This feature-length article was originally written for the September-October 2017 issue of Popular Astronomy magazine. Through a modest 4-inch telescope on a clear night, you might be able to see the rings of Saturn and the moons of Jupiter. Through a meter-wide telescope, you might just be able to make out the characteristic blips in… Continue reading Bring Me The Event Horizon
Here we go again. I didn’t really want to write this post. I’m reluctant to give further visibility to something that’s already overly sensationalised. I’m also a little scared of wading back into this controversy, especially since others have already done fantastic jobs, but against my better judgement, here we are. The last time I… Continue reading The Impossible Space Engine is Back
[This feature article was originally written for Popular Astronomy and appears in their May/June 2016 issue.] A little over a billion years ago, back when complex life on Earth was just getting started, two black holes were colliding in a far-off galaxy. Each as massive as thirty Suns, these two behemoths spiralled towards each… Continue reading Ripples in Space Open New Window on Cosmos
[This feature-length article was originally written for Popular Astronomy and appears in their November/December 2015 issue.] The early twentieth century was something of a golden age for physics. It was a time of upheaval, of bold new ideas overturning long-established concepts and the beginning of the quantum revolution. For many, one particular breakthrough from that… Continue reading 100 Years of General Relativity
Cinema-goers in 1985 could be forgiven for being disappointed with the world in 2015. In Marty McFly’s timeline, 2015 was a time of hoverboards, flying cars and miniature rehydratable pizzas. And though Pepsi may have obligingly created the bottle seen in Back to the Future II, the rest of these innovations seem a long way… Continue reading The Future Soon
Broken Symmetry 