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Author Archives: jesseemspak
The Heating Engineers of Winterfell
In Game of Thrones Winterfell is a large castle that is built on a set of hot springs that provide warmth and even keep the castle comfortable during the years-long winters that characterize the region. The hot springs also warm … Continue reading
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Arsenic and Cheap Wine
By Multimotyl (Own work), via Wikimedia Commons The recent revelation (via a class-action suit) that some cheaper wines have high levels of arsenic got m to thinking: how toxic is it, really? And is it as dangerous as we think? … Continue reading
GMOs Are Safe, But Bill Nye Was Still Right The First Time
Photo by Mark Schierbecker, via Wikimedia Commons Recently Discover, Mother Jones, the Washington Post, and many corners of the blogosphere have gone over Bill Nye’s change of heart about genetically modified crops. Originally, Nye’s skepticism carried a lot of weight … Continue reading
Fermi Paradox Part III: Why Aren’t They Here?
A Bussard ramjet, one of many designs for a true interstellar spacecraft. Ramjets wouldn’t go more than a fraction of the speed of light. By NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons This is the third in a series of three … Continue reading
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Tagged colonization, Drake equation, extraterrestrial life, interstellar travel, SETI
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The Fermi Paradox Part II: Ringworlds
By Hill, via Wikimedia Commons In a previous post I addressed the issue of why we might have lots of extraterrestrial civilizations nearby and never see them. It was a stab at addressing the Fermi Paradox, which is basically asking, … Continue reading
Is The Fermi Paradox Really A Paradox?
Photo from WIkimedia Commons, by Colby Gutierrez-Kraybill. Apropos of a bit in Wait But Why? About why there are (apparently) no other intelligent beings that we can see in the universe, there were a couple of things I wanted to … Continue reading
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Tagged astronomy, habitable planet, radio telescope, science, SETI
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The Traveler…
I called this blog Traveler’s Tales. It’s a bit of a homage to Carl Sagan. His book Cosmos was one of the things that made me see science could be poetic, and for that I wish I had thanked him … Continue reading
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Halloween, Lou Reed, and Stories
I live in New York. It’s the city that you can’t imagine Lou Reed without – his being here, from when he played the clubs to the exhibits of his photographs. Listening to his music was a kind of snapshot … Continue reading
Traveler's Tales 