Blog Archives

Big shout-out to astronaut Ricky Arnold, who snapped this amazing photograph of Virginia a few hours ago. Most of my family, and most of the people I grew up with, are contained …

Longtime readers of this blog (love you both, mom and dad!) know how I feel about astronauts and social media. Namely, I think every astronaut should be required to use …

Has it really been 6 months since I wrote a blog post? Yikes. Well, at least there’s a good reason. When I started this blog as a newly minted PhD way back …

Since I’ve previously used this blog to write about my admiration for astronauts (links), I thought I’d provide an update on some of the people currently inhabiting the International Space Station. First …

The current President and his cabinet have said a lot of confounding things over these past 100 days or so, but one comment struck me as especially curious. During an …

You may have missed it given all the other headlines of late, but we have an early candidate for science story of the year. Two weeks ago, Elon Musk announced that his company, …

As the Presidency of Barack Hussein Obama draws to a close, I thought I’d remind everyone that he has been a tireless promoter of science for the past eight years. Among other things, …

I’ve now mentioned CRISPR (pronounced “crisper”) gene-editing technology on several different occasions (examples here and here), but I’ve never done a very good job explaining what it is or why it matters. Since …

As you may have already heard, American astronaut Scott Kelly will soon return to Earth, both literally and figuratively, after spending (almost) an entire year aboard the International Space Station. During his …

Yesterday, NASA scientists released the most impressive image of Pluto to date. The image (also featured in the image above) was taken just fifteen minutes after the New Horizons spacecraft zipped past Pluto a few …

Around this time last year, I wrote a blog post about a multinational team of scientists that had used high-resolution satellite imagery to count the number of lakes on Earth. Now comes …

Those of you who watched President Obama’s State of the Union address last January may remember the President giving a shout-out to astronaut Scott Kelly, who was preparing to embark on …

As you’ve no doubt heard by now, the New Horizons spacecraft recently streaked past Pluto and is now transmitting data from its close encounter with the distant dwarf-planet planet back home to Earth. It …

Given that we’ve seen an avalanche of historic headlines over the past week or so (examples here, here, here, and here), you might not have heard about a slew of interesting developments in outer …

Yesterday marked 25 years since the Hubble telescope was launched into orbit. After a famously blurry start, more than a few servicing missions, and at least one totally awesome IMAX movie, the telescope …

Humans have breached yet another taboo, and this time it’s a biggie. Reports are now surfacing that a group of Chinese scientists recently “edited” DNA in human embryos for the …

“If the stars should appear one night in a thousand years, how would men believe and adore, and preserve for many generations the remembrance of the city of God?” ~ Ralph …

I’m happy to report that yesterday’s spacewalk went off without a hitch, and that American astronauts Barry Wilmore (Commander) and Terry Virts (Flight Engineer) are now safely back inside the International Space …

It was barely two months ago that I cited the existence of microbes beneath the ice of Antarctica as one of the biggest science stories of 2014, and now the story is …

Another day, another major development in humanity’s rapidly advancing search for Life elsewhere in the universe. You’ll recall from previous posts that scientists have discovered more than 1,700 exoplanets orbiting distant stars …

It has now been more than a week since the ESA-funded robotic lander known as Philae descended to the surface of comet 67P. Actually, as has been widely reported, the lander’s harpoon …

Unless you make a habit of staring at the Sun, you may not have noticed that our local star is now sporting a new look. Last week, a cluster of sunspots the size …

Last month, a multinational team of scientists announced that they had determined the number and volume of the world’s many lakes for the first time ever. After analyzing reams of …

A single interconnected ocean covers more than 70% of our home planet, and yet we have still never satisfactorily explained where all of this water actually came from. Hypotheses abound, but concrete evidence …

None of us can ever really complain (or boast) about living in the boonies again now that a team of astrophysicists led by John Bochanski of Haverford College has published an …

In 2009, astronaut Mike Massamino made headlines when he became the first person to ever tweet from space, and, a few months later, astronaut Timothy J. Creamer made additional headlines when he became the first …

Given that we now live in era of almost constant surveillance (never thought I’d write that in an offhand manner), and that Earth is apparently ensconced within a cocoon of satellites, I’m always …

You may have missed it given all the other headlines of late, but one of the most ambitious space missions of all time recently passed a critical milestone. First launched …

In other news, it appears as though the drought that’s currently crippling the American West is going to get worse before it gets better. Scientists (and casual observers) have watched …

Scientists have long identified Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, as one of the most intriguing objects in the immediate celestial neighborhood. For starters, there’s its size. Titan is the second-largest moon in …

Scientists have discovered an ancient reef in the unlikeliest of places: the arid plains of southern Namibia. The fossilized reef was produced by coral-like members of the wonderfully named Cloudina genus around 548-million …

Last week, scientists announced that they had discerned new historical details about one of the planet’s most famous waterways, the Strait of Gibraltar. After analyzing core samples from the Gulf of Cádiz, they confirmed …

Scientists have long cited polar bears as exemplars of evolution. They explain that brown fur would obviously do the bears little good on the snow-bleached Arctic sea ice, and that …

Last month, the privately funded Dragon spacecraft delivered the nationally funded High Definition Earth Viewing (HDEV) experiment to the globally funded International Space Station.  We are all the better for it.  Astronauts have since installed …

Palo Alto recently showed that transfusing the protein-rich blood of young mice into the parched veins of old mice can reverse the effects of aging in the latter population. Scientists …

For those of us interested in finding out whether or not Life exists beyond our home planet (and I assume that includes all of us), these are heady days indeed. …

Last month, a team of scientists announced that they had analyzed an “exquisitely preserved” fossilized fern that was more than 180 million years old. They analyzed the calcified fern’s particularly well-preserved stem …

Located roughly equidistant between Antarctica and South America, Signy Island is one of the most remote, and least hospitable, places on Earth. Half of the island is covered in a permanent ice-cap, …

You may recall that I recently posted a remarkable photograph of the Korean Peninsula at night. Taken by astronauts aboard the International Space Station, the photograph shows South Korea ablaze …

Last week, a team of scientists announced that they recently discovered a small amount of Ringwoodite ensconced in an otherwise unexceptional diamond from South America.  Led by geochemist Graham Pearson, the team claims …

While watching the first episode of Cosmos last night, I found myself wanting to scribble down notes each time Neil deGrasse Tyson effortlessly rattled off an amazing fact about the universe.  That, …

Hard to believe that more than thirty years have passed since Carl Sagan first shared his remarkable labor of love, Cosmos, with the rest of the world.  The thirteen-part miniseries was …

Last week, a team of researchers at UC Berkeley announced that they had devised a method of restoring sight in blind mice. Led by molecular biologist Richard H. Kramer, the scientists injected a …

Astronauts aboard the International Space Station recently snapped this startling photograph of one of the most mysterious places on Earth.  As you can see, the image shows North Korea, or, …

Scientists have discovered an ancient piece of the Earth on a ranch in western Australia.  Using highly specialized equipment, a team of geochemists led by John W. Valley analyzed a single grain of zircon crystal and …

“Unless you are one of the first Americans, unless you are a Native American, you came from someplace else.  That’s why we’ve always defined ourselves as a nation of immigrants.”  ~ President …