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Ethan Siegel is a theoretical astrophysicist who currently teaches at Lewis & Clark College in Portland, OR. You can learn about him, contact him, or just enjoy the site.
April 8th @ 7PM -- premiere of the short film "Dark Matter", starring me, at Hollywood Theatre in Portland, OR!
November 20, 2009
Category: Q & A
Black holes have come up a couple of times this week, and I've always wondered something. When you fall into a black hole, all sorts of strange things happen. The most well-known one is that nothing -- not even light...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 7:29 PM • 31 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: black holes
Why it is that of all the billions and billions of strange objects in the Cosmos -- novas, quasars, pulsars, black holes -- you are beyond doubt the strangest? -Walker Percy When you watch someone fall into a black hole,...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 5:15 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 18, 2009
Category: black holes
In the comments on one of my posts, someone pointed me towards Stephen Crothers, who gives the following argument (in a nutshell) as to why black holes cannot possibly exist: General Relativity is our theory of gravity, which relates the...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 10:25 PM • 45 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 17, 2009
Category: Astronomy
Some meteor showers are spectacular, while most are mundane. If you sit around during a typical shower, you might see anywhere from 50 to 100 meteors an hour, if the Moon isn't out. If you take a time-lapse photograph and...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 3:17 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 16, 2009
Category: Solar System
I thought I should consult you first before I went ahead with my plan to destroy the Moon. -Greg Angelone, via The Straight Dope Last week, scientists from LCROSS announced that they had detected "a buttload" of water on the...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 7:12 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 14, 2009
Category: Random Stuff
But I want you to know something... you and me, it's not gonna be a one-way street. 'Cause I don't believe in one-way streets. Not between people, and not while I'm driving. So, here's some advice I wish I woulda...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 2:40 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 13, 2009
Category: Physics
Can you touch your toes? Seems like an easy thing to do for those of us who have the flexibility. Now, here's the challenge. Stand with your back and your heels pressed up against a wall, and now try to...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 4:38 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 12, 2009
Category: Galaxies
Professor Hubert Farnsworth: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all. Fry: Oh. What's it called now? Professor Hubert Farnsworth: Urrectum. Here, let me locate it for you. Fry: No,...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 7:16 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 11, 2009
Category: Dark Energy
Though the Sun is gone, I have a light. -Kurt Cobain Last time we visited dark energy, we discussed its initial discovery. This came about from the fact that supernovae observed with a certain redshift (i.e., moving away from us)...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 9:25 PM • 19 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
November 10, 2009
Category: biology
Yesterday, I talked about why we should look for a history of life on Mars, and had an article for SEED magazine to that effect. After all, we've made some recent geological finds that are surefire indicators of past liquid...
Posted by Ethan Siegel at 4:52 PM • 85 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Neurophilosophy 11.19.2009
The Island of Doubt 11.20.2009
Greg Laden's Blog 11.20.2009
The World's Fair 11.19.2009
Laelaps 11.20.2009
