Update 30 August 2025 I have extensively expanded and rewritten all three “A Short Guide to…” e-books. I will make these books available on Kindle for a competitive price. However, in future I won’t do any deals where I offer free or discounted prices on these books for a limited time period. I believe the books offer… Continue reading Books from Explaining Science 2023
In this post I’ll talk about curvature, what terms such as flat, positive and negative curvature mean and how this applies to the Universe. I won’t use complex mathematical definitions here, but intuitively curvature is a measure of how much a two-dimensional surface deviates from being flat. This concept can be extended to any number… Continue reading Is the Universe curved?
I was disturbed to read the recent UN report pointing out that the government plans and projections from the major fossil fuel producers would lead to an increase in global coal production until 2030, and in global oil and gas production until at least 2050. This conflicts with government commitments under the Paris Agreement, and… Continue reading Rising use of fossil fuels
On 30 November 2023 the 28th United Nations Climate Change conference (COP 28) will open at Expo City, Dubai My somewhat pessimistic view is that our chances of significantly reducing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere over the next 10-15 years or so don’t look particularly promising - mainly because there is the competing objective… Continue reading COP26 Two years on
In 2023 September 23 is the date of the September equinox and is also the first day of autumn (or the first day of spring if you're one of my readers in the Southern Hemisphere). In this post I’ll talk about the equinoxes and discus the commonly held, but incorrect, view that they are the… Continue reading September 23 2023 the equinox
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