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Stardust under the Microscope

Stardust encounters comet Wild 2, Artist's rendition - Courtesy, NASA

The scientists analyzing cometary dust returned by the Stardust mission released their first formal results this week. The big surprise is that, while comets form in the most distant, coldest parts of our solar system, the dust includes minerals that could only have been forged by the heat of a nearby sun. Scientists are trying to understand this result, and how material from near the sun could have migrated out to the farthest reaches of our system. Dr. Don Brownlee is professor of Astronomy at the University of Washington and Principal Investigator on the Stardust Mission, and he and his colleagues published their results in the journal Science.

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Related Links

The Stardust Mission
Science Stardust Special
Stardust at Home: Participate in the Research!


Previous interviews about Stardust:
March 18, 2006
January 10, 2004

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines, by Dr. Janna Levin

Dr. Janna Levin, a professor of Physics and Astronomy at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City, was interested in writing a book about two of the great figures of 20th Century science: Alan Turing and Kurt Goedel. They fascinated her because of their brilliance, their influence, their great but disturbed minds and their tragic ends. Working with the material surprised her though, and instead of a book of science and history, she wrote a fictionalized exploration of their exotic personalities. The result is a departure of considerable imaginative power which is riveting and occasionally disturbing. The book is called A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines and it's published by Knopf Canada.

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Related Links

A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines
Dr. Levin's Web site
Book excerpt at Edge

Postcards from Mars

Postcards from Mars, by Dr. Jim Bell

For almost three years, the Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, have been travelling across the surface of the Red Planet. As they travel they're sending back huge amounts of data, largely in the form of images. Many of these images are taken by Rover's panoramic cameras. The best of these images have been collected by Dr. Jim Bell. He's the team leader for the cameras, and a professor of Astronomy at Cornell University. His collection of images were recently published as Postcards from Mars, by Dutton Press.

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Related Links

Postcards from Mars Web site
Jim Bell's homepage
The Mars Rover homepage


Previous Quirks stories on the Rover:
March 25, 2006
January 15, 2005
February 7, 2004
January 10, 2004

Out of Thin Air

Out of Thin Air, by Dr. Peter Ward

No one would deny the importance of oxygen for life. We can go for hours without water, days without food, but only minutes without oxygen. Dr. Peter Ward from the University of Washington, takes the importance of oxygen one step further. Not only does he believe oxygen is essential for life, he thinks it's the major driving force behind life's evolution on the planet. He says changing oxygen levels through the planet's history have led to innovation, and the diversity we see today. It's what allowed the dinosaurs to become the dominant form of life on the planet for millions of years, and what keeps insects small today. Dr. Ward outlines his theories in the book, Out of Thin Air, published by Joseph Henry Press. And Dr. Ward's theories got some experimental support recently from Dr. Guy Narbonne, a professor at Queen's University. Dr. Narbonne's study of fossils shows that large animals appear on the planet at the same time as the level of oxygen starts to rise, confirming one of the basic ideas in Dr. Ward's book.

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Related Links

Out of Thin Air Web site
Dr. Ward's homepage
An explanation of Dr. Narbonne's work on early animals

More Holiday Science Books from the Past Year

This Is Your Brain On Music: The Science of a Human Obsession, by Daniel J. Levitin, December 9, 2006.

The Weather Makers: How We are Changing the Climate and What It Means for Life on Earth, by Tim Flannery, March 25, 2006.

Stumbling on Happiness, by Daniel Gilbert, May 27, 2006.

A Natural History of Families, by Scott Forbes, May 13, 2006.

Waiting for the Macaws, by Terry Glavin, April 8, 2006 .

Headless Males Make Great Lovers and Other Unusual Natural Histories, by Marty Crump, February 18, 2006.

Francis Crick: Discoverer of the Genetic Code, by Matt Ridley, November 11, 2006.

King of Infinite Space: Donald Coxeter, the Man Who Saved Geometry, by Siobhan Roberts, November 4, 2006.

Broken Genius: The Rise and Fall of William Shockley, by Joel Shurkin, September 23, 2006.

The Trouble With Physics, by Dr. Lee Smolin, June 24, 2006.

The Quantum Zoo: A Tourist's Guide to the Neverending Universe, by Marcus Chown, June 17, 2006.

Programming the Universe, by Dr. Seth Lloyd, April 22, 2006.

Sustainable Fossil Fuels: The Unusual Suspect in the Quest for Clean and Enduring Energy, by Dr. Mark Jaccard, March 4, 2006.

And some other science books from 2006 that we didn't cover on the program, but could have:

Reluctant Genius: The Passionate Life and Inventive Mind of Alexander Graham Bell, by Charlotte Gray.

The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution, by David Quammen.

Heat: How to Stop the Planet From Burning, by George Monbiot.

The Revenge of Gaia: Why the Earth is Fighting Back - and How We Can Still Save Humanity, by James Lovelock.

The Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth, by E. O. Wilson.

Darwinism and Its Discontents, by Michael Ruse.

Pandemonium: Bird Flu, Mad Cow Disease, and Other Biological Plagues of the 21st Century, by Andrew Nikiforuk.

Field Notes from a Catastrophe, by Elizabeth Kolbert.

Being Caribou: Five Months on Foot with an Arctic Herd, by Karsten Heuer.

Bringing Back the Dodo: Lessons in Natural and Unnatural History, by Wayne Grady.

The Omnivore's Dilemma, by Michael Pollan.