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Fraser Cain

Fraser Cain

Publisher of Universe Today, a site about space and astronomy.

I'm the publisher of Universe Today and the co-host of Astronomy Cast.
We're doing all kinds of really cool stuff here on Google+, like live streaming telescopes into Google+ Hangouts with our Virtual Star Parties, interviewing astronomers and space scientists. If you want to see our upcoming events, visit the Cosmoquest Hangouts page.

If you want to improve your Google+ experience, I highly recommend you import my Super Science Circle.
I've also got a lot of experience running Hangouts on Air here on G+. If you want to do the same, here's my handy guide of Tips and Tricks for Hangouts on Air.
And if you want to promote your broadcast, check out The Perfectionist's Guide to Marketing Your Hangout on Air.




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Publisher Universe Today English Courtenay Canada Universe Today North Island College Person

Ranked: 5th in Canada Most Engaging This Month (by Total Reach)

Ranked: 6th in Canada Most Engaging This Week (by Engagement)

Ranked: 6th in Canada Most Engaging This Month (by Average Reach)

Ranked: 6th in Canada Most Engaging This Month (by Engagement)

Ranked: 7th in Canada Most Engaging This Month (by Shares)

Ranked: 10th in Canada Most Engaging This Week (by Shares)

Ranked: 10th in Canada Most Engaging This Month (by +1's)

Ranked: 11th in Canada Users (by Followers)

Ranked: 14th in Canada Most Engaging This Week (by Average Reach)

Ranked: 15th in Canada Most Engaging This Month (by Comments)

Ranked: 22nd in Canada Users (by Follower Growth)

Ranked: 23rd in Canada Most Engaging This Week (by +1's)

Ranked: 24th in Canada Most Engaging This Week (by Total Reach)

Ranked: 35th in Canada Most Engaging This Week (by Comments)

Ranked: 43rd in Married Users (by Followers)

Ranked: 91st in Married Users (by Follower Growth)

Ranked: 135th in Canada Most Engaging This Month (by Number of Posts)

Ranked: 136th in Canada Most Engaging This Week (by Number of Posts)

Ranked: 180th in Male Users (by Followers)

Ranked: 257th in English Users (by Followers)

Ranked: 275th in Users (by Followers)

Ranked: 421st in Male Users (by Follower Growth)

Ranked: 480th in English Most Engaging This Month (by Engagement)

Ranked: 507th in English Users (by Follower Growth)

Ranked: 523rd in English Most Engaging This Month (by Shares)

Ranked: 563rd in English Most Engaging This Week (by Engagement)

Ranked: 639th in English Most Engaging This Month (by Total Reach)

Ranked: 647th in Users (by Follower Growth)

Ranked: 664th in English Most Engaging This Month (by Comments)

Ranked: 776th in English Most Engaging This Month (by +1's)

Ranked: 783rd in Most Engaging This Month (by Engagement)

Ranked: 804th in English Most Engaging This Month (by Average Reach)

Ranked: 838th in English Most Engaging This Week (by Shares)

Ranked: 857th in Most Engaging This Month (by Shares)

Ranked: 914th in English Most Engaging This Week (by Average Reach)

Ranked: 914th in Most Engaging This Week (by Engagement)

Ranked: 1112th in English Most Engaging This Week (by Total Reach)

Ranked: 1227th in English Most Engaging This Week (by Comments)

Ranked: 1252nd in English Most Engaging This Week (by +1's)

Ranked: 1287th in Most Engaging This Month (by Total Reach)

Ranked: 1389th in Most Engaging This Week (by Shares)

Ranked: 1412th in Canada Users (by Following)

Ranked: 1458th in Most Engaging This Month (by +1's)

Date Following Followers Gained
Recent Popular Posts
+1,166
296 Shares
About 3 weeks ago Why We'll Never Meet Aliens?

In a long essay, +Paul Tyma makes the case that we'll never meet aliens. And his conclusion is that we'll never meet aliens because once they've developed the technology to travel the great distances between stars, the trip will be meaningless.

I think there's a lot of validity to this argument. We anthropomorphize aliens based on our current state of technology. We imagine aliens flying around in their alien spaceships, sipping their alien coffees, perusing alien laptops. "We come in peace."

But you have to comprehend the compounding effect of exponential technological advancement. iPhones didn't exist 5 years ago, now we consider smartphones a commodity. Once an alien has the ability to travel from star to star, they'll probably just be getting their robots to do the work for them - in fact, they'll probably be indistinguishable from robots themselves.

Once you're far enough along that tech
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+162
36 Shares
About 8 weeks ago Strange Solutions to the Fermi Paradox

The Fermi Paradox is one of the most mysterious and personally troubling problems in science and philosophy. Seriously, you don't want to get me started on this subject, I'll yack for hours.

If space is big, and time is long, and Earth is nothing special... where are all the aliens? Nothing in physics makes space travel impossible, just hard. And radio transmissions are even easier. We should see signs out there, but we don't.

+George Dvorsky over at io9 tackles 11 of the strangest solutions to the Fermi Paradox. 

http://io9.com/11-of-the-weirdest-solutions-to-the-fermi-paradox-456850746
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+157
172 Shares
About 8 weeks ago The Return of the Super Science Circle

Okay, I'll admit, I made a mistake in retiring the Super Science Circle. I wasn't wrong; Communities are still the future and the best way to make friends here on Google+. But I realized that the Super Science Circle is simple and efficient way to get new people to see that Google+ isn't a ghost town.

PLEASE SHARE THIS POST... FOR SCIENCE!

When I was attending +ScienceOnline 2013, I must have helped dozens of people join Google+, and the first thing I had them do was import this circle. It's an invaluable tool for getting new people up to speed.

So, I just did a complete refresh on the circle. I examined every single member and judged them according to my two-part criteria:

1. Active in the last 30 days or so.
2. Regularly post on scientific topics.

If you know anyone who might make a good candidate for this circle, please let me know.

As always, import this circle into a ne
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+141
20 Shares
About 1 week ago Here is the teaser for the Eta Aquarid time lapse I am working on. This is a star trail from the Torrance Barrens, Ontario, Canada. Taken on May 5, 2013. This is a stack of 600 images. 
Title: The Northern Blend
Canon 7d
Tokina 11-16mm @ 11mm
F/2.8, ISO 1600, 30 second exposures

©2013 Wesley Liikane
All rights reserved

Feel free to like and share. Thanks :D
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+139
14 Shares
About 12 weeks ago Need better ideas? Find more silence

I'm a self-confessed podcast fanatic, and have been since the technology was available. I'm always walking around with a set of headphones tucking into my shirt, ready to pop into my ears at a moment's notice. (I just upgraded to LG Bluetooth headphones which I love love love).

Podcasts have kept me company while exercising and during mind-numbing menial tasks like the dishes. I can't imagine any commute without podcasts streaming through my car's audio system.

I've been mentally battling with some complicated business challenges, and on a recent walk I was feeling ambivalence. I was listening to the latest episode of +Jason Calacanis' This Week in Startups (excellent podcast, by the way), but the awesome ideas presented by the guest were just making me anxious instead of inspired. 

I was fortunate to have a moment of self knowledge, and realized that the anxiety was happening because there were ideas
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+135
13 Shares
About 2 weeks ago Would you fly on SpaceShipTwo?

Virgin Galactic performed a test last week, pushing SpaceShipTwo beyond the speed of sound. We're getting closer and closer to humans being able to exchange $200,000 for a few minutes of weightlessness at the edge of space?

Would you go? Would you be willing to take the risks of launch and re-entry for that experience of seeing Earth from that altitude? It won't be a smooth ride, but the view will be unparalleled.
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+125
18 Shares
About 4 weeks ago How Long Does it Take Sunlight to Reach Earth

Have you ever wondered how long it takes light from the Sun to reach Earth? Here's a short video explainer. 
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+124
19 Shares
About 2 weeks ago No, Comet ISON isn't Nibiru (which still doesn't exist)

+David Dickinson has written a wonderful and lengthy article for +Universe Today debunking the inevitable Comet ISON conspiracy theories.

http://www.universetoday.com/101798/debunking-comet-ison-conspiracy-theories-no-ison-is-not-nibiru/
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+121
0 Shares
About 3 weeks ago Dropping in, like a boss

My son finally worked up the courage to drop into the skate bowl on his scooter. It was great to see him overcome something that really scared him. You can't half-drop into the bowl, you've got to commit. Mind over matter. 
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+120
10 Shares
About 3 weeks ago I Love, "I Fucking Love Science", But Not Their Lack of Credit

+Alex Wild hits this mark with this critique of IFLS. They do a great job of boiling down scientific progress into sharable memes. They promote scientific discovery and do a good job of keeping out the pseudoscience.

But they need to get better at policing credit for artists. You should always provide credit for images when you can find them, it's the very least we can do to honor the efforts made by these talented people in the name of science.

http://blogs.scientificamerican.com/compound-eye/2013/04/23/facebooks-i-fcking-love-science-does-not-fcking-love-artists/
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