Science

Review of The Violinist’s Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius as Written by Our Genetic Code

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The Violinist’s Thumb and Other Lost Tales of Love, War, and Genius as Written by Our Genetic Code by Sam Kean (Little, Brown, 416 pages, $25.99, July, 2012) Reviewed by Dr. Fred Bortz See other reviews archived at the Science Shelf Note: This review is the copyrighted property of Alfred B. Bortz. Individuals may print … Read more

Opinion: Hostile Alien Invaders Are Unlikely

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Sorry Stephen Hawking, I agree with Jill Tarter. Hostile alien invaders are unlikely–at least not the kind envisioned in SciFi movies. I received the news release reproduced below and it reminded me of a book manuscript that I now have under consideration at a major publisher of books for young readers. That manuscript looks ahead … Read more

James Webb Space Telescope on Chopping Block

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URGENT from Heidi Hammel: “The House Commerce, Justice, and Science Appropriations Subcommittee has proposed termination of the James Webb Space Telescope. Now is the time to contact your representatives in Washington, as well as members of the Appropriations Subcommittees, if you support JWST.”

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Searching for Martian DNA

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I recently began giving a school visit talk called “The Truth About Space Aliens: What We Know and What We Don’t Know About Life on Other Worlds based on Astrobiology book covermy “Cool Science” book, Astrobiology.

This news release will certainly give me more to talk about. We will soon have instruments looking for Martian RNA or DNA, say scientists from MIT and Harvard. If we find it, we will be able to compare it to similar genetic material from Earth.

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