EXOPLANETS – WORLDS BEYOND OUR OWN

The night sky is privy to many stories. It has been a silent observer to the history and evolution of life on our planet. Wrapped within its fabric are the stars, distant and static candles that guided our ancestors in the early days of humanity. Among them, there were a few rebellious elements whose behavior […]

WHY IS SNOW BRIGHT?

It is winter at the home of The Procrastinating Scientist which means it is time to haul snow in the yard. It also means that it is time to get my sunglasses out because the snow is damn bright! Now, why exactly is that? This time around, we tackle this question with an infographic!

CLIMATE CHANGE – PART 4 – WHAT CAN WE DO?

Now, in a much-belated part 4, let’s put it all together. A quick recap of what we have learned: Climate is long-term and refers to atmospheric behavior over long periods. Small climate changes, over a long period, can lead to major effects on global ecosystems. Our planet is warming up with new temperature records being […]

Climate Change – Part 3 – The Consequences

We have had a taste of the basic science behind climate change. With COP26 having come to an end last Friday, lets look at what climate change has and will do to the planet. Briefly, the major consequences include: extreme heat (a warmer planet), extensive flooding and droughts (not everywhere though), a big melt (bye […]

Climate Change – Part 2 – How Does It Work?

So, in Part 1, we looked at the basics and got a glimpse of the evidence we have for climate change. Today, let us look behind the scenes at how it all works. The Greenhouse Effect The warming of our planet is attributed to a human amplified greenhouse effect – warming that occurs when heat […]

Climate Change – Part 1 – The Basics

With the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP26) underway, I thought a refresher on climate change would be useful. This will be a four-part series, inspired by a post I had written several years back in The Pensive Reverie, my personal blog. The science behind climate change hasn’t changed too much (though my writing […]

Living in the Extreme: Extremophiles

Life on earth, as we know it today, developed through an evolutionary process of significant complexity over millions of years. The details are still contested in the scientific arena, but general consensus states life originated around 4.0 billion years ago on the ponds and oceans of a primitive Earth. Back then, our planet was bathed […]

Ancient Scientists – Chapter 1: Eratosthenes

Science is a progressive endeavor. Our present knowledge of the world is founded on the speculations and introspections of our ancestors in a time when science was not just a field of study but an integral philosophy of life. As far as the ancients were led to believe, humanity was a mote of dust in […]