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John P. Millis, Ph.D

Updated Articles and Resources

By John P. Millis, Ph.D, About.com Guide

    Updated Articles and Resources
    • The War on Science Created: Thursday, May 10, 2012 Updated: Thursday, May 10, 2012
      Humans have been doing science for thousands of years. In fact, scientific research and exploration has led to great advances in our culture like medicine and flight. However, there is a distinct s...
    • The Speed of Light Created: Monday, April 30, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      One of the revelations of Albert Einstein's theory of relativity was that the speed of light in a vacuum was a constant and that nothing could travel faster. But what is the speed of light, exactly?
    • Active Galaxies and Quasars - Information About the Most Powerful Galaxies in the Universe Created: Thursday, July 29, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      While most galaxies have supermassive black holes at their cores, some are incredibly active; releasing massive amounts of energy across a range of energy bands. What causes these active galaxies t...
    • Gamma-ray Astronomy - Studying the Most Violent Objects in the Universe Created: Thursday, May 06, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      In order to fully understand the nature of the Universe, scientists must study the night sky at all wavelengths. Gamma-ray astronomers use instruments that can see photons of the highest energies. ...
    • Wormholes - A Future Means of Interstellar Travel? Created: Sunday, March 20, 2011 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      One of the theoretical consequences of general relativity is the existence of regions of space known as wormholes. While it is not completely understood how such places are created, there is curren...
    • General Relativity Created: Monday, April 30, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      In 1905 Albert Einstein first published his theory of special relativity. But it was incomplete, it only considered objects moving in constant, uniform motion. What happened when objects moved in i...
    • The Solar Cycle and Solar Storms Created: Wednesday, June 23, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      The Sun goes through an eleven year cycle of solar activity. At the peak of its solar activity, known as solar maximum, the Sun can unleash massive amounts of energy and extremely high energy parti...
    • Black Holes - What Are Black Holes? Created: Wednesday, June 09, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      A favorite phenomenon of science fiction writers, black holes are real objects that play an important role in our Universe. There are different types of black holes, arising from different processe...
    • Cosmic Rays - Where Do They Come From? Created: Friday, March 19, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      Cosmic Rays are high energy charged particles (mostly protons) traveling across the Universe at nearly the speed of light. But since protons are charged particles, they are deflected by magnetic fi...
    • Special Relativity Created: Monday, April 30, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      For two hundred years the laws of motion were governed by equations derived by Isaac Newton. However, his framework proved incomplete. Then in 1905 Albert Einstein published a new vision for the Un...
    • Radiation Created: Thursday, December 22, 2011 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      It is a term that seems to be used for many applications: light, nuclear danger, medical imaging and more. So what is radiation exactly?
    • Visible (Optical) Light Created: Sunday, October 30, 2011 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      Often when the word
    • What is Hot Dark Matter? Created: Thursday, September 29, 2011 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      The identity of dark matter of still a mystery, but researchers have narrowed the possibilities to three different types. One of these is Hot Dark Matter, thought to be, specifically, a type of neu...
    • Light-Year Created: Monday, September 26, 2011 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      When speaking of astronomical terms it is often inconvenient to describe distance by meters, feet and miles. Therefore a more appropriate unit is used: the light-year. Simply defined as the distanc...
    • Impulse Drive - Sub-light Speed in Star Trek Created: Tuesday, February 01, 2011 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      In the television and film series Star Trek the ships use a propulsion system known as impulse drive to maneuver at sub-light speeds. The technology appears far more sophisticated than the current ...
    • Warp Drive - Is the Faster Than Light Speed Portrayed in Star Trek Possible? Created: Thursday, January 20, 2011 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      In the classic television and film series Star Trek, space craft are said to be able to travel faster than the speed of light using a special technology called
    • Time Travel - Is It Possible To Travel Into the Future? Created: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      Nearly all of us have wished, at one time or another, that we could travel through time. Whether it is to correct a mistake in the past, or to fast-forward to a much anticipated future event, the l...
    • Visits From Aliens -- Have Aliens Ever Walked the Earth? Could They Ever? Created: Friday, February 26, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      For decades man has wondered if beings have another world have walked among us. Is it possible? Or is it simply science fiction? What about the evidence out there, is any of it credible. These are ...
    • Space Exploration -- How Will Man Explore the Universe Created: Tuesday, February 16, 2010 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      Man has always been fascinated by the heavens. Even before man knew what was out there he has thought about walking among the stars. Science fiction has revolutionized the way that we think about s...
    • Theory of Relativity Created: Monday, April 30, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      For more than 200 years Newton's laws of gravity and motion were the gold standard of physics. But there was a problem, it became apparent that large scale dynamics, like those observed in astronom...
    • Has Science Disproven God? Created: Sunday, April 29, 2012 Updated: Tuesday, May 01, 2012
      This is hardly a new question. For hundreds, and in some contexts even longer, the war between science and religion has raged on. But is that really necessary? Can the two ideologies coexist? Or ha...
    • Cherenkov Radiation - Studying the Gamma-ray Universe Created: Friday, May 07, 2010 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      Cherenkov Radiation, the light produced as superluminal particles transverse a medium, is a vital physical property in conducting experiments in gamma-ray and cosmic ray astronomy. Here the details..
    • What is Dark Matter? Created: Thursday, September 29, 2011 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      There is much that we do not know about the Universe, but one of the greatest mysteries surrounds a substance known as dark matter. By its very nature it is invisible to the naked eye, but is appar..
    • Supermassive Black Holes - Information About the Most Powerful Objects in the Universe Created: Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      Supermassive black holes are some of the most powerful objects in the Universe. These incredible objects hold entire galaxies together and are capable of releasing incredible amounts of energy. The..
    • What is the Doppler Effect? Created: Friday, December 30, 2011 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      The doppler effect is a phenomenon by which a source's radiation appears to be of higher (blueshifted) or lower (redshifted) energy than it really is. This is caused by the object's motion relative..
    • What is Matter? Created: Wednesday, December 28, 2011 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      Matter is all around us, it is the physical material of the Universe. But there is more to matter than just mass.
    • Cold Dark Matter (CDM) Created: Thursday, September 29, 2011 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      For decades a question that has plagued physics has been
    • Warm Dark Matter Created: Thursday, September 29, 2011 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      Without a clear solution to the problem of missing mass in the Universe, researchers have looked to different, sometimes exotic, forms of matter to explain the gap. One possibility is mass that is ..
    • The Science of Star Trek - Is Star Trek Simply Science Fiction or a Look into the Future? Created: Wednesday, April 06, 2011 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      One of the most popular science fiction series of all time is Star Trek. In it, future inhabitants of Earth take off on quests to the far reaches of the galaxy. Using advanced technologies like war..
    • Time Travel - Is it Possible to Travel into the Past? Created: Wednesday, March 30, 2011 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      There have been times when I wish that I could revisit the past. Perhaps to undo a mistake, or to visit a hero of history. Time travel is an often used plot device in many science fiction works, bu..
    • Artificial Gravity Created: Saturday, March 05, 2011 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      In the television and film series Star Trek the starships, through use of various technologies, appear to have complete control over gravity. The most obvious manipulation is the creation of an art..
    • Does Science Eliminate the Need for God? Created: Monday, September 13, 2010 Updated: Monday, April 30, 2012
      For decades science has claimed to be able to explain the origin of the Universe without the need for God. The debate has raged on both sides. But can emerging new science bring an end to the contr..

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