An Astronaut’s Life, by his son
This biography of space shuttle astronaut Bruce McCandless is written by his son, of the same name. They are distinguished by Roman numeral. The astronaut is II, and his son…
Webb Space Telescope at SXSW
Two panel discussions were devoted to the Webb Space Telescope at SXSW in Austin last month: one on engineering, the other on science. “What we’re seeing in this beautiful new…
ARTEMIS: The Next Moon Mission
The first crew for the Artemis mission to the Moon was announced just a few weeks after a session at SXSW on NASA’s plans to send people to the Moon…
Dr. Stamets heralds new Paradigm of Consciousness
“You can’t help but be spiritual thinking about astronomy.” So said Dr. Paul Stamets, whose appearance before a packed conference room at SXSW was full of hope for the future.…
WILLIAM SHATNER at SXSW: Go Be a Scientist!!
Captain Kirk beamed down to Austin to attend SXSW. In addition to his appearance as a keynote speaker, he also was in attendance later that day for the premiere of…
ASTEROIDS at SXSW
In January this year an asteroid passed closer to Earth than some satellites in orbit. Dr. Paul Chodas said that when asteroids are predicted to get really close to Earth…
Carbon is Not the Enemy!
What to do with all that carbon dioxide and methane polluting the atmosphere? Instead of trying to eliminate them, which is the goal of many countries flailing to achieve a…
Apollo to the Moon: We Were Explorers
In anticipation of the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing in July, two major players from the Apollo days of the 1960s and 70s appeared in Austin at…
Copenhagen: A Wild Improbability
This play about physics is, to use words uttered within the play itself, “a wild improbability.” Written by Michael Frayn, Copenhagen premiered in London in 1998. The Broadway opening in…
THE GATES OF HELL: First Black Hole Image
“We’re looking at a region that we’ve never looked at before — a region we cannot imagine being there. It feels like looking at the gates of Hell, at the…