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I just completed my first meeting of the City of Chico Sustainability Task Force today and here are a few observations. First, it seemed to be pretty well rounded, we…

Image above: Dubbed the “Swan” this X-ray image shows massive energy releases from the sun’s magnetic field, even while we are at the solar minimum in between sunspots cycles. Last…

This week researchers announced that a solar storm is coming — the most intense solar maximum in fifty years. The prediction comes from a team led by Mausumi Dikpati of…

Jessica Gresko at the Associated Press reports: Certain hurricane forecasts could be up to 16 percent less accurate if a key weather satellite that is already beyond its expected life…

Ok, everybody’s favorite modern boogeyman, the Internal Combustion Engine, has been blamed for everything from global warming, to wars over oil, to baby booms caused by backseats in 57 Chevy’s.…

As a kid, science was my big deal. Science fairs were even bigger. In my senior year of high school, I made my grand project, a 10MEV cyclotron. It weighed…

The new US stealth fighter, the F-22 Raptor, was deployed for the first time to Asia earlier this month. On Feb. 11, twelve Raptors flying from Hawaii to Japan were…

A “computer glitch” when the reporter sent my story to copy editing added an extra “o” to the word “Outlook” in the title, sending my entry into “etherland”. You can…

The California legislature may want to revisit the wording of their proposed ban on incandescents (AB 722). California assemblyman LLoyd Levine, a Democrat from Van Nuys in Los Angeles, wants…

If you live near the ocean, chances are high that your home is built over sandy soil. For example many places in San Francisco are built on sandy soil or…

You know you’ve reached critical mass in an argument when you start having editorial cartoons drawn about you. In this weeks Chico Beat, the editorial cartoon above appeared. While editor…

What do the numbers 923, 930, 935, 941 and 944 have in common? Answer: They’re different names for the same sunspot, this one shown above. Greg Piepol of Rockville, Maryland,…

The “Big Ben” Cray XT3 at University of Pittsburg Computer Center runs at 10 Teraflops Ok if you aren’t computer savvy. you might think “tri-tera-flops…a dinosaur?” or maybe “Tera Flops”…

Due to the interest in my space junk entry below, I thought I’d provide an up to date list of all the objects in low earth orbit and who the…

From the "almost a Darwin Award winner" department and from WISN-TV in Milwaukee…TV News Truck Breaks Through Ice: Even though the temperatures have fallen, the ice on many bodies of…

You know the old saying that “no two snowflakes are alike“? Well it may be possible for two snowflakes to be alike after all. There’s a fascinating article in LiveScience…

Anyone who knows much about me knows that I’ve been a strong advocate for alternate energy, and that I’ve put my money where my mouth is by putting solar power…

My lovely wife Stacey, our two children, and myself braved the cold and gusty winds to get this photo of Comet McNaught over the coastal mountain range tonight. Stacey took…

There’s a photo op tonight just after sunset. Sunset is at 5:03 PM PST. Comet McNaught is the brightest comet in 30 years and is visible to the west, just…