Bad Astronomy

Faces on Mars. Many-forwarded emails claiming that Mars would be the size of the full moon last summer. Astrology. Asteroids on collision course with earth, predicted years ahead of time.

There's a term for all of this: Bad astronomy.

The fact is that the universe amazing place in its own right. Today's FamilyFirst pick debunks all of the silly pseudoscientific rumors going around about our universe, so that you can instead marvel at its actual glory.

The site's originator, astronomer Philip Plait, explains it this way:

“Recently I have become more interested in the history of science, including how science has been misused and misrepresented. As television and movies have become better and better at shaping our views of the world, it is becoming more and more important that we understand what it means to be scientific. Like it or not, those that understand science and technology will always have the advantage over those that don't. If everyone had even a basic grasp of scientific principles, this planet would be a better place.”

The site is chock full of scientific facts and knowledge. Much of the information is of the debunking sort, but there is also lots of fun stuff like the Mad Scientists questions. From 1996 to 2000, a St. Louis university organized the Mad Scientist Network, in which everyone from grade school students to educatwed adults were given the chance to ask scientists questions. Plait participated, and he has an archive of his questions.

Read about how Lenin's face appeared on his shower curtain, and why he didn't get too excited about it.

Those with a scientific bent will enjoy today's FamilyFirst site, and so will anyone who has seen anything on TV, in a movie, or in a tabloid about the universe and wondered “could that be true?”

http://www.badastronomy.com

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