“My Friend the Chatbot“, Discover, November/December 2024

“Life lessons from hell-house Venus“, Nautilus, June 2024

Venus might have been a temperate oasis with oceans and seasonable temperatures. What changed? I discuss some ideas on why Venus is the hell-house it currently is and how we can use this knowledge in our quest to find life elsewhere.

“In Search of the Most Massive Star”, Sky and Telescope, August 2024

How massive can stars get? In this feature, I explore how astronomers have used observations and theory to see if there indeed is a theoretical largest star.

“Dark energy: a brief history“, Sky and Telescope, February 2024

25 years ago, the scientific community discovered that a mysterious force, dubbed dark energy, was pushing the Universe apart. In this article I discuss the history of this dramatic finding. This article won second place for the Science Communicators of North Carolina Journalism Awards for 2024.

“Lego bricks are making science more accessible“, MIT Technology Review, June 2024

Scientists use the iconic colorful bricks to build everything from bioprinters to microscopes—increasing the accessibility of science in the process.  I discuss how four teams around the world are using Legos in the lab.

“How rocks and minerals play with light to produce breathtaking colors“, Big Think, July 2023

“Space travel will radically change human psychology and spirituality“, Big Think, February 2023

As we step further and further into space, it will change how we think about ourselves, our religions, and our spirituality. It will also radically affect our psychology. I explore some of the implications of space travel in this article.

“What Einstein and Bohr’s debate over quantum entanglement taught us about reality“, Big Think, October 2022

If you’ve ever been to a scientific conference, you will see a lot of debate where great scientists hash out the meanings of experiments and the implications of theories. This also happened in the early 1900s, when great minds like Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, and Schrödinger debated quantum entanglement and its implications. In this article, I delve into the history and the science of quantum entanglement.

“A Time Standard for the Moon – Thanks to General Relativity“, Physics, September 2024

As part of an effort to establish a lunar time standard, researchers have used relativity to calculate time differences between Earth and the Moon.

“Gravitational-Wave Memory May Illustrate Spacetime Symmetries“, Physics, June 2024

Ripples in space-time, gravitational waves, may leave a permanent imprint of their passage. I discuss what we can learn about their signatures.

“Some White Dwarfs Might be Older than Previously Thought“, Physics, April 2024

White dwarfs were always assumed to be dead stars, slowly cooling by radiating away their remaining heat. But new research shows that an unusual process may heat up these stars once more.

“Earth’s magnetic field supports biblical stories of destruction of ancient cities“, Big Think, December 2023

In this award-winning piece, I tell the story of battles in Judea, thousands of years ago, with fires that raged so hot that they melted rocks within cities. As these rocks resolidified, they oriented in the direction of the Earth’s magnetic field. This leads to an accurate dating technique, filling in gaps in biblical history and archeology.

“No music on Mars: Sound is different on the red planet “, Big Think, May 2022

We have an idea of what Mars looks like. But what does it sound like? I talk about the physics of sound on Mars and describe what it would be like to listen to a concert on this alien planet.

“The Bizarre Shape of our Universe“, Up and Atom, September 2024

What is the shape of our Universe? What does such a question even mean? In a YouTube script I wrote for the channel Up and Atom, I explore these questions.

“Floods in India – A View of Climate Change from Under the River“, SparkDialog Podcasts, July 2021

There are places in the world where climate change cannot be ignored.  One of those areas is North Bihar, India.  Today’s podcast guest, Dr. Luisa Cortesi, is an environmental anthropologist studying water disasters.  She just happened to be living in India when two of the region’s largest floods hit.  Today she speaks on climate change, caste, culture, and what it’s like when an enormous river suddenly changes course.

“Quantum Entanglement, Consciousness, and the Nature of Reality”, SparkDialog Podcasts, April 2021

Quantum entanglement is weird. Two particles can share properties no matter where they are in the Universe. Have they always shared these properties, and they are somehow hidden from us, or do they decide these properties the moment they are measured, and somehow communicate across the vastness of space, instantaneously? Or is something else at work? Can people become entangled? Can we put a human consciousness in a sort of “Schrodinger’s Cat” situation, where they are in two states at once? And is your reality the same as my reality? Guest Dr. Eric Cavalcanti addresses these questions and more on this episode of SparkDialog Podcasts.

‘The Science of Subjectivity: The World Your Brain Creates“, SparkDialog Podcasts, August 2020

Why do we see the world as subjective? How is the reality that I see different than from what you see? Does our brain lie to us? Dr. Jorge Morales joins me to talk about the science of the subjective, optical illusions, if we need to be conscious to form a subjective opinion of the world, and when our brain gets it wrong.

“How We Found Out Meteors Are Actually Little Rocks From Space Burning Up In The Atmosphere“, SparkDialog Podcasts, February 2020

People didn’t always know that meteors were from space. How did they figure THAT out? From the moments of terror during historical meteor storms to clever ways that early astronomers figured out what meteors were, I take you on a journey through the history of meteor showers.

“They’re Not Speaking English – Decoding a Message from ET“, SparkDialog Podcasts, September 2019

If we were to hear a message from extraterrestrials, how would we go about decoding it? And what’s the best way to send our own message? I talk to Dr. Sheri Wells-Jensen, a xenolinguist, who studies aliens languages.

“The Future of the Universe“, SparkDialog Podcasts, March 2019

What is the far future of the Universe? I am joined by Dr. Avi Loeb and Dr. Ethan Siegel to discuss the future of our sun, and our Galaxy, if black holes will last forever, and what the Universe will be like once the stars burn out.