When it really comes down to it, the wild success of mathematics in describing physical concepts is what makes it matter so much. The mythologies and folk legends that have sprung up around the history of science tell us that it was mathematics that led us out of our ignorant state, that it was quantitative […]
Not so long ago, I came across a comment suggesting that writing for “the general public” (I have issues with this term, but they’ll wait for another time) is a little bit like writing for children. The implication, I think, is that nonspecialists are ignorant, have short attention spans and will not understand or appreciate […]
International Women’s Day is never easy for me. I love celebrating other women, but I see myself as too awkward and abrasive to do anything worth celebrating. This year was especially hard, because it was my first International Women’s Day since I left physics properly and became a science communicator. I’m still in touch with […]
The BBC is creating a “Crossing Divides” season, which is all about having difficult conversations. For the record, I do believe that we need to have difficult conversations with others. Most of the conversations we need to have are difficult. I just don’t believe this particular game is modelling good or sensible behaviour. The game […]
Over the summer, I’ve been working on the fabulous Sound of Astronomy, writing for and editing Popular Astronomy, applying for everything and its mother in my frantic quest to get myself on my feet after graduation…and of course, taking in all of the science news I can! Whether I’m reading, catching up on podcasts or […]
Tonight, the Perseids are peaking. As corny as it is to say this, they’re quite possibly my favourite meteor shower of the year. I associate them with having the free time to actually go outside and stay awake into the small hours, and also with being able to go outside without freezing my skin off […]
First came blue moons and blood moons. Then came supermoons, where the full moon draws closest to Earth in its orbit. Then came the super blood moon of 2015, which was not super big but was definitely super fun to watch with friends. Now the super blue blood moon is on its way, ready to […]
Short post here; I don’t have the energy right now for a longer one. I’ve been looking at my output and, well, I’ve only written one actual article this month. It’s a shame, especially with so much wonderful space news having come out of the 231st American Astronomical Society Meeting, but I’ve got exams to […]
Recently I wrote an article for Skymania about some fascinating cosmology. Briefly, black holes might have formed in the first second after the Big Bang (https://arxiv.org/pdf/1612.02529.pdf and https://arxiv.org/pdf/1706.09003.pdf), be responsible for dark matter (the idea that primordial black holes might account for all or part of the dark matter in the universe has been toyed […]
In April, Cassini began its Grand Finale, a set of daring dives between Saturn’s rings and the planet itself. Come September 15, it will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, where it will keep transmitting data until its antenna can no longer keep locked onto Earth, over a billion kilometres away. Cassini has done so much science: […]
