Category: Science

Whatever Happened to the First Robin?

The first robin of spring! How long has it been since we’ve heard about that “first robin”? Or seen one? When I was a kid, we took the first robin seriously. Birds had the good sense to fly south for the winter. That was back when we had real winters. At least we did in…

March 28, 2016
One Word: Beg

My white-haired physicist friend assured me he could prove there is no life after death. That certainly caught my attention. He knew it would. That’s because I do believe in human immortality. I think, God willing, that being dead will be a lot of fun. My friend’s bold challenge left me no choice but to hear…

March 7, 2016
One Word: Lucid

I had a lucid dream Wednesday night (February 10-11, 2016). My second one ever. At least that I woke up remembering. This started me thinking about the word “lucid” and how much I love it. It means clear and easily understood. Before discussing that, though, here’s the scoop on lucid dreaming. A lucid dream is…

February 12, 2016
Why All Men Are Transgender

It’s true: All men are transgender. Literally. As usual, it’s all about context. Let’s get us some! Recently I mentioned in an article that my wife, Cheri, is usually right. Joel Smith, in a guest post, said the same a few days later about his wife, Roni. You’d think we guys might get credit, would…

February 10, 2016
Jonah Miller’s “Shrill, Empathic Joys”

You do know I’m a science geek, right? The only problem being, I know very little about actual science! It’s a field – or rather, a collection of fields – for which I have no formal training, no math foundation, no research experience. What I do instead is read obsessively – books, magazines, blogs, and…

February 4, 2016
One Word: Solitude

Some words I love because of the way they sound. The way they feel when I write them. Their playful ambiguities. Their spelling quirks. Others I love mostly on account of what they mean to me. “Solitude” is a word I love for many reasons – but mostly for its meaning. I love to be…

January 27, 2016
Fabiola Gianotti’s Baffling Anagrams

CERN, the world’s top particle physics facility, has a new director-general, the fabulous Fabiola Gianotti. She took the reins this month, having been democratically chosen by colleagues. The soft-spoken, hard-driving, serenely brilliant Italian scientist will need every atom of her legendary stamina for the coming ordeal. That’s not only because she’s the first woman to…

January 21, 2016
One Word: Common

Looking over the list of words I’m writing about, it strikes me how high a percentage are common words – not fancy, unfamiliar words of the literary-technical variety. Not always, of course. I just wrote about “epistemology”, an uncommon word meaning “the study of how we know what we know”. That’s a word I almost…

January 19, 2016
One Word: Epistemology

Here’s a word I almost never use: “epistemology”. And yet – I love it. That odd-sounding word represents one of the defining themes of my life. A theme that runs through all my books and writings. A theme that engages my thoughts, rivets my attention. That theme is a question: How do we know what…

January 18, 2016
Supermoon Eclipse: What They’re Not Telling You

Blood moon. Supermoon. Total lunar eclipse. When these effects coincide (as they will Sunday evening, 10:11 p.m. Eastern time), it’s a very Big Deal. For all the scientific reasons you’re already hearing everywhere. And one non-scientific, personal reason you’ll hear ᴏɴʟʏ from me. First, the science: ✦ Total lunar eclipse: The earth comes directly between the…

September 26, 2015
A Place With Four Suns!

“There is a place with four suns in the sky — red, white, blue and yellow; two of them are so close together that they touch, and starstuff flows between them. I know of a world with a million moons. I know of a sun the size of the Earth — and made of diamond…

October 17, 2014
Introducing Fractal Fran

Say hello to Fractal Fran, my new digital art assistant and avatar. She’ll be your guide to spellbinding digital designs and fractal art (plus, perhaps, occasional photography of a more traditional nature). Large, soulful eyes. Neon turban. Green whiskers. Small, pursed lips. These and other traits mark Fran as an emissary from the Vardax home-world. Vardax…

October 13, 2014