This post is a follow-up to points I made about the absurd inefficiency of the grant system that funds most public research. While there is some value in just shedding light on a problem, it is far more valuable to point out the problem and propose some solutions.  Most of... [Read More]

This week, the journal Nature published a short article with the headline: “Funding: Australia’s grant system wastes time.” Here is a link for those with access. Scientific journals aren’t known for their sense of humor, but the understatement of the title is so extreme that it must be an attempt at a... [Read More]

Coolest. Inverted Pendulum. Ever. SpaceX has been testing a system called the Grasshopper that will allow reusable rockets to perform powered landings. Currently, everything that comes back from space either parachutes in and has to be picked up from the middle of nowhere or glides. The link contains a very... [Read More]

One of the biggest overarching problems in space exploration is a misplaced sense of where the Tinfoil Hat Line should lie relative to different applications.  Specifically, much of NASA’s activity and spending lies far to the safe and plausible side of the TFHL, while many private companies field proposals and... [Read More]

You may have wondered at the title of this blog: “The Tinfoil Hat.” Doesn’t that carry strong implications of quackery? Culturally, the tinfoil hat invokes ideas from which most people who consider themselves to be “real” scientists and intellectuals try their utmost to distance themselves. While it’s true that there... [Read More]