Welcome to another chapter in my ongoing saga entitled "big things are not small things." In this edition of big vs. small, let's look at hot stuff. Here I have three aluminum objects. A large block, a small block, and […]
Science season in Antarctica begins in November, when noontime temperatures at McMurdo Station climb to a balmy 18 degrees Fahrenheit and the sun hangs in the sky all day and night. For a researcher traveling there from the United States, […]
Everyone knows I love both Star Wars and physics. I've been wanting to do a physics post for Solo: A Star Star Wars Story—but I've waiting. I like to wait until the movie is available for home viewing (online or […]
Update: the SpaceX launch has been delayed. Elon Musk has long promised a constellation of thousands of satellites, called Starlink, which Musk hopes will one day handle half of all internet traffic—and earn him billions in access fees. It's one […]
Sometimes it's right on the box of rice mix—the high altitude version of cooking instructions. Usually this means that your rice will have to cook a little bit longer if you are in Denver or at the top of Mount […]
Inside a sealed clean room near Toulouse, France, Maurice Sylvestre points out something called SuperCam. Tall, with square-frame glasses, a corduroy jacket and a full head of brown hair, he resembles a mid-1980s version of actor Michael Caine, if Caine […]
I’m not what you’d call a coordinated man, so basketball horrifies me. All the dribbling, all the shooting—all while running and dodging people trying to smack the ball out of your hands. Basketball players have to be one with the […]
It’s no secret that the pharmaceutical industry wields big influence over doctors who prescribe painkillers. But the data is mounting on the extent of that relationship and the many thousands of lives it has cost. This week came new revelations […]
We as a species would be miserable without yeast. Baker's yeast has given us leavened bread for thousands of years. And I don’t even want to begin to imagine a world without beer and wine, which rely on yeast to […]
What's the difference between weight and mass? Many people use these terms interchangeably, but that only works because all but a few of us live on Earth. If we start taking up residence in space colonies, on the Moon or […]