One of my favorite astrophotographers, Alan Friedman, spied something odd on the Moon.

Flying reindeer I’ll buy. But an inertialess propulsion system? C’mon.

Happy holidays everyone!

Credit: Alan Friedman

I know some people have Christmas on their mind today, but this is a bit too literal: a brain scan taken at Newcastle University turned up a familiar face nose:

I always pictured him as somewhat bigger.

The part of the brain they were imaging? The hippocampus. Eh, close enough.

Happy holidays to all, and to all a clear night!

Tip o’ the stirring creature to BABloggee Michael Lonergan

So you read this blog, which means you’re a hopeless geek. And chances are, you have other such folks in your life too (I have too many to count^*). And what geek doesn’t want more books? One who’s dead, that’s who, and assuming your geek friends aren’t zombies, then they’re both alive and want books. So here are a few that might keep them enthralled over winter’s chill grasp.

The Science of Battlestar Galactica by Patrick di Justo and Kevin Grazier

BSG is one of the very few scifi shows that made the crossover into mainstream, and for good reason: tough, gritty, and with a devotion to getting as much of the science right as possible. That last bit was in no small part due to my friend Kevin Grazier who was the science advisor on the show, and is the co-author of this book. I was expecting it to be pretty good, but it still exceeded my expectations. It was a very enjoyable read, briskly taking on cutting-edge scientific ideas as explored in BSG. Artificial Intelligence (duh), faster-than-light travel, radiation, weaponry, ships, planetary science — it’s a complete and nerdtastic dissection of all the science you ever saw in the show. Before the book came out, Kevin and I would debate various science topics in the show (he always had some comeback to my critiques) and I had a lot of fun finding those same arguments in the book. If you’re a BSG fan, then yeah, you want this book.

The Amazing Story of Quantum Mechanics by James Kakalios

James is the author of The Physics of Superheroes and was the science advisor for the Watchmen movie, so you know we’re talking serious dork here. He’s also a really good writer; this new book on quantum mechanics was a lot of fun to read. He ties together comic book and pulp story predictions of the future with the way things really turned out, stressing that the energy revolution predicted (that would give us rockets to other stars and flying cars) turned out to be an information revolution fanned by advances in QM. And this weirdest of all sciences is made understandable by James; I’ve always wondered how glow-in-the-dark materials work, why lasers hardly need any energy source given how bright and strong they are, and just what makes semi-conductors so versatile. It’s all there. Also? Coolest cover for a science book ever.

(more…)

Happy Wholidays!

And no, I’m not insanely jealous of everyone who watched End of Time Part 1 today, why do you ask?

<grumble>

Picture credit: BBC

Who needs to dream of a white Christmas when you live in Boulder? But as a devoted astronomer, I need a little polychromaticism in my life, too.

Enjoy a fun and happy holiday, folks.

P.S. Last year’s holiday message still holds, too.

One of the reasons I love this time of year is that Mrs. BA is a fantastic cook and baker. She was making cutout cookies the the day, and asked if I wanted anything special.

Well, duh.

Who wouldn’t want a cookie that’s bigger on the inside than the outside?

And of course, more apropos of the season:

MMMmmmmmm. Sacrilicious.