BBC – Science & Nature Programmes – Hawking

Hawking stars Benedict Cumberbatch as the young Stephen Hawking who, as a bright and ambitious 21-year-old PhD student at Cambridge University, is diagnosed with the debilitating motor neurone disease and given two years to live. Against the odds, he goes on to achieve scientific success and worldwide acclaim, in particular with his best-selling book A Brief History Of Time.

Note: We saw this on Father’s Day (at my dad’s request) and it was a really good movie. Benedict Cumberbatch does a great job of portraying Stephen Hawking who is one of the world’s most famous men of science. I think Hawking has some good things to say but as a man of faith I believe that God is responsible for creation, however I see there is some things about time and space that can be divinely created. I came away from this with a new respect for the contributions of Stephen Hawking.

method-to-my-melody: It’s so cold (-37F with windchill) that boiling water immediately turns to snow!

(Meanwhile in Michigan, fellow bloggers perform science experiments in the “arctic vortex”.)

NASA Spacecraft Embarks on Historic Journey Into Interstellar Space – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

PASADENA, Calif. – NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft officially is the first human-made object to venture into interstellar space. The 36-year-old probe is about 12 billion miles (19 billion kilometers) from our sun. New and unexpected data indicate Voyager 1 has been traveling for about one year through plasma, or ionized gas, present in the space between stars.

NASA Spacecraft Embarks on Historic Journey Into Interstellar Space – NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

A skeleton found beneath a Leicester car park has been confirmed as that of English king Richard III. Experts from the University of Leicester said DNA from the bones matched that of descendants of the monarch’s family. (via BBC News – Richard III dig: DNA confirms bones are king’s)

Scientists say the universe is made up of protons, neutrons and electrons…they forgot to mention morons.

cbccloud: Leap Second Scheduled for June 30, 2012

I love science!

discoverynews:

Space Junk Problem Reaches Tipping Point

It’s bad news for all you aspiring space tourists out there. Soon, the only ticket into space may be of the suborbital variety and nothing more ambitious, like actually flying into orbit.

Earth is now surrounded by so much space junk that a leading expert on the issue has declared that we are at a “tipping point” — it may soon become too dangerous to venture into low-Earth orbit (LEO) through fear of having a manned spaceship punctured or a communications satellite trashed.

Ian O’Neill on the nightmare scenario of the Space Age.