If you want to land on another world, map it first. Since the two Viking missions in the 1970s, we have extensively charted the surface of Mars and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft—equipped with the HiRISE Camera—is now resolving objects … Continue reading
Glenn Marsch
The Opioid Dilemma
We are in a blessed time now that the medical profession is more likely to heal us than to kill us by its ministrations. In the ancient world, to go to a physician was a gamble, often subjecting patients to … Continue reading
When We First Broke the Bonds of Earth: The Story of Apollo 8
On Christmas Eve, 1968, three humans in the cramped Apollo 8 command module slingshot around the moon. They were the first human beings ever to be in the gravitational sphere of influence of another celestial body. While in lunar orbit, … Continue reading
Zero Gee and I Feel Fine … Remembering John Glenn
The man for whom I was named has died. John Glenn, the last of the Mercury astronauts, died on December 9 at age 95. Five decades ago he was launched atop a refurbished Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile that had originally … Continue reading
America Visits Pluto
In 1989, America’s Voyager 2 spacecraft performed a reconnaissance flyby of Neptune, the distant ice giant planet that orbits about three billion miles from the sun. I was in graduate school then, and I stayed up all night watching PBS’s … Continue reading
V&V Q&A – Talking climate science with physicist Glenn Marsch (Part Three)
Editor’s note: As we move on from Snovember—a lengthy stretch of below average temperatures across the country—and into December, we thought it would be a perfect time to discuss the heated topic of climate science. This is the third and final … Continue reading
V&V Q&A – Talking climate science with physicist Glenn Marsch (Part Two)
Editor’s note: This is the second of a series of discussions with Grove City College physicist Dr. Glenn Marsch regarding global warming. In the first Q&A we compared the articles that ran in the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal about how the Obama administration … Continue reading
V&V Q&A – Talking climate science with physicist Glenn Marsch (Part One)
Editor’s note: After two leading newspapers ran climate-related pieces seemingly at odds with one another, The Center for Vision & Values discussed the contrast with Grove City College physicist Dr. Glenn Marsch. A New York Times article reported that President Obama is pursuing … Continue reading
Remembering Mom and Dad on Memorial Day
As Americans nationwide mark Memorial Day, this will be my first Memorial Day without my dad. He was a World War II veteran. Since my father’s passing two months ago, seven years after my mother’s, I consider how both significant … Continue reading