Jeff Bezos-backed space company plans rocket test

Blue Origin test rocket

Blue Origin, the secretive aerospace company bankrolled by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, is planning a rocket test today high over the west Texas desert. According to a directive from the Federal Aviation Administration, airspace today has been cleared up to 18,000 feet above sea level “due to rocket launch activity.” The Register uncovered the document,… Read More…

Digitizing the night sky … inside the UW’s planetarium

DSCN0115

It’s a quiet, sunny summer afternoon at the University of Washington’s physics-astronomy complex. But inside the hushed, empty auditorium building, Jake VanderPlas has turned off the lights and shut us inside the recently renovated planetarium. Jake’s a friend and a fellow UW grad student (a 5th-year Ph.D. candidate in astronomy) who studies, among other cool… Read More…

Bill Nye tries to convince Fox News that science isn’t politics

billnye

On certain cable news channels these days, it seems like every story is a chance to subtly (or not-so-subtly) score points for some political position. Which is why this appearance by Bill Nye on Fox News is so refreshing to watch, and so disturbing at the same time. Nye, better known as Bill Nye the… Read More…

UW researcher Shwetak Patel chosen as Microsoft Research Faculty fellow

Patel

Since 2005, Microsoft has picked leading university researchers to participate in its Microsoft Research Faculty program — drawing on the talents of cutting-edge scientists and researchers from across the globe. But in the latest crop of fellows, Microsoft didn’t have to go too far. The company has selected Shwetak Patel — an Assistant Professor in… Read More…

UW computer scientist tries to crack the ancient Indus script

rao

Save this one for when you have time to sit back and really absorb it. Rajesh Rao, a professor in the University of Washington Computer Science & Engineering department, is leading a charge to use computer modeling to figure out what he calls the “mother of all crossword puzzles” — the undeciphered script of the… Read More…

Why Jeff Bezos is helping to create a 10,000 Year Clock inside a Texas mountain

The tunnel that will lead to the clock (Credit: 10000yearclock.net)

Based on his recent comments to shareholders about Amazon.com’s willingness to be misunderstood for many years, we knew Jeff Bezos was good at taking a long view. But it turns out that his view is much, much longer than most people knew. On a new website, the Amazon founder explains his involvement in an extraordinary… Read More…

Q&A: Weather guru Cliff Mass on science, math, Carl Sagan, coastal radar … and whatever else he wants to talk about

Cliff Mass (Photo credit: UW)

Cliff Mass, a professor of atmospheric sciences at the University of Washington, found himself in a tempest of a different sort last week after KUOW-FM in Seattle discontinued his weekly weather segments. KUOW “Weekday” host Steve Scher explained in a note to listeners that he made the decision after Mass “began inserting his opinion on a… Read More…

Western Washington Provost: Computer science department needs to step up to the future

Riordan

Western Washington University Provost Catherine Riordan says she hasn’t made a final decision about the fate of the university’s computer science department. But Riordan says everything is on the table as the university deals with budget cuts, telling GeekWire today that Western is “leaving the door open for any kind of outcome.” In an interview,… Read More…

Idea Man? Ex-Microsoft geek reviews Paul Allen’s memoir

ideamans

Guest Commentary: I want to thank Paul Allen for writing his memoirs. It’s great to hear the story of the formation of Microsoft in his own words. His candor is surprising to some, but I think he is just telling it like he saw it. That is not to say that this is a balanced… Read More…

Getting to know our Space Shuttle consolation prize

The Full Fuselage Trainer, headed to Seattle

OK, so we didn’t get one of the real Space Shuttles. But the thing we got looks a lot like one, if you don’t mind the lack of wings. Real-life astronauts trained in it. And hey, we get to walk around inside! That, at least, was the conciliatory message from Seattle’s Museum of Flight today,… Read More…