Category: Science
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Natural disaster risks in the Philippines
The Philippines is listed as the third most at-risk country for natural disasters in the WorldRiskIndex 2012 report prepared by the University Institute for Environment and Human Security, Bonn (UNU-EHS) . The top two are Vanuatu and Tonga. The WorldRiskIndex report addresses the following questions: How probable is an extreme natural event, and will it…
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Turning off electronic devices in flight
My Kindle is not my first love, but it’s certainly up there in the top 10. On the recent trip to the Philippines I loaded it up with plenty to read, thinking smugly that it’s so much better than having to agonise over which “paper” novels to take when there’s only limited space and weight…
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Morse code lives on
Back in the 1830s, Samuel Morse and a couple of his mates were experimenting with sending electrical pulses over wires. To send messages they needed a language, and so was invented what is now called Morse code. It’s very simple, consisting of only two things: dots and dashes. Each letter of the alphabet is allocated…
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Imagine waking each morning hoping you’re wrong
I’ve often said that climate scientists are really weird people because we are the only scientists that wake up in the morning and hope that we are wrong. This quote from Lesley Hughes (Professor of Biology Macquarie University and Climate Commissioner for the Australian Government) was part of an interesting debate called “Climate science: beyond party politics”. It…
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When did we first understand the world was not flat?
Most of us have heard of flat-earth beliefs. It is commonly understood that the early explorers were always fearful of falling off the edge of the earth. I certainly “knew” that everyone, with the exception of some early sceptics, believed in the flat-earth model until the last couple of centuries. Well, it turns out that…