [...]

Humanity Obsolete

By | 2016-03-03T06:06:10-08:00 August 16th, 2014|Biology, Science, Technology|

Mankind is becoming obsolete and it is nothing new. Mechanical innovations have long out-worked mankind but now these machines can also out-think mankind.  And it seems that no profession is safe.  Machines are becoming better at recognizing patterns, analyzing data, conveying information, and even displaying creativity. Although many scary movies have been made to strike fear into humanity over a robot uprising, the truth is that these robots work for us and generally have made the world a better place for humanity. So sit back, kick your feet up and tell your personal robot to grab you a beer.  

LFTR’s: Why the future of nuclear energy might never be realized

By | 2016-03-03T06:10:21-08:00 December 5th, 2013|Featured, Physics, Politics, Technology|

Our nation's nuclear reactors are doubling as weapons grade uranium manufacturers. These remnants of the cold war were once designed to not only give our nation energy, but to also produce enough weapons grade uranium to strike fear across the steel curtain. To make things worse, the very common Light Water Reactor (LWR) is inefficient, dangerous, and expensive.

Death of a Know-it-all

By | 2015-11-06T07:51:56-08:00 November 23rd, 2013|Biology, Technology|

  There are no more know-it-alls today; they've all died off.  There was simply TOO MUCH INFORMATION for them to absorb.  But it was not a violent death or a sudden tragedy.  Instead, it was a slow dilution as they were spread too thin.  Stretching to reach the extending boundaries of human knowledge, they found that knowledge was expanding too fast for their studying to keep up. They were always one step behind.  There was a lag between their knowledge and the world's, and the gap was growing exponentially. These know-it-alls had once prided themselves on having all the answers [...]

Elon Musk’s Hyperloop

By | 2016-03-03T06:27:37-08:00 August 17th, 2013|Physics, Politics, Technology|

With the unveiling of his Hyperloop plans, Elon Musk has once again excited tech nerds everywhere with what he proclaims to be the 5th form of transportation joining cars, planes, boats, and trains.  The grandiose design is reminiscent of pneumatic tubes that were once used to send mail (and in one rare case, a cat) across city blocks. The Hyperloop is essentially a large tube connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco with passenger "pods" that would zip around the circular track at record-breaking speeds.  Mr. Musk compares the Hyperloop to an air hockey table, as the passenger pods will be levitated by air currents while they are propelled by [...]

Citizen Science: Get Involved!

By | 2015-11-11T07:26:44-08:00 August 1st, 2013|Astronomy, Biology, Physics, Politics, Science, Technology|

  Science seeks to harness the brain power of the human population with citizen science projects.  Utilizing the internet, research groups have gamified research for the scientifically curious citizen to help play a role in the advancement of science.  Online programs have been designed to catalog craters on the moon, search for asteroids headed towards earth and identify the creatures of our seas. Clearly, the every day citizen isn't the prefered source for scientific data analysis but there are only so many graduate students to go around.  Because of this, some studies have turned to the average joe to [...]

Is 3D Printing the Future of Consumer Products?

By | 2015-11-06T07:53:45-08:00 July 30th, 2013|Technology|

  While 3D printing may be the most exciting and innovative development of the past decade, the future of a number of industries may soon be inevitably altered by the introduction of what techies are calling the "3D Printing Revolution." Worries of entire markets being wiped out due to widespread adoption are a bit myopic and premature, but it would be remiss to suggest a few industries aren't sweating the potential ramifications. 3D printing combines the precise creation process of 3D modeling with an equally precise production mechanism capable of mimicking three-dimensional blueprints to the millimeter. Also known as additive [...]

Your secret ISN’T safe with me!

By | 2013-06-04T21:37:01-07:00 March 19th, 2013|Featured, Politics, Technology|

  For centuries, mankind has thrived on selective anonymity. Have a bad day? Lay low at home where nobody can find or reach you. Unfortunately, these days, being able to disappear completely from any radar is a luxury few can afford. 1 false step can make you the next GIF sensation. 1 bad interview can turn into a viral career-killer faster than you can say "cornball brother." Just ask any celebrity, athlete or politician: the dissemination of information created by our technological growth as a society has drastically reduced our margin for error as individuals. The overarching problems are simple: [...]

A Time Traveler’s Quandry

By | 2015-11-11T07:28:11-08:00 January 21st, 2013|Physics, Science, Technology|

  Time is such a familiar mystery.  We boast ourselves intimately acquainted but with one question we are at a loss, straining to describe the face of a stranger. What is time? Einstein describes time as, "the reason things don't happen all at once," even though at times it seems that they do.  However, many people are dissatisfied with such a simplified explanation (and frankly so was Einstein) .  Scientifically, time is most often described as a measure of change.   In a closed system this net change is always from ordered to disordered. For a system to go from configuration A to configuration B, it [...]

I might believe in UFOs, but I don’t believe YOU…

By | 2015-11-11T07:28:40-08:00 December 7th, 2012|Astronomy, Biology, Featured, Science, Technology|

  I love a good UFO conspiracy as much as the next guy. However, traveling across the universe and through the vacuum of space to probe some humans seems ridiculous. And while the numbers are clearly on the side of the existence of extra-terrestrial intelligent life, it is hard for me to believe that these same advanced aliens fail to be able to land securely and crash into the the deserts of New Mexico. Although if these are aliens are crashing into our planet, I have new found confidence that we could successfully defend ourselves against a alien invasion. Because [...]

DNA’s Cat in the Bag

By | 2015-11-11T07:30:02-08:00 November 9th, 2012|Biology, Physics, Politics, Technology|

Maurice Wilkins was a chatty Cathy. Steeped in a war of secrecy he handed the opposition his most precious intel and watched them claim victory. Some may think him the fool who let the cat out of the bag, but he just may be the hero science needed. At a time when life was thought to have some immaterial quality, three opposing factions were racing to be the first to give the essence of life a physical explanation. It was a race to see the structure of DNA, the “life molecule”. Maurice Wilkins was working with Roslyn Franklin at Kings [...]

Goodbye Blue Sky

By | 2015-11-11T07:31:13-08:00 September 19th, 2012|Astronomy, Physics, Politics, Science, Technology|

  All men have looked up at the sky in wonder, but less have looked down from the sky in awe.  Few have been wrapped in the dark arms of the universe.  And even fewer have seen all of mans existence shrink into a pale blue dot as Carl Sagan so eloquently put it.  These men, through the help of our government were the pioneers of a new frontier.  And their efforts have paved the way for hundreds of new space fearing innovations like satellites, orbiting telescopes, and private space flight.  But even though this innovation has redefined the skyline, it still has found a glass [...]

DEEPS Discuss: Technology

By | 2015-11-06T07:03:17-08:00 September 15th, 2012|Technology|

Our goal here at DEEPS is to inspire thought. To not simply provide information, but to ignite imagination.  We challenge you to doubt, to question, and to ponder.  As the world is revealed we fight to understand it and search for a place within it's expanse.  Here at Deeps we aim to question what we know and dream of what might next be illuminated. This first post will be a trial run in the form of a back and forth debate. We plan to have plenty of individual posts authored by both ourselves and guest authors but this will be [...]