Making nuclear energy cheap: The view from the Breakthrough Institute
I have been wanting to highlight this review of strategies to make nuclear energy cheap and efficient from the Breakthrough Institute for a while.
"space"
The Photons Of Your Life
An unusual question raises an intriguing idea. At a party a few nights ago a friend approached me with a dilemma. A relative of theirs had died, and the spouse was trying to understand if it was at all possible that there was still ‘something’ of their partner in existence; a tangible part of their [...]..
The Sciences
Thank You, Guest Editor LeVar Burton
We at Scientific American share several passions with the actor, producer and educator LeVar Burton: fostering children's literacy, science, social good and education.
The Most Colorful View of the Universe Captured by Space Telescope
What do you get when you add a little ultraviolet to images captured by the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014? Some pretty amazing images. By utilizing a full spectrum of colour from ultraviolet to near infared, NASA astronomers have created the most colourful deep space images to date...
The Most Colorful View of Universe Captured by Space Telescope
What do you get when you add a little ultraviolet to images captured by the Hubble Ultra Deep Field 2014? Some pretty amazing images. By utilizing a full spectrum of colour from ultraviolet to near infared, NASA astronomers have created the most colourful deep space images to date...
The Sciences
Verizon Ad Warns Parents Not to Squelch Daughters' Interest in Science
At a time when we are still seeing subtle and not-so-subtle opposition to fostering young girls’ interest in STEM disciplines and to women’s mobility in professional science, it’s encouraging to see this ad from Verizon asking parents to not squelch their daughters’ natural curiosity...
Multiverse Skeptic Whacks Multiverse Peddler for Whacking End of Science
I suppose I should be grateful that, 18 years after the release of my book The End of Science, people still care enough about it to knock it.
Space & Physics
All Aboard the 100 Year Starship
In 2012, I asked LeVar Burton (who comandeered the Scientific American website as guest editor on Wednesday) if he would join me on a trip across time and space, to another star.
Space & Physics
The Logic and Beauty of Cosmological Natural Selection
I have a prediction. There is a scientific hypothesis, formulated over 20 years ago, that we will one day look back on, when the evidence is in, and say “Of course that was right!
Space & Physics
Time Travel: Installing an Atomic Clock at 15,000 Feet
A few months ago I went to Cambridge, Mass. to check in with the Event Horizon Telescope crew and found Shep Doeleman, the project leader, fresh off the completion of a major purchase.
The Sciences
Star Trek's LeVar Burton to Be Scientific American Guest Web Editor June 11
NuqneH! Buy' ngop! That's "greetings" and "good news" in Klingon. These otherworldly tidings seem like a fitting way to let you know that LeVar Burton, who played the U.S.S.
Space & Physics
Space: A New Hope or an Old Dream?
The release of a long-awaited National Academy of Sciences report on the state and future of the US space program has triggered wide-reaching commentary on what it means to be space-faring...
Space & Physics
Exoplanet Size: It’s Elementary
Since quite early in the history of the discovery of planets around other stars it’s been apparent that the likelihood of certain types of planets around a star is related to the abundance of heavy elements in that system...
The Sciences
Even Einstein Was a Fool in Love
NEW YORK—When it came to relationships, Albert Einstein was no Einstein. In fact, the famous genius's romantic entanglements could rival the dysfunction of a typical Jerry Springer guest...
The Last Man on the Moon
This week’s video comes from a post by Joanne Manaster on PsiVid: “It's no secret, I'm a space geek. And the other non-secret is I love when a good space travel book is turned into a movie...
Is All the Universe From Nothing?
In March, a team of researchers based in Antarctica announced they'd detected gravitational waves, faint echoes from the first moments of the Big Bang.
Space & Physics
Spacecraft to Have a Last Dangerous Dance with Venus
In about a month’s time, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Venus Express spacecraft will adjust its orbit and dip into the outer venusian atmosphere...
The Last Man on the Moon
It’s no secret, I’m a space geek. And the other non-secret is I love when a good space travel book is turned into a movie. Astronaut Gene Cernan is known for being “The Last Man on the Moon” as he was the last man to walk on the moon during the Apollo 17 mission...
Space & Physics
Backlash to Big Bang Discovery Gathers Steam
Physicists cast doubt on a landmark experiment’s claim to have observed gravitational waves from the big bang
Truth and beauty in science
Philip Ball who is one of my favorite science writers has a thoughtful rumination on the constant tussle between beauty and truth in science.
