Something has been bugging me for a while. In recent years astronomers have realised there might be another planet in our solar system. For now it is called Planet Nine and we think it is there because we can see its gravity lining up smaller solar system objects. It...
Do you ever get the sense that you’re being lied to? That those around you have fed you untruths your entire life and no-one else seems to question it? I’m not talking about the latest twists in the current crazy political landscape or any half-baked...
If you are afraid of speaking in public, then you certainly aren’t alone. Survey after survey has shown it to be one of the things that people fear the most. In a now infamous poll from the 1970s, forty-one per cent of people said they were afraid of public speaking,...
A few weeks ago I was giving a talk in a school on my kids book Why Space Matters to Me. At the end a girl asked me what seemed a fairly simple question: “why is the sky up?” My answer was equally simple, but her jaw dropped when I gave it. “It...
Next week I’ll be in Helsinki, speaking at the Upgraded Life Festival about why healthcare professionals and astronomers should work together more. At first the fit might not seem obvious. What do those who diagnose disease have in common with people studying...
Many of us are guilty of what I think is a well-intentioned mistake: we ask children to imagine the jobs they want to do when they are older. When they don’t know we give them suggestions. We do it, perhaps, because we were asked the same question as children....
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