UCLA atmospheric scientists have discovered a previously unknown basic mode of energy transfer from the solar wind to the Earth’s magnetosphere. The research, federally funded by the National Science Foundation, could improve the safety and reliability of spacecraft that operate in the upper atmosphere.
[…]
Lyons and Kim were planning to study something unrelated when they made the discovery.
“We were looking to do something else, when we saw life is not the way we expected it to be,” Lyons said. “The most exciting discoveries in science sometimes just drop in your lap. In our field, this finding is pretty earth-shaking. It’s an entire new mode of energy transfer, which is step one. The next step is to understand how it works. It must be a completely different process.”
h/t Tech1
“The most exciting phrase to hear in science, the one that heralds new discoveries, is not ‘Eureka!’ but ‘That’s funny …'”
Isaac Asimov
Asimov, one of the greatest science and science fiction writers ever. Over 400 books mostly post graduate science texts.
He wrote several dozen si-fi novels as a relaxing leisure activity. Those include the epic Foundation Trilogy.
His science was explainable and his understanding of human nature, politics and the power of religion gave his novels a reality that you can relate to … even as a mere earthling.
Thanks for mentioning him Rabbit, he is one of my all time greatest heroes. He, Like Ayn Rand were born in The Soviet Union and promptly corrected that horrid situation by moving promptly to the greatest nation on earth to fulfill their dreams.
Sorry get off topic, but everyone should read Asimov … it will make you smarter.
You are totally right Momar, I read “I, Robot ” recently, and I am ploughing through the Foundation trilogy currently, and he does weave a hell of a readable story.
Asimov wrote “The History of Physics”, which in my mind is the best educational book on physics ever published – it goes through from the beginnings of natural philosophy and keeps presenting theories and then saying “but that’s wrong” and showing the “That’s funny” moments that produced the modern scientific theories.
I haven’t come across his History of Physics, but I can heartily recommend Asimov’s Understanding Physics, originally published in three volumes and later compiled in a single volume by Dorset. The original three were: Motion, Sound, and Heat; Light, Magnetism, and Electricity; and The Electron, Proton and Neutron. Out of print, but the individual volumes and the hardcover trilogy are all available used from Alibris and Amazon sellers.
Gee, I wonder what the “study of something unrelated” was. I wonder if one of the “foundational” constants of the computer climate models predicting catastrophe (sorry Issac) has been slayed?
Perhaps Kate can rattle some chains and find out what was being studied and what axiom of atmospheric physics seems to have been proven wrong.
“around the time” – weasel words…
The study reconstructed CO2 levels around this period, showing a dip around the time ice sheets in Antarctica started to form. CO2 levels were around 750 parts per million, about double current levels.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090914/sc_nm/us_climate_antarctica_co2_1
“earth shaking”. very much so, literally and figuratively.
Oops, that is supposed to be secret. Sound like a tractor beam timewarp sequence shutdown program failure bug that no one noticed before they went home. Going to be hell to pay for some careless chump in 2026.
Sorry, but I think this video means you aren’t allowed to like Asimov anymore:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LO0sCs8jI4k
In the video Isaac Asimov explains the “greenhouse effect”, he must have been in on the global warming conspiracy.
Yeah, Assimov was on the payroll of Big Hope and Change. It’s a little known fact that the Foundation series was based on a post-AGW universe. What a shill.
Alex, if you’re into science fiction authors look up Pournelle. He’s old, curmudgeonly and untrendy, so his outlook may seem unfashioned and “not with it”.