Category Archives: Science

What If? Rejects #2.1: Antimatter

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Previous post in this series: Fire. Next post in this series: Tears. It’s time for the third entry in my What If? Rejects series—questions too absurd for Randall to answer scientifically. Today’s question: Q: Would dumping anti-matter into the Chernobyl … Continue reading →

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What If? Rejects #1.2: Fire

Posted on October 22, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Previous post in this series: Teeth. Next post in this series: Antimatter. I am working through the questions in Randall Munroe’s book, What If? that Randall declined to answer. Here is the second one. Q. How many houses are burned … Continue reading →

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What If? Rejects #1.1: Teeth

Posted on October 18, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Next post in this series: Fire. Randall Munroe’s bestselling book, What If? answers many absurd hypothetical questions with serious scientific answers. However, there are a number of questions that Randall refuses to answer and prints solely for entertainment value. These … Continue reading →

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Cosmos side by side: part 3

Posted on June 11, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey has wrapped up, with the final episode airing last Sunday. Here I am reviewing Episodes 10-13 of the series. See also my reviews of Episodes 1-4 and Episodes 5-9.

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The Sun’s big brother found

Posted on May 14, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

The Sun was born 4.57 billion years ago from a giant molecular cloud, as one of probably hundreds or even thousands of members of a freshly-minted open star cluster. So where are all these brothers and sisters of the Sun? … Continue reading →

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Cosmos side by side: part 2

Posted on May 5, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

This is my review of Episodes 5-9 of the new Cosmos series, hosted by Neil deGrasse Tyson. See my review of Episodes 1-4 here. The middle third of the new Cosmos series branches out more from the original, tackling many … Continue reading →

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Cosmos side by side

Posted on April 3, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Neil deGrasse Tyson’s Cosmos: A Spacetime Odyssey aired its fourth episode this week. The long-awaited follow-up to Carl Sagan’s Cosmos: A Personal Voyage may only be enjoying modest ratings in our modern 500-channels-with-DVR-and-Internet media, but it continues to keep pace … Continue reading →

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2012 VP113: a weird new “dwarf planet”

Posted on March 28, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Astronomers Chad Trujillo and Scott Sheppard announced this week the discovery of a new icy world in the outer Solar System, named 2012 VP113. Trujillo is a colleague of Mike Brown, who discovered the dwarf planet Eris, which is larger … Continue reading →

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Math is hard

Posted on March 22, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

Math is hard. That may sound strange coming from an astrophysicist with a degree in math, but in some ways, it’s very true. Yes, it gets easier with practice, but only up to a point. I can attest from experience … Continue reading →

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On Giordano Bruno

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Alex R. Howe

The new Cosmos TV series has drawn criticism for its depiction of Giordano Bruno, a Dominican Monk and philosopher who was burned at the stake for heresy in 1600. A lot has been said about this, including criticism of the … Continue reading →

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