Back in 1995, I went digitally “undercover” on behalf of a major newspaper to lurk on the online discussion forums of neo-Nazis and white supremacists. The internet was new back then, and not everyone had access yet. But the ‘Net was rapidly proving to be a comfortable gathering space for those with vile antisocial viewpoints, where they could spout and collude in anonymous comfort. (more…)
Uranus Is Not A Black Hole
History made! Decades ago, I recall explaining to someone in my patented condescending tone that it is impossible to photograph a Black Hole. Guess what? Once more, I was wrong wrong wrong. Behold, the first photograph of the event horizon around a supermassive Black Hole. This is indeed wondrous: (more…)
March 14 every year is a special day for me. In North America, it’s “pi day” (3.13…. 3/14… get it?) I was going to celebrate with some actual pie, but my fasting blood sugar levels suggested that that’s not the wisest move, so I reneged.
Today, it’s also a sad day, due to the passing of Dr Stephen Hawking. When I was a young physics student, Hawking fascinated me (as he did everyone else) for so many reasons. His debilitating disease gave him an air of specialness that, thankfully, was well correlated with his intellectual heft. (more…)
Huzzah! The Chinese have just successfully landed a rover on the surface of the Moon. The landing marks the first so-called “soft landing” in four decades. The last one was by the USSR in 1976. It also marks China’s definitive status as the #3 space power in human history, and –dare I suggest it– the #1 contender for a promising deep-space human presence. Let’s not forget that China in 2003 became the third country to independently put people into space. (more…)
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