Last month I had two distinct joys. One was to see an article I wrote getting published on Physics Today! Let me clarify that I wrote this while wearing my science journalist hat, and that it was actually years in the making: I first heard about its subject long ago, and immediately wondered how this is not more widely known. “This” is the fact that the jets springing from gigantic black holes actually aren’t thin cones, the mental image that many people have. Instead, they have parabolic shape up to a very large distance and then become cones. (Although it’s not certain yet what’s the percentage of black holes with this shape.) So, I was glad I got to be the one writing about it.
Second thing that gave me distinct joy: I went on a trip to Prague. I must say that the whole city looks good, but the historical centre is out of this world. And I confess that Prague and Tokyo are the two places where, after a few days in each, I was seeing detailed artistic patterns that my brain was creating spontaneously as I was closing my eyelids. (Yes, some drugs are legal in Czechia, but this had nothing to do. Just beauty overload.)
If you haven’t already, may I suggest you read the month’s Ph-news. It has three good astro-happenings plus a little something on my pet peeve: physics theories that have taken an anti-scientific turn, while at the same time becoming increasingly popular. Yes, it happens. A lot.
Now let me say goodbye with a couple of links:
- Cozy futurism (“starts not with technology but with current problems and human needs and looking at how those could be solved and met; then you work backwards from there to the technologies, cultural shifts or policy changes needed to get there.”)
- A collection of incredible titles of scientific papers. From “How degenerate can we be?” to “Why continue with nuclear physics?”.
- “The People Whose Minds Are Completely Blank“.
Say “hi”, “well written” or “are you even serious” in the comments, and don’t let anyone spoil your mood.
