BALANCE of CULTURE

Ancient Chinese and Greeks Look Up

I grew up studying the night sky through my little telescope, so this astronomy comparison between the ancient Greeks and Chinese is highly entertaining and intriguing. Both cultures probably wondered if and how others were interpreting these celestial bodies, not knowing that parallel civilizations were documenting the same scenes from opposite ends of the planet. 

The night sky according to the Greeks, from about 1850 years ago:

The same night sky according to the Chinese, from about 2100 years ago:

Love the names for the Milky Way belt: "Spilled breastmilk" (Greek) vs. "The Silver River" (Chinese)…

Close Encounter this Halloween Week

We're getting a stargazing treat this week: look in the eastern sky about 3 hours after sunset tomorrow to see Jupiter rising in close proximity to the moon, surrounded by the Pleiades and the Hyades.

Happy Halloween from Silver Lake!

Butterflies Already Show Fukushima Effects

Disfigured eyes, antennas, and wings…Researchers have found dozens of mutated butterflies near Fukushima, Japan. They believe this is some of the first signs of ecosystem damage, but what's even worse is how the mutations have apparently increased with time in adult butterflies and increase even more in their offspring. Very sad and scary! Hope the Japanese government doesn't downplay this too much.

Help Protect Our Cetaceans

I'm so sick and saddened of humans messing with our amazing aquatic mammals…the US Navy's underwater sounds system will kill 1,800 whales and dolphins and deafen 15,900 more of these marine mammals. This move is totally disgusting and contradicts the Helsinki Group's Declaration of Rights for Cetaceans. Please take a moment to help stop this program today! 

Protect Oahu

Venus Transit Today

Hawai'i is evidently the premier spot on the planet for viewing today's Venus transit! Starts this afternoon. For those on the Big Island, Keck Observatory will be hosting a viewing that's sure to be epic--starts at 3:10 pm Hawaiian Standard Time. You can also stream it live through the observatory here!

Hawai'i loses a species

Goodbye, little ones..

It's World Water Day today, a day to think about how we consume water in terms of global sustainability. I consider clean water access to be directly correlated to climate change so it was sad news to learn that the copper striped blue-tailed skink (Emoia impair), a native Hawaiian lizard species, has just been declared extinct by the United States Geological Survey.

"No other landscape in these United States has been more impacted by extinction events and species invasions in historic times than the Hawaiian Islands, with as yet unknown long-term cascading consequences to the ecosystem. Today we close the book on one more animal that is unlikely to ever be re-established in this fragile island home," states Marcia McNutt, a U.S. Geological Survey director.

The Emoia impair was last seen on Kauai about 40 years ago which means it may be a victim of "cryptic extinction," which is when a species is confused with another similar one so that their extinction isn't noticed until well after they have disappeared.

Related: My Huffington Post piece on climate change and clean water access in Tanzania.

Our Perceptions of Art & Beauty

From "How Does the Brain Perceive Art?"

We want to believe that pleasure is simple, that our delight in a fine painting or bottle of wine is due entirely to the thing itself. But that’s not the way reality works. Whenever we experience anything, that experience is shaped by factors and beliefs that are not visible on the canvas or present in the glass. Even the most exquisite works in the world — and what is more exceptional than a Rembrandt portrait? — still require a little mental help. We only see the beauty because we are looking for it.

Dissatisfied with nonanswers

"We are all atheists about most of the gods that societies have ever believed in. Some of us just go one god further."

I know he isn't considered the most "hardcore" in the science world any more (mainstream success tends to eliminate such attributes whether warranted or not), but Richard Dawkins is still one of the world's most important voices in our collective dialogue on god, religion, atheism and evolution.

The Big Picture

Buzz Aldrin on the moon, 1969 (photo taken by Neil Armstrong)

As a little girl in the late 80s I received a telescope for a birthday gift from my family. It was my most treasured possession for years, so thinking about NASA without its space shuttle program literally gives me the spooks. Today is a very sad day for many, as Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center on its 135th and last mission to the International Space Station. Though the 30-year program has officially ended, it's merely semi-comforting to know that NASA is still looking forward to future projects and trying to stay positive.

I know that human shuttles are not the only element to space exploration but the lack of an actual commitment to the scientific quest for knowledge, once commonplace, seems to have somehow eroded in the minds of many Americans. Although American citizens still want the US to ultimately dominate space exploration, one doesn't need a CNN poll to recognize that those numbers are significantly down from earlier decades.

The broad "dumbing down" of our educational system has a lot to do with this. The masses may understand how to operate their iPhones, but unfortunately this doesn't mean they have much solid understanding of technology -- the people who created and built the iPhones are the ones with that knowledge. I really believe that even with so many useful tech gadgets consumed, many people fail to recognize that these things were built for laymen. That's why they're easy to use!

As a critical realist I see a pretty creepy correlation between the pseudo-confidence from the advent of the tech/design social boom and a common attitude of dismissal towards actual hardcore science and research. Ironic but it's happening. Technology these days is all about me-me-me (or you-you-you), which should be fine. But thinking about the universe in deeper ways automatically makes one feel so small and insignificant...and unfortunately, feeling small and insignificant is not at all what people are interested in these days (even if it's for human progress).

We have absolutely no substitutions or alternatives for NASA's core programs. Contrary to what many people may be inclined to believe lately, practitioners of other disciplines are simply incapable of contributing to this level of science in any meaningful way. It's way beyond most of us, yet not revered the way it should be.

But it's always about the money, right? Well regarding the US budget, we should seriously reconsider our channeling of billions of dollars into deteriorating wars abroad before cutting off spending that will hardly make a dent in our country's debt (do the math, the equation is pathetic). We're going backwards in time with the stifling of NASA programs. I worry about a future generation of uninspired American children who have a hard time thinking outwards in a big-picture state of mind.