Inaccuracy in reporting astronomy and science |
Inaccuracy in reporting astronomy and science |
Jan 11 2007, 01:10 PM
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#31
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Member Group: Members Posts: 147 Joined: 30-June 05 From: Bristol, UK Member No.: 423 |
"Comet McNaught is passing close to the Sun, whose gravity pulls material off, giving it a big and visible 'debris field'"
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6251663.stm |
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Jan 11 2007, 03:05 PM
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#32
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Forum Contributor Group: Members Posts: 1374 Joined: 8-February 04 From: North East Florida, USA. Member No.: 11 |
I just read that also and was going to post it. Another pearler eh ?
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Jan 12 2007, 01:00 AM
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#33
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Member Group: Members Posts: 477 Joined: 2-March 05 Member No.: 180 |
"Comet McNaught is passing close to the Sun, whose gravity pulls material off, giving it a big and visible 'debris field'" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6251663.stm Nice. Another favorite was the article that talked about dust on the Mars Rovers, but how the designers planned for this, and attached small fans to the top of the deck to keep the solar panels clean. |
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Jan 12 2007, 04:19 AM
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#34
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Member Group: Members Posts: 599 Joined: 26-August 05 Member No.: 476 |
"Comet McNaught is passing close to the Sun, whose gravity pulls material off, giving it a big and visible 'debris field'" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_pictures/6251663.stm That caption has now been edited. |
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Jan 12 2007, 04:42 AM
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#35
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Mchan: Sadly, I think that most of these guys think that photons and (if they know of them at all) antiprotons are tangible objects about the size of a tennis ball, color-coded for easy identification and only found in mysterious labs located in European castles on cliffs surrounded by continuous thunderstorms and populated by clinically insane, cackling near-sighted old men with tangled long white hair. (If I missed a stereotype here, please feel free to fill it in! )
Ed: Thanks for the tip; heard of the story, now have to read it. A fav of mine is Pohl's The Space Merchants...looks like it's almost in the same vein. [EDIT]: Just had a weird thought, and please forgive me if it's OT. What if UMSF PIs & astronauts commanded huge salaries & led lavish lifestyles? Do you think that public attention to space would increase to the same level as "entertainment"? This may sound facetious, but it's not. Operational analysis of systems sometimes points to very odd-seeming solutions. This conjecture is purely intuitive, but let's fantasize for a moment that fame & fortune are very visible rewards of scientific excellence; would public attention be refocused thereby? [/EDIT] -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jan 12 2007, 08:44 AM
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#36
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
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Jan 12 2007, 11:19 AM
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#37
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
"...A fav of mine is Pohl's The Space Merchants...."
I think that's a collab between Pohl and Kornbluth. Many years later, (90's?), Pohl did a sequel by himself. Kornbluth, as I recall, died of malignant hypertension induced heart attack or stroke. The hypertension was supposedly post WW-2 stress related or something. A great loss to the field. (I may be confusing this with Henry Kuttner, who also died young in the 50's) |
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Jan 12 2007, 11:28 AM
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#38
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The Poet Dude Group: Moderator Posts: 5551 Joined: 15-March 04 From: Kendal, Cumbria, UK Member No.: 60 |
They replied to my complaint re the now infamous "Hubble shooting a beam of light" report...
Dear Mr Atkinson Thank you for your e-mail regarding the 'Six O'clock News' broadcast ton 08 January 2007. I understand you found a factual error in the programme regarding the Hubble Space Telescope. Let me assure you that we aim to keep all of our reports factually accurate on all occasions, however it is inevitable that some mistakes may occur on occasion; obviously we aim to keep this as minimal as possible. We always aim for the highest standards in reporting. Nevertheless, please be assured I have registered your comments regarding this issue and have made them available to the 'Six O'clock News' production team and the senior BBC management. Feedback of this nature helps us when making decisions about future BBC programmes and your comment will play a part in this process. Thank you again for taking the time to contact the BBC. Regards Adam Sims BBC Information Not good enough, just a fob off letter. I'm taking it further, particularly in light of yesterday's comet caption (well done Doug!) -------------------- |
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Jan 12 2007, 11:58 AM
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#39
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14434 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
A total fob-off.
The problem isn't that they reported things totally factually incorrectly - the problem is that such a thing is able to happen when the facts are all set out ready to understand on multiple web-pages. I've written to correct perhaps a dozen science stories over the past couple of years - all things that 10 seconds with google show to be wrong, but still they - the BBC - one of the most highly regarded organisation in the entire industiry - get badly wrong. Doug |
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Jan 12 2007, 12:12 PM
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#40
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Forum Contributor Group: Members Posts: 1374 Joined: 8-February 04 From: North East Florida, USA. Member No.: 11 |
Another one from Yahoo's slideshow....
"The McNaught Comet streaks across the evening sky over Devil's Head mountain......" |
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Jan 12 2007, 12:30 PM
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#41
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3516 Joined: 4-November 05 From: North Wales Member No.: 542 |
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Jan 12 2007, 01:41 PM
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#42
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 1870 Joined: 20-February 05 Member No.: 174 |
This "Streaker" is clad only in long flowing hair, like Lady Godiva.
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Jan 12 2007, 06:33 PM
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#43
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 2488 Joined: 17-April 05 From: Glasgow, Scotland, UK Member No.: 239 |
Mchan: Sadly, I think that most of these guys think that photons and (if they know of them at all) antiprotons are tangible objects about the size of a tennis ball, color-coded for easy identification and only found in mysterious labs located in European castles on cliffs surrounded by continuous thunderstorms and populated by clinically insane, cackling near-sighted old men with tangled long white hair. Rubbish! I've had a haircut, ooh, not six months ago! Ygor did it, and very stylish it was, too - the extra fingers help with the scissors. Bob Shaw -------------------- Remember: Time Flies like the wind - but Fruit Flies like bananas!
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Jan 12 2007, 07:27 PM
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#44
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8785 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
...yeah, I'm convinced that Franky lacked the fine manual dexterity required for the job!
You know, that sure is part of the problem, though: the public fears science, in whatever form, and the media knows this & tries to make it warm and fuzzy, never placing any burden on the audience to think. Fear usually does result from (and I do not use the word pejoratively) ignorance. Sigh...I was going to write "how do we make people less afraid of science?", but that's definitely not a morally appropriate way to frame the problem. Maybe the question is how do we make science as interesting to the general public as the latest antics of Donald Trump & Rosie O'Donnell? (Surely some of the dogfights that inevitably occur during project development could at least compete with that! ) EDIT: Got it!!! How about a reality TV series called "The Mission"? Premise here is to follow the late developmental stages of a medium-class project (say Mars 2011?) all the way until launch, complete with headaches, squabbles, joy, and triumph. If done correctly, this would be truly compelling viewing and thereby a huge boon for UMSF. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Jan 19 2007, 12:29 PM
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#45
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 72 Joined: 22-December 05 Member No.: 616 |
Newspapers even get the basics wrong, adding the wrong spacecraft photo to an article etc...
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