Category Archives: Science

Passages by Benford

Posted on Friday 16 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

I’ve been belatedly catching up on 2014 short fiction in the past two or three weeks, moreso than I’ve done in the past two or three years; not enough to in time contribute substantially to the Locus Recommended Reading List, … Continue reading →

Posted in Science, science fiction, Short Fiction | Comments Off

Links and Comments: Space Suite; Nice Guys Finish First; Debunking Myths; Is the US Crazy?

Posted on Wednesday 14 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

More links and comments from the past week or so, leading with the positive. — First, a ‘Space Suite’ video animation of the planets in our solar system. Very cool. — The AsapSCIENCE guys have this video about how “Nice … Continue reading →

Posted in Culture, Philosophy, Science | Comments Off

The Imitation Game

Posted on Monday 5 January 2015 by Mark R. Kelly

(copied from Facebook post, 22 Dec 2014) We caught up with THE IMITATION GAME yesterday, the film about Alan Turing, staring Benedict Cumberbatch and Keira Knightley. Turing was the British mathematician who famously cracked the Nazi “Enigma” code during World … Continue reading →

Posted in Films, Science, The Gays | Comments Off

Hawking’s Theory of Everything

Posted on Wednesday 17 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Stephen Hawking & Leonard Mlodinow, THE GRAND DESIGN (2010) This is the most recent book authored (or co-authored) by Stephen Hawking, the well-known brilliant physicist, subject of the recent film The Theory of Everything. The film depicts (in addition to … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Cosmology, Philosophy, Physics, Science | Comments Off

The Science of Interstellar

Posted on Wednesday 10 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Just finished reading Kip Thorne’s THE SCIENCE OF INTERSTELLAR, a big trade paperback with lots of diagrams and a few photos. Takeaways: 1) Thorne was one of the creators of the initial premise for the film, long before Christopher Nolan … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Cosmology, Films, Physics, Science, Space | Comments Off

Links and Comments: Memory, Math, Church and State, Faith, Facts, Stories

Posted on Friday 5 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

New York Times: Why Our Memory Fails Us A fascinating NYT op-ed about the fallibility of memory, led by a notorious example from Neil DeGrasse Tyson. \/\/\/\/ Math Anxiety: Why Hollywood Makes Robots of Alan Turing and Other Geniuses How … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Lunacy, Mathematics, MInd, Religion, Science | Comments Off

EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, Part 5 and last

Posted on Wednesday 3 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Fifth and final of several posts about Edward O. Wilson’s book THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which as I described earlier both here on my blog and on Facebook, is a concise summary of this important scientist’s views on the … Continue reading →

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EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, Part 4

Posted on Tuesday 2 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Fourth of several posts about Edward O. Wilson’s book THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which as I described earlier both here on my blog and on Facebook, is a concise summary of this important scientist’s views on the big issues … Continue reading →

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EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, part 3

Posted on Monday 1 December 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Third of several posts about Edward O. Wilson’s book THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which as I described earlier both here on my blog and on Facebook, is a concise summary of this important scientist’s views on the big issues … Continue reading →

Posted in Book Notes, Culture, Evolution, Religion, Science | Comments Off

EO Wilson, The Meaning of Human Existence, part 2

Posted on Monday 17 November 2014 by Mark R. Kelly

Second of several posts about Edward O. Wilson’s book THE MEANING OF HUMAN EXISTENCE, which as I described earlier both here on my blog and on Facebook, is a concise summary of this important scientist’s views on the big issues … Continue reading →