Human males do not reach full physical maturity until the age of twenty-four. Educational training can take even longer; in my case it took until age thirty to complete all my education and … more

The phrase “a hard nut to crack” aptly describes coconuts, Brazil nuts, and spies trained to resist interrogation. A new research study by Yale University geophysicist Jun Korenaga … more

Coined in the nineteenth century, the phrase “silent majority” referred to the dead and the fact that the number of people who have died far outnumbers the people who are … more

Caleb Scharf, director of Columbia University’s multidisciplinary Astrobiology Center, writes a wonderfully informative blog entitled Life, Unbounded. The topics of Scharf’s posts … more

It was 1980. I was scheduled to speak in what was then an extremely violent part of Soweto, South Africa. Five burly men joined me in a car ride to the event; I sat in the middle of the back seat and … more

In 1995, astronomers detected, for the first time, planets outside the solar system .1 At the time, many researchers expressed great optimism that most, if not all, exoplanets would prove to be close … more

During my late teens some friends entered me in a dance endurance contest. Unbeknownst to me, they laid bets about how long I could go before my pace would slow down. Long after I’d worn out … more

On a larger scale, another form of California dreamin’ is the desire of modern-day humans for a bigger planetary home. In fact, the latest justification for an atheistic worldview is the charge … more

I spent most of my childhood in Vancouver, British Columbia. On those rare winter days when we did get snow it was wet and slushy. Consequently, getting hit by a snowball in Vancouver was a much more … more

When extrasolar gas giant planets were first discovered in 1995,1 many astronomers presumed these planets would prove close analogues to the gas giants in our solar system. The list of known … more

Currently, astronomers have identified over 40 multi-planet extrasolar planetary systems. Accurate data on the orbits of the planets in these systems permits researchers to address the following … more

On June 5–6, 2012, a rare solar system event will occur. Venus will transit across the face of the Sun. Such a transit occurs when Venus aligns perfectly between the Sun and Earth allowing … more

In previous centuries, headhunting tribes used exotic techniques to shrink the severed heads of their victims. In this century, four astronomers from the United States and Britain, led by Oleg Gnedin, … more

Since the first discovery of an extrasolar planet in 1995,1 astronomers have detected more than 400 extrasolar planets, most of which are gas giants like Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. The … more