tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26375051654614234672024-02-20T06:46:04.112-08:00Cosmic VisionsThis Blog Site was established as an Internet Monument to one of the greatest Astronomers and popularizers of science of the twentieth century - Dr. Carl Sagan. Cosmos was the landmark documentary for which he will be long remembered. This Internet Project is dedicated to his life, work and memory. Herein we will discuss many of the issues that occupied Sagan throughout his life (Astronomy, SETI, the future of humanity, space exploration, science and education).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comBlogger48125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-11300224220542597152010-06-24T00:05:00.000-07:002010-09-30T13:09:14.463-07:00Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Dino Sex But, Were Afraid To Ask<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGvWcZ8otzv4zlspR8mZ0V9tGrSrNtMBCVRWlibG7Z2ESFDy0qRA2aZM3H_A_Eu1wbtvTE5PU5FJ7-saj4bRwgmoIc3QCUlp2iE4EBcc_g72xwuhEjqm5C0lrG2TrtqzhG_IUltp88h0/s1600/Dinosex2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 187px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmGvWcZ8otzv4zlspR8mZ0V9tGrSrNtMBCVRWlibG7Z2ESFDy0qRA2aZM3H_A_Eu1wbtvTE5PU5FJ7-saj4bRwgmoIc3QCUlp2iE4EBcc_g72xwuhEjqm5C0lrG2TrtqzhG_IUltp88h0/s200/Dinosex2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5475673024535705074" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Birds do it, bees do it and people do it to. But, how on Earth did dinosaurs do it? Find out today on Cosmic Visions as we explore - Everything you ever wanted to know about dino sex, but where afraid to ask. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>You can also see this remarkable video in full screen mode<a href="http://www.novamov.com/video/yw2wrywyau199"> here</a> or right click on the screen and choose full screen view and the advert will disappear.</b></div><span id="fullpost"><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">Paleoworld Dino Sex</span></b></span><br /><br /><center><iframe style="overflow: hidden; border: 0; width: 600px; height: 480px" src="http://embed.novamov.com/embed.php?width=600&height=480&v=yw2wrywyau199" scrolling="no"></iframe></center><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-33230068447765589052010-06-23T07:42:00.002-07:002010-06-23T07:44:21.637-07:00The Known Universe – Decoding the Skies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIHDupTbiHq-tnN0pP-m6RVKWcMk9TxjQtJif9Zqnb6I4DcmJf-1JK3Z5zVvpw5o1cY2tV_8HhyphenhyphenE_bpw9C321KOwlTe7lY2r3VuE1qGR7ptg7EJXGtdZbdUTpIf-ZUU1ZJKD7WvJJolU/s1600/Stonehenge+by+night86mare.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 134px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDIHDupTbiHq-tnN0pP-m6RVKWcMk9TxjQtJif9Zqnb6I4DcmJf-1JK3Z5zVvpw5o1cY2tV_8HhyphenhyphenE_bpw9C321KOwlTe7lY2r3VuE1qGR7ptg7EJXGtdZbdUTpIf-ZUU1ZJKD7WvJJolU/s200/Stonehenge+by+night86mare.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5484871142323844002" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Today on Cosmic Visions we are going to take a foray into the field of Archaeoastronomy and explore how our ancient forbearers decoded the night sky and built the foundations of civilization. Not with the help of ancient astronauts but through their own perseverance and innate intellect. </b></div><span id="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Our ancestors' relationship with the heavens led to some of humankind's ancient discoveries and greatest creations. The ancient Greeks discovered Earth was round; the Polynesians used the sun and stars to navigate vast oceans in simple canoes; some think amazing structures like Stonehenge were designed to observe the sky. Now, Known Universe examines mankind's first observations of the cosmos to understand how they put us on the path to modern discovery.</b></div><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">The Known Universe - Decoding the Skies </span></span></b><br /><br /><center><object width="669" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.megavideo.com/v/EBREM8HX899a0318fa9e9ae92a29801900f0d2b5"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.megavideo.com/v/EBREM8HX899a0318fa9e9ae92a29801900f0d2b5" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="669" height="360"></embed></object></center><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-63014837417013643662010-06-10T13:44:00.000-07:002010-06-10T13:48:16.626-07:00The Known Universe - Final Frontiers<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiC_GcCycmJzq9AEA1F9naJxAXaHxyu-tVjmXwPyNsJ3kxZRw6v2kIeJiULSZCtAQ1oWbL-98Oekj-1fowWnU0d39kHUCErGdOKyiqaErajB0BJf1KWiJ38oD-N-Qlwu5tSCQEG8Yu6k/s1600/The+Known++Universe+Final+Frontiers.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 128px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsiC_GcCycmJzq9AEA1F9naJxAXaHxyu-tVjmXwPyNsJ3kxZRw6v2kIeJiULSZCtAQ1oWbL-98Oekj-1fowWnU0d39kHUCErGdOKyiqaErajB0BJf1KWiJ38oD-N-Qlwu5tSCQEG8Yu6k/s200/The+Known++Universe+Final+Frontiers.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5480859930492724802" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Today on Cosmic Visions we present an episode of the National Geographic Channel’s outstanding documentary series “The Known Universe” that deals with two endeavours very dear to our hearts, the exploration and eventual settlement of the new frontiers of sea and space. These are the main goals of the organization we are closely associated with – The League of New Worlds. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://underseacolony.com/core/lnw.html">The League of the New Worlds</a>, founded in September of 1989, intends to establish a permanent human presence in the oceans. In so doing, we will engineer the habitats, procedures and processes for the space frontier. This formal engineering process is called: Space-Ocean Analogs.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><span id="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Our all volunteer staff of engineers, ocean and space scientists, scientists, aquanauts, students and others all seek the same goal - to build the new outposts, colonies and cities of the New Worlds.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>If you are interested in discovering more about us and our program, please follow the link below. We also invite you to join us in our quest, either as an active volunteer on one of our expeditions or as a contributing member by lending your support to our Oceans 911 funding drive to establish to an intelligent ecological monitoring platform (which now does not exist anywhere) to investigate and understand in detailed scientific terms the full impact of humanity on the ocean environment. The major benefit of this long term project is the preservation of our planet’s most important, largest and most fragile ecosystem. The time has come to kick-start this important endeavour.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /><center><a href="http://kck.st/aQsElA"><img border="0" src="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/98283453/oceans-911-the-atlantica-project-a-planetary-ocean/widget/card.jpg" /></a></center><br /><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>In today’s video feature we will see how the exploration of our planet’s last great frontier is closely linked to the exploration of the vast new ocean of space. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>More than 70 percent of Earth is covered in water, but we've only explored roughly 5 percent of it. We've roamed even less of our solar system. Now, armed with some of the latest advances in technology, we join scientists on a voyage into the unknown - from the far reaches of space to the extreme depths of our oceans - where new discoveries have experts questioning everything we know about the universe, and ultimately ourselves.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Known Universe - Final Frontiers</span></span></b></div><br /><br /><center><object width="669" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.megavideo.com/v/BVPEO543847f6fcd55d40df9f8071436521073e8"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.megavideo.com/v/BVPEO543847f6fcd55d40df9f8071436521073e8" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="669" height="360"></embed></object></center><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-11784103382905436462010-03-14T00:49:00.000-08:002016-05-29T00:33:44.572-07:00Space Colonies: Living Among the Stars<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv0JwmVnCL2bXcoDpj-sAVHctrAohd2LyW162r9Toa5n0qWJ38GTjF-jdvqAB2p2VuEEHO3uI-Za5zs-mUC0pP7D_s_yvrH6YIJo44GTWO3zUgt2nGyWDXPrTc-n4ivSuUwKSONHg0s9g/s1600-h/plate8.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447422562160185602" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiv0JwmVnCL2bXcoDpj-sAVHctrAohd2LyW162r9Toa5n0qWJ38GTjF-jdvqAB2p2VuEEHO3uI-Za5zs-mUC0pP7D_s_yvrH6YIJo44GTWO3zUgt2nGyWDXPrTc-n4ivSuUwKSONHg0s9g/s320/plate8.jpg" style="cursor: hand; cursor: pointer; display: block; height: 238px; margin: 0px auto 10px; text-align: center; width: 320px;" /></a><br />
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<i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">"Teetering here on the fulcrum of destiny stands our own bemused species. The future of the universe hinges on what we do next. If we take up the sacred fire, and stride forth into space as the torchbearers of Life, this universe will be aborning. If we carry the green fire-brand from star to star, and ignite around each a conflagration of vitality, we can trigger a Universal metamorphosis. Because of us, the barren dusts of a million billion worlds will coil up into the pulsing magic forms of animate matter. Because of us, landscapes of radiation blasted waste, will be miraculously transmuted: Slag will become soil, grass will sprout, flowers will bloom, and forests will spring up in once sterile places. Ice, hard as iron, will melt and trickle into pools where starfish, anemones, and seashells dwell — a whole frozen universe will thaw and transmogrify, from howling desolation to blossoming paradise. Dust into Life; the very alchemy of God". </span></b></i></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #000099;"><b>Marshall T. Savage, author of The Millennial Project: Colonizing The Galaxy In Eight Easy Steps. </b></span></div>
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<b>Today on Cosmic Visions we take an exciting voyage into the future and explore the wonderful and exciting possibility of humanity expanding outwards from its planetary abode to make its home amongst the stars.</b></div>
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<span id="fullpost"><b>In “Space Colonies: Living Among the Stars” we examine the scientific basis for the growing belief that humans can and will carry our civilization far from Earth through the eyes of such visionaries as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marshall_Savage">Marshal T. Savage</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Zubrin">Robert Zubrin</a>, Christopher McKay, Jim Benson and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_K._O'Neill">Gerard K O’Neill</a>.</b></span></div>
<span id="fullpost"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Space Colonies : Living Among the Stars</span></b></span><br /></span><br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-67100872921683089472010-03-14T00:47:00.001-08:002010-03-14T00:52:07.408-08:00Carl Sagan’s Contact<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPAs-E47xyhTEkJXrCPl1YM2HlrnQN4810mSxnHGBvRvFgGKyelQTHXkRTkM6OOhyB1GxakXfC2GfJIx_5943yVr29XEcUGYZGs2eknSb1BUUSuMZj3NOdedZbINJBHvWgUAafIUTXWKg/s1600-h/Contact_ver2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPAs-E47xyhTEkJXrCPl1YM2HlrnQN4810mSxnHGBvRvFgGKyelQTHXkRTkM6OOhyB1GxakXfC2GfJIx_5943yVr29XEcUGYZGs2eknSb1BUUSuMZj3NOdedZbINJBHvWgUAafIUTXWKg/s320/Contact_ver2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447994295540283298" /></a><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>As we approach the fiftieth anniversary of the establishment of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (S.E.T.I.) as a bona fide branch of legitimate scientific inquiry we cannot help but wonder how "<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_contact_(anthropology)">First Contact</a>" will occur and what effect this will have on humanity.</b></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: normal; "><b>Today we explore this exciting possibility through the vision of Dr. Carl Sagan as outlined in his first and only science fiction novel “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(novel)">Contact</a>” published in 1985 and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contact_(film)">film adaptation</a> released twelve years later.</b></span></div></b><span id="fullpost"><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The novel and book both present a unique and wonderful vision of a common science fiction <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_contact_(science_fiction)">theme</a> about the first meeting between humans and extraterrestrial life. Sagan expands on this theme in his novel and hints at the possibility of an even higher overarching intelligence that existed before the creation of the Cosmos and responsible for bringing into being. Unfortunately in the motion picture this was only touched upon obliquely. </b></div><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9EA0LOJbSlgeRbU1thfLspX1UmCcId53rkNMnLBi7J76_1Di5-uy2LlhqmYPn0aTGqyhwyWw9ZDKtDx_iFvLqaLxgjALg-5SIqvfpOL5QokYXpSSNOuiKxG2u508gHgYMgQkAdWvdrg/s1600-h/Contact_Sagan.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 190px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc9EA0LOJbSlgeRbU1thfLspX1UmCcId53rkNMnLBi7J76_1Di5-uy2LlhqmYPn0aTGqyhwyWw9ZDKtDx_iFvLqaLxgjALg-5SIqvfpOL5QokYXpSSNOuiKxG2u508gHgYMgQkAdWvdrg/s320/Contact_Sagan.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5447993885247998386" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Eleanor "Ellie" Arroway is the director of "Project Argus," in which scores of radio telescopes in New Mexico have been dedicated to the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI).</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Before long, the project does, indeed, discover the first confirmed communication from extraterrestrial beings, a repeating series of the first 261 prime numbers (a sequence of prime numbers is a commonly predicted first message from alien intelligence, since mathematics is considered a "universal language," and it is conjectured that algorithms that produce successive prime numbers are sufficiently complicated so as to require intelligence to implement them). Further analysis of the message reveals that two additional messages are embedded in the signal. One of these messages is the detailed instructions of a machine that transports professor Arroway on an incredible odyssey to the heart of the Milky Way Galaxy and a face to face encounter with the intelligent beings that sent the message. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>In a kind of postscript, Ellie, acting upon a suggestion by the senders of the Message, works on a program which computes the digits of π to record lengths and in different bases. Very, very far from the decimal point (ten to the twentieth power) and in base 11, it finds that a special pattern does exist when the numbers stop varying randomly and start producing 1s and 0s in a very long string. The string's length is the product of 11 prime numbers. The 1s and 0s when organized as a square of specific dimensions form a rasterized circle.</i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i><br /></i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i>The extraterrestrials suggest that this is an artist's signature, woven into the very fabric of space. It is another Message, one from the universe's creator. Yet the extraterrestrials are just as ignorant to its meaning as Ellie, as it could be still some sort of a statistical anomaly. They also make reference to older artefacts built from space time itself (namely the wormhole transit system) abandoned by a prior civilization. A line in the book suggests that the image is a foretaste of deeper marvels hidden even further within Pi. This new pursuit becomes analogous to SETI; it is another search for meaningful signals in apparent noise. This idea, among other plot points, was omitted from the film version.</i></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>While both the novel and film stand on their own merits one wonders if the film could have attained the same distinction as a cult classic like Stanley Kubrick’s “2001” if this latter theme were worked into the motion picture. </b></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><b>Contact The Motion Picture</b></span></span><br /><br /><center><object width="771" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.megavideo.com/v/3BF817RTb1795bfcae3af2069125fd84bc25a92b"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.megavideo.com/v/3BF817RTb1795bfcae3af2069125fd84bc25a92b" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="771" height="360"></embed></object></center><br /><br /></span><div><span id="fullpost"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><b><br /></b></span></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-74946903511144169282010-03-11T00:54:00.000-08:002010-03-14T00:56:19.680-08:00The Universe - Alien Galaxies<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoaE1mCQMCIDL6QYGDDJA5KPSumMgSlcYjQOrxTiX3cEquHnhBR2ao07UdbM1Nzx4VCYAGsGDjs63XNXCfmC1253Lw1mlQwTMiT1lujbaPu5uGGAqJNAXC9ZJ67pAHFpPDh6IBqFVN8Fs/s1600-h/The+Universe+-+Alien+Galaxies.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 135px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgoaE1mCQMCIDL6QYGDDJA5KPSumMgSlcYjQOrxTiX3cEquHnhBR2ao07UdbM1Nzx4VCYAGsGDjs63XNXCfmC1253Lw1mlQwTMiT1lujbaPu5uGGAqJNAXC9ZJ67pAHFpPDh6IBqFVN8Fs/s200/The+Universe+-+Alien+Galaxies.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5446859230618020962" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going to embark on an intergalactic odyssey to visit the hundreds of billions of galaxies that in make up our universe. This is a journey that will take us back to the dawn of time. </b></div><span id="fullpost"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">The Universe - Alien Galaxies</span></span><br /><br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/7D70C9921F5AD9DB&hl=en_GB&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/7D70C9921F5AD9DB&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-74336780884740520232009-12-20T00:05:00.000-08:002010-03-14T04:17:13.249-07:00The Best of Cosmos – Remembering Carl Sagan<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2i6g6v_0kw-GCpeX8ZmFbk2jS4tKeqeBwpSco8iZN-ONMQZRkJLI9-flNn-WFQ5HaP9vR0oRu2Ypg6VCDqk5I3ACYgfQWfO1KpY8BvJCh46wCJa7dsZPi-PA0GJQccEBQ70K9hYAC1I/s1600-h/carl_sagan.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 266px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD2i6g6v_0kw-GCpeX8ZmFbk2jS4tKeqeBwpSco8iZN-ONMQZRkJLI9-flNn-WFQ5HaP9vR0oRu2Ypg6VCDqk5I3ACYgfQWfO1KpY8BvJCh46wCJa7dsZPi-PA0GJQccEBQ70K9hYAC1I/s320/carl_sagan.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5417050548316112050" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">Today on Cosmic Visions we commemorate the memory of Carl Sagan who died an untimely death thirteen years ago today. Carl Sagan, was an astronomer, astrochemist, author, and highly successful popularizer of astronomy, astrophysics and other natural sciences. He pioneered exobiology and promoted the Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). For me personally he will always be remembered and revered as a great teacher who communicated the joys and transcendence of scientific discovery. Carl Sagan’s enduring legacy will always be linked to his ability to convey the wonders of science to the general public and his skill in inspiring the next generation of scientists. Carl Sagan’s name will also be forever linked to the greatest science television series in history – Cosmos. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><span id="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Sagan made the front cover of Time Magazine (Monday October 20th, 1980) which dubbed him the “Showman of Science.” The cover story, entitled ‘</b><a href="http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,951539,00.html"><b>The Cosmic Explainer</b></a><b>’ by Frederic Golden contains a very good biographical sketch of Carl and appeared when his landmark documentary Cosmos graced our television screens some thirty years ago.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div></span><div><span id="fullpost"><p></p><strong></strong><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8gXtLXDdoHfFJiYkG7gHoElc9sKQkH5Ef0osPIGBYwLKxcXD-eviKnZXIvBFJnM4eg0ACgGYJ9kNiG2DfRDywUJilBsOhp9CwUNYV8WxESlYfi3IqVALrzNAHY-_aZHQ2o79s7_XZfbY/s1600-h/CarlSagan.jpg"><strong><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5150047763216265058" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; CURSOR: hand; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQ8gXtLXDdoHfFJiYkG7gHoElc9sKQkH5Ef0osPIGBYwLKxcXD-eviKnZXIvBFJnM4eg0ACgGYJ9kNiG2DfRDywUJilBsOhp9CwUNYV8WxESlYfi3IqVALrzNAHY-_aZHQ2o79s7_XZfbY/s320/CarlSagan.jpg" border="0" /> </strong></a><p align="justify"><strong><br /></strong></p><strong><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>So in order to commemorate the thirteenth anniversary of his death we are presenting a retrospective of the very best moments and highlights of the highly acclaimed documentary series <a href="http://discoveryenterprise.blogspot.com/2007/12/cosmos-personal-voyage-through-time-and.html">Cosmos</a> and the A&E Channel’s profile of Carl Sagan which aired shortly after his unfortunate death. It is a very good portrayal of how a kid from Brooklyn made good and became something of a media superstar —“indeed, a supernova of sorts”. So for your perusal “Heeere's Carl, bringing you nothing less than the Cosmos.”</b></div><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">Best of Sagan's Cosmos</span></span></b><br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/9C480CFEDBB59309&hl=en_GB&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/9C480CFEDBB59309&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center><br /><br /><br /><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Carl Sagan A Biography</span></span></b></strong></span></div><div><span id="fullpost"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/8FFF3D06A19E6DB7&hl=en_GB&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/8FFF3D06A19E6DB7&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center><br /></span><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></span><strong></strong></div><strong></strong>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-82781307908110510532009-12-03T09:11:00.000-08:002010-03-14T00:52:49.644-08:00One of Carl Sagan's Most Pertinent Messages for Humanity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0kXguS77seuXyi6LuyF4mIQg0uh-8iwjBGz_pQp0b1_W9v7qlFb1gwNxFE9qnaVV8a3GwOrpkW6yturts7ANBsX_xnyXnsRKDgXp1mYBSPnpqXF_EOm45k8kN3KAC7wIg83aZipFW2Grh/s1600-h/Carl_Sagan_Planetary_Society.jpg"><img style="MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 234px; FLOAT: left; HEIGHT: 320px; CURSOR: hand" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5411059243944251506" border="0" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0kXguS77seuXyi6LuyF4mIQg0uh-8iwjBGz_pQp0b1_W9v7qlFb1gwNxFE9qnaVV8a3GwOrpkW6yturts7ANBsX_xnyXnsRKDgXp1mYBSPnpqXF_EOm45k8kN3KAC7wIg83aZipFW2Grh/s320/Carl_Sagan_Planetary_Society.jpg" /></a><br /><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><b>"Those worlds in space are as countless as all the grains of sand on all the beaches of the Earth. Each of those worlds is as real as ours. In every one of them, there's a sucsession of incidence, events, occurences which influence its future. Countless worlds, numberless moments, an immensity of space and time. And our small planet, at this moment, here we face a critical branch-point in history. What we do with our world, right now, will propagate down through the centuries and powerfully affect the destiny of our descendants. It is well within our power to destroy our civilization, and perhaps our species as well. If we capitulate to superstition, or greed, or stupidty we can plunge our world into a darkness deeper than time between the collapse of classical civilization and the Italian Renaissaince. But, we are also capable of using our compassion and our intelligence, our technology and our wealth, to make an abundant and meaningful life for every inhabitant of this planet. To enhance enormously our understanding of the Universe, and to carry us to the stars." Carl Sagan explains the immensity of space and time. This clip is from Carl Sagan's Cosmos episode 8, "Journeys in Space and Time." </b></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><b>Carl Edward Sagan (November 9, 1934 – December 20, 1996) </b></div><div style="TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><br /></div><center><object width="425" height="344"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/hLkC7ralR30&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/hLkC7ralR30&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="425" height="344"></embed></object></center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-51369837692101639162009-12-02T00:08:00.000-08:002009-12-02T00:08:00.152-08:00Journey to 10,000 B.C<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uApcFgI6UZ6beBeCWRJl0LmrEP4CqXHtL0Kn5art3Ylr9bXstZNVVB0TqbIPQebRM5RzxO3PDXqtCFquF7VVBICy-cs7JkhY5qbSwBtSLecTheIPkE_dkpw1SeDTH-_LHCCsqmCK1zM/s1600/Journey+to+10,000+BC.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 112px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0uApcFgI6UZ6beBeCWRJl0LmrEP4CqXHtL0Kn5art3Ylr9bXstZNVVB0TqbIPQebRM5RzxO3PDXqtCFquF7VVBICy-cs7JkhY5qbSwBtSLecTheIPkE_dkpw1SeDTH-_LHCCsqmCK1zM/s200/Journey+to+10,000+BC.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406652823819146082" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">Today on Discovery Enterprise we journey to the year 10,000 BC and experience the suspense and heart-pounding action of a woolly mammoth hunt. A single kill could feed the tribe for weeks. As the winters grow curiously colder and longer, this vital source of nourishment becomes even more critical. Experience the land where giant ground sloths, great saber-toothed cats, and camels roamed. Witness their extinctions and live through the cataclysms that we are only now beginning to understand.</span></div><span id="fullpost"><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Journey to 10,000 B.C.</span></i></span></b><br /><br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/EE636DB2C0D4B06B&hl=en_GB&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/EE636DB2C0D4B06B&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-83707283028843130542009-12-01T08:05:00.000-08:002010-05-03T19:23:37.305-07:00The Search for Shangri-La<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Pwyw_Wbs7ciw0tyEGnGvJuX_4vlpCk2VrTVqMzNoKz2up_fbyUzwwANVYrMJOtdZd4fzZHZH_YhovcW95W6j9AtkpKl9N0SDy7Rzl3PTwDTZ370Mokr4taPUehpPo18XaIJCq3IE3Ww/s1600/1937LostHorizonPoster.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 231px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8Pwyw_Wbs7ciw0tyEGnGvJuX_4vlpCk2VrTVqMzNoKz2up_fbyUzwwANVYrMJOtdZd4fzZHZH_YhovcW95W6j9AtkpKl9N0SDy7Rzl3PTwDTZ370Mokr4taPUehpPo18XaIJCq3IE3Ww/s320/1937LostHorizonPoster.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5409960147450799218" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>The dream of an earthly paradise immune to the squalid wickedness of the world and the ravages of time comes to us from the depths of antiquity. One such place was - Shangri-La.</b></div><span id="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>In the novel “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Horizon_(novel)">Lost Horizon</a>” published in 1933, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hiltonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Hilton">James Hilton</a> takes us on an odyssey to the earthly paradise Shangri-La hidden in a valley somewhere in the Himalayas between Tibet and India. Of all of James Hilton’s works this was always my most favourite. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>But, is the legend of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shangri-La">Shangri-La</a> rooted in some, very real, earthly reality? Did such a place really exist? Today on Discovery Enterprise we are going on an epic voyage in search of the real Shangri-La with renowned BBC journalist Michael Wood in his awe inspiring documentary series “In Search of Myths and Heroes.”</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>We are also going to teleport ourselves to Shangri-La through the power of cinematic magic and the vision of legendary film director <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank_Capra">Frank Capra</a> in his <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Horizon_(1937_film)">film masterpiece</a> that brought James Hilton’s novel Lost Horizon to life on the silver screen.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>So join us dear readers and let us take you on a magical voyage away from the dreary drudgery and cares of your everyday life to the far away and carefree world of Shangri-La. May you like, our hero Conway, find your own very real Shangri-La.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div><br /></div></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">In Search of Myths and Heroes – The Search for Shangri-La</span></span></i></b></div><br /><br /><center><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=8953579474711987629&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> </center><br /><br /><br /><br /><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Frank Capara's famous motion picture classic - Lost Horizon (1937)</span></span></i></b><br /><br /><br /><center><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-3378504833323735810&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> </center><br /><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-45414405880420889062009-11-29T00:05:00.000-08:002010-06-23T07:51:34.421-07:00My Pet Dinosaur<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7n-r4aiDfCFmYv83qyBeAlaFxV5IhyphenhyphenTtd01fBZCv9ZkccWxYOx4gVUkYDE5n27KHq_mJCIIv4NFVu0NutbE4hZkUbkk1cEmWdKAzxn08YNmtRsxzB1OnOtjpKz0m6oGj4Bs5oJrhTssvr/s1600/will-e-t-look-like-us_1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7n-r4aiDfCFmYv83qyBeAlaFxV5IhyphenhyphenTtd01fBZCv9ZkccWxYOx4gVUkYDE5n27KHq_mJCIIv4NFVu0NutbE4hZkUbkk1cEmWdKAzxn08YNmtRsxzB1OnOtjpKz0m6oGj4Bs5oJrhTssvr/s200/will-e-t-look-like-us_1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406659682464218898" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">What if the Cretaceous-Tertiary impact that ended the reign of the Dinosaurs never occurred? Would these magnificent creatures, which could only be described by superlatives, still be walking the Earth? Would these creatures have gone on to evolve intelligence and perhaps a technological civilization? It is perhaps the greatest question concerning an alternative evolutionary history of life on Earth. Today on Discovery Enterprise we explore this alternative evolutionary history with the BBC Horizon documentary – My Pet Dinosaur.</span></div><div align="justify"><span id="fullpost"><br /><strong>It's a palaeontologist's dream: the chance to live in a world where dinosaurs are not something to be dug out of the ground but are living among us. It may sound far-fetched but dinosaurs were actually rather unlucky. The meteorite impact that doomed them to extinction was an event with a probability of millions to one. What if the meteorite had missed?<br /><br /><br />Had dinosaurs survived, the world today would be very different. If humans managed to survive alongside them (very unlikely), we wouldn't have the company of most, if not all, of the mammals with which we are familiar today. Giraffes, elephants and other mammals wouldn't have had space to evolve.<br /><br />Would we be hunting Hadrosaurs instead of elk? Or farming Protoceratops instead of pigs? Would dinosaurs be kept as pets? And could the brighter dinosaurs have evolved into something humanoid?<br /><br /></strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" white-space: pre; font-family:Arial;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">My Pet Dinosaur</span></i></span></b></span><br /><br /></span></div><br /><br /><center><embed src="http://www.guba.com/static/f/player__v12735.swf?isEmbeddedPlayer=true&bid=3000093071" quality="best" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" menu="true" width="375px" height="360px" name="root" id="root" align="middle" scalemode="noScale" allowscriptaccess="never" allowfullscreen="true" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer"></embed></center><br /><br /><br /><div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-72765812746336507762009-11-28T00:05:00.001-08:002010-06-10T13:42:45.446-07:00Einstein and Eddington: The Story of General Relativity<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhugzyDZiM5iTXToCaZCU44ZEbXFUdTnqULOX-KKOAtnFtHKlNFT0T-pXZARey0i13si3TwIIwz3nuwDPfB0H8yDhEXbAR1nF2XbjHzJvsrYdfC8fUb5dnDC9cgvLdcNCSdIh5ccGlOK28/s1600/Einstein+and+Eddington.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhugzyDZiM5iTXToCaZCU44ZEbXFUdTnqULOX-KKOAtnFtHKlNFT0T-pXZARey0i13si3TwIIwz3nuwDPfB0H8yDhEXbAR1nF2XbjHzJvsrYdfC8fUb5dnDC9cgvLdcNCSdIh5ccGlOK28/s200/Einstein+and+Eddington.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406629982849572002" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Today on Cosmic Visions we proudly present the BBC docudrama “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_and_Eddington">Einstein and Eddington</a>” This is the story about Albert Einstein's </b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_relativity"><b>theory of general relativity</b></a><b>, his relationship with </b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Stanley_Eddington"><b>Arthur Stanley Eddington</b></a><b> and the introduction of this theory to the world, against the backdrop of the Great War. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><div style="text-align: justify;">During the 1920s and 30s Eddington gave innumerable lectures, interviews, and radio broadcasts on relativity (in addition to his textbook <i>Mathematical Theory of Relativity</i>), and later, quantum mechanics. Many of these were gathered into books, including <i>The Nature of the Physical World</i> and <i>New Pathways in Science</i>. His skillful use of literary allusions and humor helped make these famously difficult subjects quite accessible.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">To obtain various works by (and about) Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington, which are very difficult to obtain elsewhere go <a href="http://www.allais.info/priorartdocs/eddington.htm">here</a>. </div></b></div><span id="fullpost"><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>If for some reason this wonderful movie does not appear below you can watch it directly by clicking on the title below:</b></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0); "><a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjUxNTc1MDQ=.html">Ei</a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><a href="http://v.youku.com/v_show/id_XNjUxNTc1MDQ=.html">nstein and Eddington: The Story of General Relativity</a></span></span></div><div><div><div><span id="fullpost"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><b><i><br /></i></b></span><br /><br /><center><object width="658" height="360"><param name="movie" value="http://www.megavideo.com/v/XZX20TUN7140129bb3186bb18924aa4877d161e6"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><embed src="http://www.megavideo.com/v/XZX20TUN7140129bb3186bb18924aa4877d161e6" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" width="658" height="360"></embed></object></center><br /></span></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-4256539292873165272009-11-26T00:05:00.000-08:002009-11-26T11:13:42.883-08:00The High Road to the Moon<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiTnBmxFJWXXj8APHHsGTY-BltZjs_WTmLcqJprWH_AA86uX5AWrY7BawR2XhCze-8-3GVSnqPigl2PDw9tC3yUES8cUO4421xnM6qAJIBGNk-gvKEEt6pEpnDwG5EQwe67ffXwD3xFaOv/s1600/BIS+1939+Moonship.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 299px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiTnBmxFJWXXj8APHHsGTY-BltZjs_WTmLcqJprWH_AA86uX5AWrY7BawR2XhCze-8-3GVSnqPigl2PDw9tC3yUES8cUO4421xnM6qAJIBGNk-gvKEEt6pEpnDwG5EQwe67ffXwD3xFaOv/s400/BIS+1939+Moonship.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406582983427120594" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiXS9yEUFaEJVb9sEOoNmteB-cnBhpQBgoORtscMDwgNugdbZxMiKCihNVN7mGC2bqRhOoxMOgVVFkMBv75iL4nEyfT1LwyYfAOl8EHLidT9Xr8XyOJM5QFsQhP4xQoMOtOTGjcTAk168/s1600-h/clarkelunartypespaceship.gif"><br /></a><b> Neil Armstrong’s one small step for [a] man was the culmination of the greatest scientific, technological and cultural advance in human history. It was indeed a giant leap for mankind. It proved, beyond any question of doubt, that humankind had taken the first evolutionary stride in becoming a multi-planetary species. While history will bear witness that July 20th, 1969 marked a technological and political victory for the United States, in its Cold War race to beat the Soviet Union to the moon, in point of fact it was also an international triumph. The tireless effort of numerous scientists, engineers and visionaries from many lands had finally come to fruition. Thirty years before this pivotal event, a group of far-sighted Brits known as the British Interplanetary Society (BIS) set forth the guidelines for such a lunar voyage. </b></div><b><br /><br /></b><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3-I06YXXFZjY66Sh6x1H5OQH_2O39dSngWneV_6G6pSTCdqvjSVYDLlnmSBOPIxDNeez82nM4YUQFl4mz07-CxEfvC57YC419hlGJAS8a1cagrj3gZqV3IeZvqBCZoe4hzUlv1Ejkdo/s1600-h/BIS_logo.gif"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088958796074920466" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhX3-I06YXXFZjY66Sh6x1H5OQH_2O39dSngWneV_6G6pSTCdqvjSVYDLlnmSBOPIxDNeez82nM4YUQFl4mz07-CxEfvC57YC419hlGJAS8a1cagrj3gZqV3IeZvqBCZoe4hzUlv1Ejkdo/s200/BIS_logo.gif" border="0" /></a><b> The British Interplanetary Society (BIS) was founded in 1933 by Mr. P.E. Cleator in the city of Liverpool. As noted by writer </b><a href="http://www.davidszondy.com/future/space/bis.htm"><b>David H. Szondy</b></a><b> it “was blessed with a fortuitous mixture of circumstances. On the one hand it boasted a membership of highly intelligent individuals with active imaginations. And on the other, English law prohibited civilian rocket experiments, which probably saved several bank accounts and quite a few limbs.” In 1937 it was decided to begin a study of a Lunar landing mission, in order to prove that such missions were possible.” The results of that study were subsequently published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society of January and July 1939.<br /></b><div align="justify"><b><br /><br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqRELqvQHRllhUASRvsxzlgf7Vtc7NievLMXLaje5EAfQeKz_yVoH6ywy45hgWBsc1GFOptPcumWFPpkGDwf4qXItSXom8vDoPf7RATeTL3EMlWK6ILpiHjPl36UnHnkKvgF3qjc1sED4/s1600-h/moonlandercutaway2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088961862681569842" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhqRELqvQHRllhUASRvsxzlgf7Vtc7NievLMXLaje5EAfQeKz_yVoH6ywy45hgWBsc1GFOptPcumWFPpkGDwf4qXItSXom8vDoPf7RATeTL3EMlWK6ILpiHjPl36UnHnkKvgF3qjc1sED4/s200/moonlandercutaway2.jpg" border="0" /></a><b> It used as its base line, the most advanced rocket technology known in Britain at the time - powdered rockets. Later in 1947 the Moonship was redesigned when German advances with liquid fuelled rockets, during the Second World War, came to light. Never the less, the original 1939 study pushed the technological envelope of what could possibly be envisaged with solid propellant. There lies the innovative beauty of this study. The rocket they designed was unprecedented in its size. It was the solid fuelled equivalent of the mighty Saturn V. Their design called for a rocket which was 100 feet tall by 20 feet in diameter and weighed more than 1,000 tonnes. Its propulsion system was comprised of six booster stages consisting of 2,490 solid fuelled rockets arranged in cellular honeycombs. </b></div><div align="justify"></div><b><br /></b><div align="justify"><b><br /></b><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJPCepRsDv6b_RRr4Q6PeCCURNLH_1_KgKbwVtf_nDuun6HD1GVoQlneOOudeyxygg_Kar3xXjvzXjJfXK5hKGW9hvC1axMxJCOYO4TjblRFkNFRT99Ej_8cI25jCRSs-Q25e4LCUEIj4/s1600-h/zbislo2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088959521924393506" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJPCepRsDv6b_RRr4Q6PeCCURNLH_1_KgKbwVtf_nDuun6HD1GVoQlneOOudeyxygg_Kar3xXjvzXjJfXK5hKGW9hvC1axMxJCOYO4TjblRFkNFRT99Ej_8cI25jCRSs-Q25e4LCUEIj4/s200/zbislo2.jpg" border="0" /></a><b> This enormous rocket was to be launched from a floating platform with the rocket itself place inside a partially submerged caisson on a high-altitude lake near the equator. Two locations considered were Lake Titicaca and Lake Victoria. The one tonne spacecraft crowning it consisted of a pressurised cabin reminiscent of the Apollo command module. Its mission was to deliver a crew of three to the lunar surface. The landing gear was very similar to that eventually used in the Apollo Lunar Module thirty years later. And, because the effects of weightlessness were unknown at the time, the BIS lunar ship was to be rotated around its major axis to create artificial gravity.<br /><br /></b><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088964203438746178" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaUQMk1BUl3jFxQ8RhYd5zao7Kk9lGjhFq5XVOpsHDGU_BAqXWxJscQcaNqK3CKL4zCmZfBq4UGVJzC7Q_1WcVewfbbTostHx7kBNO5Be5CaCLGuZUDT4PvTfABSDI-9i-WX13NlkR_vo/s200/coelostat2.jpg" border="0" /><b>In order to compensate for the ships rotation they designed an optical instrument for navigational purposes known as the Coelostat. Its function was to provide a stationary view of the heavens from within the ship.<br /><br /></b></div><div align="justify"><div align="justify"></div><b><br /><br /></b><div align="justify"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5088965874181024338" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0px 0px 10px 10px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBrf9zNhuwRdZb97HsGtuaMOoiWrseZRzrmu3dGKlYTLX3Oi2BnGA6VNmVPAhHe_3WwoSds0DWiZoFamxd3_NDzce6uKFHWz_JRLKnC33dYu_UiBTZKDlbmq-G0Fz2ZwZtsJGQabPGB4E/s200/zbisldr3.jpg" border="0" /><b>When the mission was completed the spaceship was to re-enter the earth's atmosphere and use a parachute for final descent.<br /></b><div align="justify"><b><br />One of the greatest what ifs of history is, weather or not the mission as originally conceived, could have been completed successfully. Could Great Britain have been the first to the moon? British science fiction writers Stephen Baxter and Simon Bradshaw have written such a story entitled “</b><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/sjbradshaw/baxterium/firstmoon.html"><b>First to the Moon</b></a><b>” and is one of series of stories being conceived about a possible British space program if history had only unfolded differently. The only other story written so far is “</b><a href="http://homepage.mac.com/sjbradshaw/baxterium/prospero.html"><b>Prospero One</b></a><b>”. </b></div><div align="justify"><b><br />The remarkable story behind this mission is told in wonderful book entitled “</b><a href="http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/sitesia.aspx/page/297/Node/108/l/en-us"><b>The High Road to the Moon</b></a><b>”. It contains the collected pictures of R.A. Smith with text by Bob Parkinson. Originally published in 1979, it is now available from the British Interplanetary Society on CD. </b></div><div align="justify"><b><br />Yet, Britain never became an active participant in the space race. It wasn't because of a major lack of technical know how but, a major lack of political will as outlined in the book "</b><a href="http://www.icpress.co.uk/books/histsci/p229.html"><b>A Vertical Empire</b></a><b>: The History of the UK Rocket and Space Programme, 1950-1971" by C.N. Hill.<br /></b></div><div align="justify"><b><br />ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS AND THANKS: </b></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><b><br />Many of the pictures used in this article are to be credited to Mark Wade, and his very informative website </b><a href="http://www.astronautix.com/craft/bisander.htm"><b>Encyclopedia Astronautica </b></a><b>and the late R.A. Smith of the </b><a href="http://www.bis-spaceflight.com/"><b>British Interplanetary Society</b></a><b>. </b></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><b><br />Finally, I would like to dedicate this article to the original BIS Moonship design team led by J Happian Edwards and which included: H Bramhill (draftsman), Arthur C Clarke (astronomer), A V Cleaver (aircraft engineer), M K Hanson (mathematician), Arthur Hanser (chemist), S Klemantski (biologist), HE Ross (electrical engineer), and R A Smith (turbine engineer). Their pioneering work eventually paved the way for the voyages of Apollo. </b></div><div align="justify"><b><br /></b></div><div align="justify"><b><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: 800;"><i>Author’s Note: My own personal blog site “Cosmic Visions” has lain fallow as of late and I felt it was appropriate to make good use of it by posting some of the articles I wrote in the past for the Discovery Enterprise Blog site. I wrote this article back in July 2007 to commemorate the thirty eighth anniversary of the first manned Moon Landing by the crew of Apollo 11. The picture of the British Interplanetary Moonship on the lunar surface was provided through the kind generosity of space artist </i><a href="http://www.hardyart.demon.co.uk/html/main.html"><i>David A. Hardy</i></a><i>. Be sure to visit the </i><a href="http://www.hardyart.demon.co.uk/pages-video/video1.html"><i>new video page</i></a><i> featuring stunning videos of David A. Hardy in action as he paints his cosmic masterpieces.</i></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p></b></div><div align="justify"><b><br /></b></div><div align="justify"><b><br /></b></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"></div><br /><br /><div align="justify"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkcpCxTERzGbyhz5CCuje_IHgfsDjdoVQKif48PZ33ES0fxZsnoTMfSGqL10lxzNLCaChe1pTAXgQ1nioHiA9MjWf9CNn0xS6DW4-cXx9jj-x5UO1lIOTxzaIplPf5hX_yqYukwpkd5Vw/s1600-h/BIS_logo.gif"></a></div></div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-8348884946816692009-11-25T00:05:00.002-08:002009-11-25T00:05:00.321-08:00Double Helix the DNA Years<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja0D0bSnVr8VBHqPEJ5RedFGn3oD1ir8ybu6Iorp-06u35xjVy-6lkrGEaqtacMXJ-EIekCm8qL2qntvsFM2NbXuie4k0fk4TtBHEjV-KLWA-B_Yrbk27R1urZMsSiMJ5wurDnxn3n0yOd/s1600/double_helix.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 214px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja0D0bSnVr8VBHqPEJ5RedFGn3oD1ir8ybu6Iorp-06u35xjVy-6lkrGEaqtacMXJ-EIekCm8qL2qntvsFM2NbXuie4k0fk4TtBHEjV-KLWA-B_Yrbk27R1urZMsSiMJ5wurDnxn3n0yOd/s320/double_helix.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406621050985620658" /></a><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Today on Cosmic Visions we proudly present the documentary series "<span lang="EN">Double Helix the DNA Years” </span>which is a fascinating and exciting chronicle of the search for the secret of heredity. <o:p></o:p></p><br /><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:-webkit-xxx-large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:-webkit-xxx-large;"><i><br /></i></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" align="center" style="text-align: center;"><span lang="EN"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">Double Helix the DNA Years</span></span></i></span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/DD39E0DEF2BCBFEC&hl=en_GB&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/DD39E0DEF2BCBFEC&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-71164025468650263512009-11-24T00:05:00.000-08:002010-07-14T06:20:42.143-07:00Darwin's Struggle - The Evolution of the Origin of Species<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwmCP_jxVTDncmS5z8wAAXw7jQzVp2xc2HZcBAc419vqoAuzqWLsIEzPhSHvwKODPLPUGy41DX3wjsOjdD0QEk1Lmp2kCJ4xKyDYMEhpZRnJ_lVX3PuXsJkD3u6lg3LIfZJ0xn5hMw717a/s1600/charles_darwin_by_g_richmond1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 212px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwmCP_jxVTDncmS5z8wAAXw7jQzVp2xc2HZcBAc419vqoAuzqWLsIEzPhSHvwKODPLPUGy41DX3wjsOjdD0QEk1Lmp2kCJ4xKyDYMEhpZRnJ_lVX3PuXsJkD3u6lg3LIfZJ0xn5hMw717a/s320/charles_darwin_by_g_richmond1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406597525787439394" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#0000EE;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="text-decoration: underline;"><br /></span></span></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB"></span></b></p><blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><i><b>It is interesting to contemplate an entangled bank, clothed with many plants of many kinds, with birds singing on the bushes, with various insects flitting about, and with worms crawling through the damp earth, and to reflect that these elaborately constructed forms, so different from each other, and dependent on each other in so complex a manner, have all been produced by laws acting around us. These laws, taken in the largest sense, being Growth with Reproduction; Inheritance which is almost implied by reproduction; Variability from the indirect and direct action of the external conditions of life, and from use and disuse; a Ratio of Increase so high as to lead to a Struggle for Life, and as a consequence to Natural Selection, entailing Divergence of Character and the Extinction of less-improved forms. Thus, from the war of nature, from famine and death, the most exalted object which we are capable of conceiving, namely, the production of the higher animals, directly follows. There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved.</b></i><i><b><o:p></o:p></b></i></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><o:p><i><b> </b></i></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span lang="EN-GB"><i><b>--Charles Darwin, On the origin of species by means of natural selection, or the preservation of favoured races in the struggle for life. </b></i><st1:city st="on"><st1:place st="on"><i><b>London</b></i></st1:place></st1:city><i><b>: John Murray. [1st edition] published November 24, 1859</b></i></span></p></blockquote><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="mso-bidi-;font-size:16.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></b></p><span id="fullpost"><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold; ">Today on Cosmic Visions we commemorate the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Charles Darwin’s landmark book “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life” with the wonderful BBC documentary “Darwin's Struggle - The Evolution of the Origin of Species.”</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><b><div style="text-align: justify;">This stunning documentary tells the little-known story of how Darwin came to write his great masterpiece.</div></b><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species">On the Origin of Species</a>, is a book which explains the wonderful variety of life as emerging out of death and the struggle of existence by means of a process he called Natural Selection.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Natural selection is the processes by which heritable traits that make it more likely for an organism to survive and successfully reproduce to become more common in a population over successive generations. It is a key mechanism of evolution.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>In the twenty years he took to develop this brilliant idea into a revolutionary book, Darwin went through a personal struggle every bit as turbulent as that of the natural world he observed. Fortunately, he left us an extraordinary record of his brilliant insights, observations of nature, and touching expressions of love and affection for those around him.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Darwin also wrote frank accounts of family tragedies, physical illnesses and moments of self-doubt, as he laboured towards publication of the book that would change the way we see the world. The story is told with the benefit of Darwin's secret notes and correspondence, enhanced by natural history filming, powerful imagery from the time and contributions from leading contemporary biographers and scientists.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Author's Note: The complete works of Charles Darwin, including the first edition of On the Origin of Species, are available <a href="http://darwin-online.org.uk/">online</a> for your reading pleasure.</b></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><o:p></o:p></span></p><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><br /><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style=" ;font-size:large;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Darwin's Struggle - The Evolution of the Origin of Species</span></i></span></b><br /><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/F7494E9D397C3B9C&hl=en_GB&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/F7494E9D397C3B9C&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-55564601780906905402009-11-22T00:05:00.000-08:002009-11-22T00:05:00.262-08:00The Voyage of Charles Darwin Episodes Two and Three<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdbEdbGrPM81E5Tl9LIO1optyjJr4UerLDi_C1dxTgnkQwxziPgWGj_kZcI9xagwiUpsEKnWvbdmHcR_F2-jAWZGvJUoMMnBHGH6Yt8hZYgEoVrCVBrGsKA9GqGj20PSahavDtU_aaNM6/s1600/beagalap339.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 299px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjdbEdbGrPM81E5Tl9LIO1optyjJr4UerLDi_C1dxTgnkQwxziPgWGj_kZcI9xagwiUpsEKnWvbdmHcR_F2-jAWZGvJUoMMnBHGH6Yt8hZYgEoVrCVBrGsKA9GqGj20PSahavDtU_aaNM6/s320/beagalap339.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406580391013515506" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tuesday November 24th, 2009 marks the hundred fiftieth anniversary of Charles Darwin’s publication of his master work “On the Origin of Species”. Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our commemoration of the bicentennial of Charles Darwin’s birth and his life and achievements by joining him on his historic five year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle with the second and third installments of the wonderful television series “The Voyage of Charles Darwin” produced by the BBC in 1978.</b></div><span id="fullpost"><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><br /></span></i></span></span><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><i><br /></i></span></div><div><span id="fullpost"><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Voyage of Charles Darwin - Episode 2</span></b></span></i><br /><br /><center><object width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayer" name="veohFlashPlayer"><param name="movie" value="http://www.veoh.com/static/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.4.6.1007&permalinkId=v15591480T6GK84q3&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.veoh.com/static/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.4.6.1007&permalinkId=v15591480T6GK84q3&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayerEmbed" name="veohFlashPlayerEmbed"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Watch <a href="http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational/watch/v15591480T6GK84q3">The Voyage of Charles Darwin (Episode 2)</a> in <a href="http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational">Educational</a> | View More <a href="http://www.veoh.com/">Free Videos Online at Veoh.com</a></span></center><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><i><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">The Voyage of Charles Darwin - Episode 3</span></b></i></span><br /><br /><center><object width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayer" name="veohFlashPlayer"><param name="movie" value="http://www.veoh.com/static/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.4.6.1007&permalinkId=v15591687z7QTGhY2&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.veoh.com/static/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.4.6.1007&permalinkId=v15591687z7QTGhY2&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayerEmbed" name="veohFlashPlayerEmbed"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Watch <a href="http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational/watch/v15591687z7QTGhY2">The Voyage of Charles Darwin (Episode 3)</a> in <a href="http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational">Educational</a> | View More <a href="http://www.veoh.com/">Free Videos Online at Veoh.com</a></span></center><br /><br /></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-52606016659177312902009-11-21T02:54:00.000-08:002009-11-21T07:35:35.724-08:00The Voyage of Charles Darwin - Episode 1<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim34tdPfWMgTMRqiIP8mxioSG93NbLNo1rhgi3TEwbKSW6IkWcAaHNejYevLP_0M6VDsrsnpt_PmO3d4cXAZMzM-8QCUpGdpe-9ZTRpAGxhyphenhyphenUOqkqUo4R5C6jxUkL1cG_pAgMneSuw0EY/s1600-h/The+Voyage+of+Charles+DarwinMap.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 289px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEim34tdPfWMgTMRqiIP8mxioSG93NbLNo1rhgi3TEwbKSW6IkWcAaHNejYevLP_0M6VDsrsnpt_PmO3d4cXAZMzM-8QCUpGdpe-9ZTRpAGxhyphenhyphenUOqkqUo4R5C6jxUkL1cG_pAgMneSuw0EY/s400/The+Voyage+of+Charles+DarwinMap.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5404454119806644258" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Tuesday November 24th, 2009 marks the hundred fiftieth anniversary of Charles Darwin’s publication of his master work “On the Origin of Species”. Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and achievements of Charles Darwin by joining him on his historic five year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle in this wonderful television series produced by the BBC in 1978.</b></div><span id="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Darwin’s five year voyage aboard the HMS Beagle was an odyssey through time as well as space for it led Darwin to discover the principle mechanism that has shaped and sculpted every life form that has graced our world across the eons of life’s existence on our planet.</b></div><br /><br /><b><i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">The Voyage of Charles Darwin - Episode 1</span></span></i></b><br /><br /><center><object width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayer" name="veohFlashPlayer"><param name="movie" value="http://www.veoh.com/static/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.4.5.1008&permalinkId=v155943496Dxrhp9S&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.veoh.com/static/swf/webplayer/WebPlayer.swf?version=AFrontend.5.4.5.1008&permalinkId=v155943496Dxrhp9S&player=videodetailsembedded&videoAutoPlay=0&id=anonymous" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="410" height="341" id="veohFlashPlayerEmbed" name="veohFlashPlayerEmbed"></embed></object><br /><span style="font-size:78%;">Watch <a href="http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational/watch/v155943496Dxrhp9S">The Voyage of Charles Darwin (Episode 1)</a> in <a href="http://www.veoh.com/browse/videos/category/educational">Educational</a> | View More <a href="http://www.veoh.com/">Free Videos Online at Veoh.com</a></span></center><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-47703587365779662782009-11-06T00:05:00.000-08:002009-11-21T03:04:11.400-08:00The Real Neanderthal Man<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM4dvHRbPhzvBqZnIG_gSQTXfVFTZfACU0ZtOTib2AwJUjm8_R81bvW8tFDE3h4JR70EhQ8UyTH55QNHHnQigUDcod6L4bmwaojnxAFKFhTffvD6vetxOODNOF5xfs-zIImdokkRqhcv4/s1600-h/The+Real+Neanderthal+Man2.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 167px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhM4dvHRbPhzvBqZnIG_gSQTXfVFTZfACU0ZtOTib2AwJUjm8_R81bvW8tFDE3h4JR70EhQ8UyTH55QNHHnQigUDcod6L4bmwaojnxAFKFhTffvD6vetxOODNOF5xfs-zIImdokkRqhcv4/s200/The+Real+Neanderthal+Man2.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5396616204351794754" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Today on Cosmic visions we will take a journey through time and visit Europe during the last ice age and encounter a remarkable group of people. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Some forty two thousand years ago, the only living humans in Europe made clothes, educated their young, made tools. But they were not us. Now twenty first century science can reveal exactly how they lived, the dangers they faced and the communities they made in the Neander valley of Germany.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><span id="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>In 1856, two workers found sixteen bones in a limestone quarry in the Neander Valley, east of Düsseldorf. It was originally thought the bones belonged to a cave bear, but they were subsequently found to be the remains of an early human quite distinct and different from our own species.</b></div><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Now more than <a href="http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,,2135966,00.html">one hundred and fifty years after their discovery</a> these bones along with recently discovered bone fragments associated with the original fossil finds reveal some remarkable details concerning the life of this individual. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">And, with the aid of DNA samples recovered from the original fossils we are beginning to build a genetic library that will shed light on how closely related the Neanderthal<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>species was to our own. This genetic research poses another outstanding possibility. Could we one day resurrect this individual and his contemporaries by </b><b><a href="http://www.slate.com/id/2205310/">cloning them</a></b><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">? <o:p></o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal"><o:p> </o:p></b></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal">These and other recent discoveries paint a totally different and more humane portrait concerning this man and his contemporaries. A portrait that highlights some remarkable facts concerning Neanderthal man’s tool manufacturing technology, his social organization and his spiritual beliefs. <o:p></o:p></b></p></b></div><br /><br /><center><p style="text-align: center;"><br /><object width="550" height="346" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" data="http://en.sevenload.com/pl/p5UvcQE/550x346/swf"><br /><param name="allowFullscreen" value="true"><br /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"><br /><param name="movie" value="http://en.sevenload.com/pl/p5UvcQE/550x346/swf"><br /></object></p></center><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-77706946766740562472009-10-03T00:05:00.000-07:002010-07-14T06:17:12.031-07:00What Darwin Didn't Know<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3CDwCrEZhmk8xcUS4Na7KIqzDreHPkCFnj2RlCT_FPklOWt6prEx7G-mXBcWWQf3zGpb-Hs4xnuEss9QrYpxx5I-0sSwILxB1yTS1kn7aF1Aj270hmXTsN_BlXk3G4ILA5IPRWm6JwY/s1600-h/Charles-Darwin-1859.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 238px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgd3CDwCrEZhmk8xcUS4Na7KIqzDreHPkCFnj2RlCT_FPklOWt6prEx7G-mXBcWWQf3zGpb-Hs4xnuEss9QrYpxx5I-0sSwILxB1yTS1kn7aF1Aj270hmXTsN_BlXk3G4ILA5IPRWm6JwY/s320/Charles-Darwin-1859.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5387686774949037538" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>A hundred and fifty years ago Charles Darwin published his master work on the origin of species. His explanation of the why there is so much diversity of life on Earth was so seductive, and so simple that it seems obvious today.</b></div><span id="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Anyone who is serious about science takes evolution for granted. But it's extraordinary that we do, because Darwin's theory was riddled with holes. It contained, as he freely admitted, much speculation and yet he had no doubt that future generations would complete his work and demonstrate the essential truth of his vision, and for a hundred and fifty years that is what scientist have been doing.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Now as we approach the one hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the publication of Darwin’s seminal work “<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_the_Origin_of_Species">On the Origin of Species</a>” on 24th November, 1859, twenty-first century science is providing the evidence to fill the holes in Darwin’s theory of evolution by natural selection. The evolution of life on Earth is no longer a matter of speculation but a well supported fact.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">What Darwin Didn't Know</span></span></b></div><br /><center><object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/D6E36490311BC403&hl=en_GB&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/D6E36490311BC403&hl=en_GB&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></center><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-20434029196916370152009-08-26T00:05:00.000-07:002010-05-02T07:53:16.916-07:00Evolution - What about GOD?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRpze_YqHzSuGJkxnRPzBn0TmrzkIXSechuUbWv4pQt-Ho_sQq7hFhyphenhyphenZeE9Hz2hh63mYZOlWV9aLFyF09ytOyoqEym1P9euX83NJgu4WJOLELgbSMGn91VxlFwZDUsEAX2yOg6r7CJlN2c/s1600/william-blake1.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRpze_YqHzSuGJkxnRPzBn0TmrzkIXSechuUbWv4pQt-Ho_sQq7hFhyphenhyphenZeE9Hz2hh63mYZOlWV9aLFyF09ytOyoqEym1P9euX83NJgu4WJOLELgbSMGn91VxlFwZDUsEAX2yOg6r7CJlN2c/s320/william-blake1.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5463049321251296434" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Of all species, we alone attempt to explain who we are and how we came to be. This final show explores the struggle between science and religion. Through the personal stories of students and teachers, it offers the view that they are compatible. </b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Today join us on Cosmic Visions as we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of Charles Darwin and explore the conflict between Science and Faith with the last installment of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” – What about God?</b></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">Evolution - What about GOD?</span></b></span><br /><br /><center><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-8868710003807845640&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> </center>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-87789122811152963222009-06-03T00:05:00.000-07:002010-04-22T12:30:08.067-07:00Evolution - The Mind’s Big Bang<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnRK2FeplptY9icEisfLvyaHbFV0ustHKfep4ihyphenhyphengkQ5y7CGEWUMSTleWeGR3RMR9ZGXkr8Y_ZIgBSKA1eiY6WK9sSdso1MKdOIPkicayIY8xgNtkoxV3wfO75qq-wmYCmIsKats750HE/s1600-h/Transcendent++Mind.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 171px; height: 200px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnRK2FeplptY9icEisfLvyaHbFV0ustHKfep4ihyphenhyphengkQ5y7CGEWUMSTleWeGR3RMR9ZGXkr8Y_ZIgBSKA1eiY6WK9sSdso1MKdOIPkicayIY8xgNtkoxV3wfO75qq-wmYCmIsKats750HE/s200/Transcendent++Mind.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5343143001261506066" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">How and when the human mind emerged is the most profound question facing science today. The appearance of human sentience has transformed the landscape of our planet and has propelled evolution into realms which transcend the very limitations of genetics. What forces contributed to this breakthrough? Where might the power of the human mind and intellect ultimately lead humanity?</span><br /></div><span id="fullpost"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">The human mind has allowed the human species to transcend its physical limitations and has made humankind pioneers of a whole new form of evolution which is distinctly non-biological. This new realm of evolution is Cultural Evolution. It is this new dominion of evolution that has made us the most dominant life form on this planet and has set us on a trajectory that will one day take us out amongst the stars. What then? How will the human intellect continue to evolve amyst the starry ferment?</span><br /></div><br /><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;">Today join us Cosmic Visions as we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of Charles Darwin and explore the origins of the human mind and human consciousness with the sixth installment of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” – The Mind’s Big Bang. </span><br /></div><br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-weight: bold;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: rgb(255, 0, 0);">Evolution - The Mind’s Big Bang</span></span><br /><br /><center><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-7000929389205786708&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></center><br /><br /><br /><br /></span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-70875578763690975842009-05-29T00:05:00.000-07:002010-04-22T12:23:28.944-07:00Evolution - The Sexual Revolution<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj52uSkiwPV03kvugNhBOB2iK-q9egzHTxnXBm6q74GzpG7EqH3F6TWB7pjcyLkgv7EoBSKc-HhfjLGY6QbKmhBdDFImAZLOBztq5LerFtnoWaBxiYF22zj2taoVHdTUY7qNZLhbRYRzvY/s1600-h/sex-evolution-how_65.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5341498775277097314" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 190px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj52uSkiwPV03kvugNhBOB2iK-q9egzHTxnXBm6q74GzpG7EqH3F6TWB7pjcyLkgv7EoBSKc-HhfjLGY6QbKmhBdDFImAZLOBztq5LerFtnoWaBxiYF22zj2taoVHdTUY7qNZLhbRYRzvY/s200/sex-evolution-how_65.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><strong>The sexual revolution did not begin in the 1960s with flower power or with the slogan “make love and not war”. The vanguard of the sexual revolution weren’t the hippies who “wore flowers in their hair” that Scott McKenzie immortalized in his generational anthem, "San Francisco (Be Sure To Wear Flowers In Your Hair)". Rather sex can trace its humble beginnings to the true pioneers of the Sexual Revolution - the cyanobacteria and other eukaryotes at the dawn of evolutionary history.<br /><br />The advent of sex may not have begun with the first micro orgasm but, it was no less earth moving.<br /></strong><span id="fullpost"><br /><strong>With advent of sexual reproduction, some one and half billion years ago, life on Earth took a major evolutionary leap. Until then evolution was agonizingly slow. Before life stumbled on sex as a reproductive strategy new varieties of organisms could only arise from the accumulation of random mutations - the selection of a few typographical errors, letter by letter, in life’s genetic code. With the invention of sex, two organisms could now exchange whole paragraphs, pages and books of their DNA code, and thus evolution could proceed at a faster pace.<br /><br />In evolutionary terms, sex is more important than life itself. Sex fuels evolutionary change by adding variation to the gene pool. The powerful urge to pass our genes on to the next generation has likely changed the face of human culture in ways we are only now beginning to fully understand.<br /><br />Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of the naturalist Charles Darwin and the epic story of life on Earth with the fifth installment of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” – Why Sex.<br /><br /><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;">Evolution – Why Sex</span></span><br /><br /><center><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=8590222764542986609&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> </center><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-1192029363941405812009-04-14T00:05:00.000-07:002010-04-22T12:14:02.100-07:00Evolution - red in tooth and claw<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmw6Lsgb1LsInR2iEX7g6Mge2I4iWDI4DQ1Im5Q1x8xUae3R2gzEfEtyzWbvBviKbVJRMOp7Dl7IWteu6R8nnbV9m6COORz82-y25kZwdlmvod4NT8HVLQFWAn7ajhVu88aCosRombpEo/s1600-h/Nature_Red_in_Nail_and_Claw.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5326349884593351474" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 200px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 150px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmw6Lsgb1LsInR2iEX7g6Mge2I4iWDI4DQ1Im5Q1x8xUae3R2gzEfEtyzWbvBviKbVJRMOp7Dl7IWteu6R8nnbV9m6COORz82-y25kZwdlmvod4NT8HVLQFWAn7ajhVu88aCosRombpEo/s200/Nature_Red_in_Nail_and_Claw.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div align="justify"><b>Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of the naturalist Charles Darwin with the fourth episode of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” - Evolutionary Arms Race.<br /><br />When we consider the evolutionary history of life on Earth, the following famous adage comes to mind:</b><br /><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:large;">“Nature, red in tooth and claw”</span></b><br /></span><br /><br /><span id="fullpost"><br />I always wondered if it was indeed Charles Darwin himself who penned this famous phrase. A little research through the pages of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_Memoriam_A.H.H.">Wikipedia</a> and The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, 3rd edition provided the answer.<br /><br />Man...<br />Who trusted God was love indeed<br />And love Creation's final law --<br />Tho' Nature, red in tooth and claw<br />With ravine, shrieked against his creed.<br />--Alfred, Lord Tennyson<br /><br /><br />These words were penned by the English poet Alfred, Lord Tennyson in his poem “In Memoriam A.H.H.” and this quote comes from a group of cantos entitled, "In Memorium A.H.H." (1850). This quote comes from canto LVI, and the entire work written over a period of 17 years and completed in 1849. <em><strong>It is a requiem for the poet's Cambridge friend Arthur Henry Hallam, who died suddenly of a cerebral haemorrhage in Vienna in 1833, but it is also much more. It can be seen as reflective of Victorian society at the time, and the poem discusses many of the issues that were beginning to be questioned. It is the work in which Tennyson reaches his highest musical peaks and his poetic experience comes full circle. It is regarded as one of the greatest poems of the 19th century.<br /></strong></em><br /><br /><em><strong>The original title of the poem was "The Way of the Soul", and this might give an idea of how the poem is an account of all Tennyson's thoughts and feelings as he copes with his grief over such a long period - including wrestling with the big scientific-philosophical questions of his day. It is perhaps because of this that the poem is still popular with and of interest to modern readers. Owing to its length and its arguable breadth of focus, the poem might not be thought an elegy or a dirge in the strictest formal sense.<br /></strong></em><br /><em><strong>In writing the poem, Tennyson was influenced by the ideas of evolution presented in Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation which had been published in 1844, and had caused a storm of controversy about the theological implications of impersonal nature functioning without direct divine intervention. The fundamentalist idea of unquestioning belief in revealed truth taken from a literal interpretation of the Bible was already in conflict with the findings of science, and Tennyson expressed the difficulties evolution raised for faith in "the truths that never can be proved".<br /><br />Are God and Nature then at strife,<br />That Nature lends such evil dreams?<br />So careful of the type she seems,<br />So careless of the single life;<br />That I, considering everywhere<br />Her secret meaning in her deeds,<br />And finding that of fifty seeds<br />She often brings but one to bear,<br />I falter where I firmly trod,<br />And falling with my weight of cares<br />Upon the great world's altar-stairs<br />That slope thro' darkness up to God,<br />I stretch lame hands of faith, and grope,<br />And gather dust and chaff, and call<br />To what I feel is Lord of all,<br />And faintly trust the larger hope.<br /><br /></strong></em><br /><strong><em>This poem was published before Charles Darwin made his theory public in 1859. However, the phrase "Nature, red in tooth and claw" in canto 56 quickly was adopted by others as a phrase that evokes the process of natural selection. It was and is used by both those opposed to and in favour of the theory of evolution.<br /></em></strong><br /><strong><span style="color:#ff0000;">“Nature, red in tooth and claw”</span><br /></strong><br /><b>This famous quote has come to symbolise the very essence of the evolutionary struggle as outlined by Darwin’s theory of evolution by means of Natural Selection. But, is that all evolution is? Is it just an unending struggle for survival? How about cooperation? Does this play a role in evolution? Has the entire biosphere of our planet evolved into a super-organism as </b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lovelock"><b>James Edward Lovelock</b></a><b> outlined in his </b><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaia_hypothesis"><b>GAIA hypothesis</b></a><b>?<br /></b><br /><br /><br /><b>Both survival of the fittest and cooperation are essential interactions between and within species and are both amongst the most powerful evolutionary forces on Earth, and understanding them may be a key to our own survival. Which aspect of our own human innate nature, raw competition or cooperation, prevails may determine our planet’s and our own long term future.</b><br /><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;"><b><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size:x-large;">Evolution - Evolutionary Arms Race</span></b></span><br /><br /><br /><center><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=7293185927768983820&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> </center><br /><br /><br /><br /></span></div><div align="justify"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-36862642013567406232009-04-12T00:05:00.000-07:002010-04-22T11:57:38.337-07:00Evolution - Extinction<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaDpSzQoH6fb5a3-GxAT4YInaqhwe3c-NTeG4kn-WmLXyyjWqvJryitvsqke1GWj_AZgez8H6rw1sncAIBk__NK65mwB0UivT5rmj7wcs8nCQ7B-tlGhbEolJOfGOHdPdS7_zj4kvNhY/s1600-h/Extinction.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5323530453323759250" style="DISPLAY: block; MARGIN: 0px auto 10px; WIDTH: 320px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 166px; TEXT-ALIGN: center" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOaDpSzQoH6fb5a3-GxAT4YInaqhwe3c-NTeG4kn-WmLXyyjWqvJryitvsqke1GWj_AZgez8H6rw1sncAIBk__NK65mwB0UivT5rmj7wcs8nCQ7B-tlGhbEolJOfGOHdPdS7_zj4kvNhY/s320/Extinction.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div align="justify"><strong>Today on Cosmic Visions we continue our year long celebration of the life and work of the naturalist Charles Darwin with the third episode of the landmark PBS television series “Evolution” - Extinction.<br /><br />Far more life forms have existed on Earth than grace the skies, oceans and land masses of our beautiful blue and green planet in our current epoch. Ninety-nine percent of all the creatures that have ever existed have gone extinct. What does fate have in store for the human species? What are our own evolutionary prospects?<br /></strong><span id="fullpost"><br /><strong>As Carl Sagan wrote in his monumental book "Cosmos":<br /><br /><br />"The fossil record speaks to us unambiguously of creatures that once were present in enormous numbers and that have now vanished utterly.* Far more species have become extinct in the history of the Earth than exist today; they are the terminated experiments of evolution".<br /><br />Natural selection has shaped and sculpted an incredible life form that appears to be able to adapt to life in every conceivable ecological niche. A life form that is on the verge in directing the course of its own evolutionary future and that of the other life forms that share this planet with us. And, that life form is us – Homo sapiens.<br /><br />We are the pioneers of a whole new form of evolution which is distinctly non-biological. This new realm of evolution is Cultural Evolution. It is this new dominion of evolution that has made us the most dominant life form on this planet and has set us on a trajectory that will one day take us out amongst the stars or lead to our own demise.<br /><br /><br />Five mass extinctions have occurred since life began on Earth. Are humans causing the next mass extinction? And what does evolutionary theory predict for the world we will leave to our descendants?<br /><br /><br />We will explore these and further questions in future editions of Discovery-Enterprise.</strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span id="fullpost"><strong><br /></strong></span></div><div align="justify"><span id="fullpost"><strong><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color:#FF0000;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-large;">Evolution - Extinction</span></span><br /><br /><center><embed id="VideoPlayback" src="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=3096294419966875944&hl=en&fs=true" style="width:400px;height:326px" allowfullscreen="true" allowscriptaccess="always" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed> </center><br /><br /></strong></span></div><strong></strong>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2637505165461423467.post-89739279645834506962009-03-19T05:05:00.000-07:002009-03-19T05:14:16.923-07:00Arthur C Clarke:The Man Who Saw The Future<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrjMzZZidEpYslt1CqkIiCGQrGQxCqF2f_yfi-SWYvJIRDjp2TxDwIyB2kakD6O8CtNACVXWH0yItdSxhZgeAn8DflUgiVuqPrYt2rcS5N9mhDDGFfFFBIptj51570tmhOmctkY0-vEg/s1600-h/36900909.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5314778390831664978" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; WIDTH: 245px; CURSOR: hand; HEIGHT: 320px" alt="" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSrjMzZZidEpYslt1CqkIiCGQrGQxCqF2f_yfi-SWYvJIRDjp2TxDwIyB2kakD6O8CtNACVXWH0yItdSxhZgeAn8DflUgiVuqPrYt2rcS5N9mhDDGFfFFBIptj51570tmhOmctkY0-vEg/s320/36900909.jpg" border="0" /></a><br /><div><div align="justify"><strong>It was one year ago today that Arthur C. Clarke went on his final odyssey into the infinite. Today on Cosmic Visions we would like to pay homage to the Man who inspired three generations of men and women to pursue careers in science and space with his visionary writings.<br /></strong><span id="fullpost"><br /><strong>Sir Arthur was and will always remain the…….<br /></strong><br /><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Man Who Saw the Future</span><br /><br /><strong>Referred to as a genius, this one man think tank is considered the ultimate futurist by his devoted fans. How is it that Clarke's views of the future, as described in his many novels, have often become very present realities, such as videophones, laptop computers, E-mail, the space shuttle and cloning? One thing is for sure, Arthur C. Clarke is one of the most celebrated science fiction authors of our time. His novels 2001: A Space Odyssey and most recently 3001: The Final Odyssey, as well as more than 60 other titles have inspired generations of people, propelling us into the future, setting our minds free to explore.<br /><br /></div><center><object height="385" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/p/32C71D91DC18653B&hl=en"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/p/32C71D91DC18653B&hl=en" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="480" height="385"></embed></object></center><div align="justify"><br />You can purchase this wonderful documentary from <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Arthur-C-Clarke-Man-Future/dp/B000G1ALIY/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1237446327&sr=8-2">AMAZON.COM</a></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify">And, for your viewing pleasure and in order to honour Clarke’s contributions to the genre of science fiction we have:</div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"></div><div align="justify"><span style="color:#ff0000;">The Martians and Us -From Apes to Aliens Episode 1.<br /></span><br />A series about the history of British science fiction. This edition looks at our relationship with aliens, from Wells' invading Martians to the Daleks, via 2001: A Space Odyssey, the Midwich Cuckoos, and the Mekon. It also explores the genre's preoccupation with the big questions of evolution, and includes interviews with Arthur C Clarke, Brian Aldiss, Doris Lessing and Steve Jones.<br /><br /><center><object height="295" width="480"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/p2cavuNZX9c&hl=en&fs=1"><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/p2cavuNZX9c&hl=en&fs=1" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="295"></embed></object></center><br /><br /><br /><br /></strong></div></span></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635359150114513605noreply@blogger.com