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 Spying on a Woodpecker Pair
David R. Brooks, Ph.D.
Frequent "Gallery" contributors David R. Brooks and Susan Caughlan have scored again with a set of nice photographs of a pair of woodpeckers. David has allowed us to provide the following account taken from his web site and e-mails. Editor.
Figure 1 shows a male red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) photographed on 7 March 2008. "Red-bellied" refers to the faint reddish
coloration on this bird's underside, which you can't see
in this photo. |
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Joint Review of Superstring Theory: The DNA of Reality and Mathematica Version 6.
George E. Hrabovsky, President, MAST
Superstring Theory, The DNA of Reality
A few weeks ago Shawn Carlson asked if I would review some material sent by a noted physicist on string theory for the lay public. While a readily assented, I did not hold out much hope for the material, as my experience of string theory for lay people is not very high, with one previous exception.
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Replication of “An Experiment to Measure the Absolute Motion of the Earth”
Lance Osadchey, C. Michael Edwards, and Pat Kirol
Dr. Lance Osadchey's article "An Experiment to Measure The Absolute Motion of the Earth" (The Citizen Scientist, 02 February 2007) was preceded by an introduction by SAS Founder and Director Shawn Carlson, who holds a degree in nuclear physics. Dr. Carlson wrote,
"This paper challenges one of the bedrocks of modern science, Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity. Lance Osadchey is a medical doctor who has carried out a series of experiments that seem to show that it may be possible to identify an absolute reference frame--a result that, if true, would cut out the beating heart of the Special Theory and throw modern physics on its ear.
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Poorman's Space Program
Designing Near Space Experiments (Part 1)
Paul Verhage
In this and the next two columns we will learn how to design a few experiments for a BalloonSat, for without an experiment onboard, there's very little reason to launch a BalloonSat. Your challenge in the last two columns
("Designing and Constructing BalloonSat Airframes," Part 1 and Part 2) was to assemble a BalloonSat airframe. Now it's time to design an experiment for the airframe capable of flying into near space and returning useful data.
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Amateur Scientist David Gowen Discovers Two New Plant Species
Amateur botanist David Gowen (see "Editorial" in this installment of The Citizen Scientist), is a retired carpenter who recently discovered two new species of plants never before described by science. Gowen's discovery is all the more remarkable, for he found the plants at Lime Ridge Open Space near downtown Walnut Creek, California. On 12 June 2008 Save Mount Diablo posted an article and a media release about Gowen's discovery on the organizations web site. This discovery is so important that most of the media release is posted verbatim here. Editor.
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This Week at Hilton Pond
Bill Hilton Jr.
Executive Director
Hilton Pond Center for Piedmont Natural History
York, South Carolina 29745 USA
Late May Snapshot (22-31 May 2008)
A blooming bush, a tree-climbing snake, a crawly critter that kills trees, a sap-drinking butterfly, an out-of-place tree frog, and a late Neotropical migrant bird. In late May it seems natural happenings are everywhere you look. Our "This Week at Hilton Pond" photo essay for 22-31 May 2008 is a snapshot of all these things and more, including a tally of all birds banded and a list or recaptures--not the least of which was our first returning Ruby-throated Hummingbird of the year. |
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