I found myself outdoors, among a small group of fellow onlookers, watching an unbelievable sight slowly unfold in the black, wintry night sky. Two planets, identical to the Earth in composition and much nearer to us than is the moon, were on a collision course with each other. They approached with the grace of a…
Consider deep space and the following category of image will be noticeably without representation among the scenes you call to mind: the standing-on-its-surface view of an alphanumeric-labeled planet. A Google image search confirms that the visuals we conjure are largely a reflection of the types of images satellites have dutifully transmitted back to Earth for…
The concept of opposites is described to children as representing the maximum dissimilarity possible between two things that share a relation—hot and cold are opposites sharing a relation in temperature, approaching and receding are opposites sharing a relation in proximity over time, etc. So when some of these children become adults and find themselves contemplating…
Water droplets suspended in the air congregate on the surface of a newly towel-dried body. Taking a shower in a humid environment without using the bathroom fan is asking for sticky clothes or bedsheets, whichever you might be slipping into after the clean. Getting into bed fully clothed, like the main character of my favorite…
If you’re drinking water, it feels like a liquid. Alternately, if you managed to escape through an emergency exit the cabin of a doomed ocean-crossing airplane but forgot to locate an unsupplied parachute, the calm waves feel more like cement when you land. Let’s take it to eleven: a sea otter floating on his back…
Unfortunately I can’t take credit for this gem of a hypothetical idea, but I was lucky enough to be in the discussion when it came up at a party a couple months ago. Like most hypothetical ideas, this one requires that an assumption be made. However, it’s not a very difficult assumption to make. All…
While undressing a couple nights ago, I removed a long sleeve shirt which ignited a firestorm of static electricity bursting atoms that I could hear crackle and pop. Do you know what I mean? Where you don’t get shocked but you can hear and sort of feel the electrons bursting out of their shells and…
It’s very close-minded of scientists to think that all life in the (as far as we know) infinite universe is as water dependent as life on earth. Yet this is exactly what the scientists who get excited with evidence of water having been on mars are saying. Yes, all life on earth needs water to…
One of the things that frustrates me a bit is that in spite of the complexities and inexplicable nature of life and the universe, we only have a mere 3 states of matter. Well, there is plasma, but even though it is the most common state of matter in space, it’s very rare on earth…
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