by Keith Daniels

Dr. Steven Novella eats, sleeps, and breathes science. An academic clinical neurologist by day at the Yale University of Medicine, he spends much of the rest of his time promoting science and rationality through the massively popular weekly podcast he hosts, The Skeptic’s Guide to the Universe, his own blog, Neurologica, and the influential blog he founded, Science-Based Medicine. He is also the President and co-founder of the New England Skeptical Society.

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by Morgan

One of the best things about casual gaming is that it gives you an easy and light-hearted way to take ten minutes out of your stressful life and concentrate on something else. Hardcore gaming can be fun, but sometimes a break from level grinding is refreshing. On that note, here are some of the best casual iPhone games I’ve found in the last month:

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by Greg Palast

I need to speak to you, not as a reporter, but in my former capacity as lead investigator in several government nuclear plant fraud and racketeering investigations.

I don’t know the law in Japan, so I can’t tell you if Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) can plead insanity to the homicides about to happen.

But what will Obama plead? The Administration, just months ago, asked Congress to provide a $4 billion loan guarantee for two new nuclear reactors to be built and operated on the Gulf Coast of Texas — by Tokyo Electric Power and local partners. As if the Gulf hasn’t suffered enough.

Here are the facts about Tokyo Electric and the industry you haven’t heard on CNN:

The failure of emergency systems at Japan’s nuclear plants comes as no surprise to those of us who have worked in the field.

Nuclear plants the world over must be certified for what is called “SQ” or “Seismic Qualification.” That is, the owners swear that all components are designed for the maximum conceivable shaking event, be it from an earthquake or an exploding Christmas card from Al Qaeda.

The most inexpensive way to meet your SQ is to lie. The industry does it all the time. The government team I worked with caught them once, in 1988, at the Shoreham plant in New York. Correcting the SQ problem at Shoreham would have cost a cool billion, so engineers were told to change the tests from ‘failed’ to ‘passed.’

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by Keith Daniels

Today is π day, 3/14, as we reckon dates in the US. On an even geekier level, using the European method of writing the day and then the month (e.g. 14/3), today is, as noted by Bad Astronomy’s Phil Plait, “the sum of 3 consecutive primes (43+47+53), and also of 5 consecutive primes (11+13+17+19+23+29+31).”

Today would have also been Albert Einstein’s 132nd birthday. By coincidence, Pi figures prominently in Einstein’s field equations, “10 equations in Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity which describe the fundamental interaction of gravitation as a result of spacetime being curved by matter and energy.” Heavy stuff, that, but Einstein’s theories are the foundation of the scientific knowledge that has allowed the development of GPS systems (the effects of the satellites’ movement relative to observers on Earth must be accounted for), the gravitational microlensing that allows astronomers to see otherwise unobservably faint or distant objects, and, ahem, nuclear power — amongst many other wonders. Science is badass.

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by A.J. Focht

Pokémon, America’s all time best-selling computer game series, is still going strong 15-years on. The two newest editions, Pokémon Black and Pokémon White, are renewing the call to trainers everywhere. Released in the US simultaneously on Sunday March 6, Black and White’s combined sales totaled over one million copies on the first day, besting the 780,000 units sold on the day of release for 2007’s Diamond and Pearl by a considerable margin.

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by Blogbot

These silicone f/stop dial bracelets – which carry a design based on the markings from old-school Nikkor lenses – are the perfect way to express your inner photo geek. Better yet, they’re just a buck each (or less if ordered in quantity), with 20 cents per bracelet going to Best Friends Animal Sanctuary and the ASPCA. Order from http://photographic.ly/.

by Keith Daniels

Dr. Phil Plait comes at science blogging with some heavy credentials, having actually worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and, to a lesser extent, the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) programs. His blog, Bad Astronomy, began life as an outlet for his frustration at the misuses and misunderstandings of astronomy in popular culture, but soon became a venue for his advocacy of all things science-based.

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