The most common source for radioactive dating depends on our Universe being active. “Life exists in the universe only because the carbon atom possesses certain exceptional properties.” –James Jeans Here on […]
Search Results
You searched for: D A
If you know the sexually and racially charged art of Kara Walker, you know one thing—she’s not subtle. Walker’s artistic oeuvre to date makes the title of her newest work, […]
What happens when you shoot boiling water into -41C air?
Just about everyone wants to believe that their leaders – in governments, companies, or even the local PTA – will exude benevolence. The shared hopes of constituents, shareholders, and even […]
Someday, the Sun will expand, engulfing Mercury and Venus, and then some. Will we survive? “They do not see what lies ahead, when Sun has faded and Moon is dead.”-J.R.R. Tolkien […]
How the Solar Eclipse of 1919 changed our understanding of the Universe forever. “Oh leave the Wise our measures to collate. One thing at least is certain, light has weight. One […]
Whether you’ve ever run across this famous “how many triangles” puzzle or not, you’re in for a treat looking at the magnificence of the solution. “Arithmetic! Algebra! Geometry! Grandiose trinity! […]
The dangers of darkness and vitamin D deficiency have been creeping into recent considerations about natural light. Eighty years ago, the conversation was far more alarmist and far more embracing of our nearest star.
A beautifully undisturbed, large spiral can be found right at the heart of the Virgo Cluster. “We’ll ride the spiral to the end and may just go where no one’s been.” […]
Many things puzzled the British student, on exchange somewhere on the Continent: what people ate, how they dressed, why they drove on the right. But nothing more so than the […]
Eaten any cheese lately? It was probably made with genetic engineering. Anything with sugar in it? Good chance that was made with genetic engineering too. Anything with ingredients containing […]
“If I see a spider in my house, I put it in a cup, and then I take it outside. I save it. What is wrong with me?” –Jacqueline Emerson […]
A comet that’s never crossed Earth’s orbit might lead to the most spectacular sky show in years! “I would rather be ashes than dust! I would rather be a superb meteor, […]
It’s one of the great openings in all of American literature: “I celebrate myself, / And what I assume you shall assume, / For every atom belonging to me as […]
Two months before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King, Jr. imagined what would be said at his funeral. Not a bad idea for all of us.
To the limits of our observable Universe and well beyond, here’s what we know the minimum size of the Universe must be, along with how we know it. “The greatest enemy […]
This star cloud is the only one of its kind: the densest large concentration of stars in the entire sky! Image credit: Dan Bush of Missouri Skies, via http://www.pbase.com/image/115380497. “It […]
Even for city dwellers, the wonders of a dark, night sky might be closer than you imagine. “Every moment of light and dark is a miracle.” –Walt Whitman It was just […]
A uniquely-darkened spiral galaxy is one of the most unusual sights in the night sky. But what gives it its one-of-a-kind appearance? “Some day I hope to meet you. When […]
From Earth and beyond, these time lapses show our one-of-a-kind motion through the Universe. “Building one space station for everyone was and is insane: we should have built a dozen.” […]
Miya Tokumitsu writes with incisive elegance about our altogether elitist and self-indulgent view that our experts have these days about the relationship between love and work. That view, of course, […]
In order to better visualize the Martian moon Phobos, images from the European Space Agency’s Mars Express orbiter have been combined to create a virtual rotation movie.
Do black holes exist? The world’s most famous scientist vs. the actual science. “My goal is simple. It is a complete understanding of the Universe, why it is as it is […]
Here are two maps that are also cartograms, using the same method to present each country’s population size: one square represents one million people.
Take a moment today to appreciate exactly how lucky we are to have what we do. “It took less than an hour to make the atoms, a few hundred million years […]
It was the most promising idea for where new physics might lie. Now that the LHC data is in, is it dead? “The revolution is not an apple that falls when […]
The most striking thing you will notice is the peanut shape of the central bulge of the galaxy, as viewed from a different perspective than we get from Earth.
‘Religion’ is a Western word and concept. There’s only one “Religion” -this category. Naturally the West will generously promote “religious freedom” as long as terms and conditions apply: We are […]
I’ve written a guest post over at Dean Burnett’s Guardian Science blog about an important piece of information that is not getting through to people who have had brain injuries. See […]
The simple truths revealed by the sky throughout the night give us a perspective unlike any other. “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you […]