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 [...]

My Blind Faith

By | 2016-03-11T04:58:25-08:00 November 10th, 2015|Astronomy, Biology, Featured, Philosophy, Physics, Politics|

"Oh I'm a Christian, so I don't believe in that" is no longer a valid excuse for ignoring concrete scientific facts.  And so it is time for all Christians (including myself) to wake up into the modern scientific age and ask some tough questions about our beliefs or be left at the kids table with the guy who is way too old to still believe in Santa Clause. Christianity needs a scientific revolution. A pursuit as noble as seeking the truth found in Christ has somehow made enemies with a pursuit of the same family; Science, the pursuit of truth found [...]

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 [...]

“You Can’t Patent the Sun” – Jonas Salk and the Polio Vaccine

By | 2015-12-01T22:59:23-08:00 October 28th, 2014|Biology, Featured, Politics, Science|

Post-WWII, 1950's America was aware of the dangers in the world.  The atom bomb displayed its destructive power and it's design had slipped across the iron curtain.  But the most terrifying, immediate threat to American might have been polio. By 1952, almost 60,000 cases had been reported in the US with over 3,000 dead and another 20,000 suffering from paralysis.  In a time when the United States population was half what it is today these numbers were much more shocking than the mild Ebola outbreak we are currently experiencing. Today google honors Dr. Jonas Salk's 100 year birthday.     Dr. Jonas [...]

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.

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 [...]

The God of The Gaps And The Science of Uncertainty: What are we so sure of?

By | 2015-11-06T07:55:04-08:00 June 26th, 2013|Biology, Politics|

  The "God of the gaps" argument has one distinct advantage; there are a lot of gaps.  The philosophy suggests that God must exist because we cannot explain every gap in scientific understanding.  However, the term is more often referred to as a logical fallacy by the opponents to intelligent design rather than a consciously employed argument by creationists.  In fact, those that begrudgingly invoke the argument would most likely resent its label.  But still the thinking persists. According to this theological perspective, the moments of controversy that science cannot explain are proof of a divine being.  Essentially, our lack of natural understanding is [...]

DEEPS discuss: The Apocalypse

By | 2013-07-23T02:20:24-07:00 June 3rd, 2013|Politics|

Do we want the world to end?  Our first reaction to this statement screams an emphatic, "NO!".  But perhaps the world is not so bifurcated and questions like these are not so simple.  Or even more strange, this question might just stem from the very real and penetrating bifurcation of existence: life and death, beginning and end, good and evil.  These are the themes of our universe and we are constantly in fear and wonder of their encompassing truth. Never does a human feel more alive than in free-fall; when the fragility of existence is exposed and the ground is inevitably approaching.  The end [...]

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: [...]

What are we teaching these kids?!

By | 2015-11-11T07:27:46-08:00 March 18th, 2013|Astronomy, Biology, Featured, Physics, Politics, Science|

  Sadly, the human mind has a limited knowledge capacity.  So why then do our schools continue to waste student's valuable brainpower on outdated paradigms and extinct scientific rationale?  Without even qualifying these dated lessons as science history or as a step in the progress of science, we are building scientific scaffolding in the minds of our young students that leads them to build a incorrect view of our world.  Even more frightening, it could prevent our future generations from being able to progress our scientific understanding. I will consent with Isaac Newton's sentiment that, " we stand on the shoulders of giants," but even Newton [...]

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 [...]

Your Science is Flawed!

By | 2015-11-11T07:30:13-08:00 November 5th, 2012|Featured, Politics, Science|

In philosophy, it's name is in-determinism but in science it is referred to as the burden of proof.  Yes, fact is the foundation that science rests upon.  In fact, the search for quantifiable and observable proof may just be the defining quality of science.  Science searches for truth and its compass is proof.  But much like the real thing, could this compass also not always point north?  Could this absolute dedication to observable validation lead us astray? As children we are confronted with the harsh reality that absolute certainty is realistically unattainable.  When children observe their favorite play toy covered by a [...]

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 [...]

Particle Physic’s Independence Day: July 4th 2012

By | 2015-11-11T07:32:12-08:00 July 4th, 2012|Physics, Politics, Technology|

  The opening of the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Geneva, Switzerland in 2008 was paired with grandiose predictions of a glimpse of the early universe and the elusive Higgs particle.  “The particle that gives all other particles Mass.”  Or so they thought as they dubbed it “the God Particle,” giving rise to the first transatlantic particle physics holy war between CERN in Geneva and Fermilab in Chicago, IL. Fermilab was home to the Tevatron particle accelerator that had been in operation since 1983, and with the creation of the LHC at CERN they were immediately dwarfed as technologically [...]