In the early hours of Sunday 30 October the clocks go back an hour throughout most of Europe and daylight saving time (DST) comes to an end. In this post I'll talk about the practice of putting the clocks backwards and forwards and why it is falling out of favour The beginning of DST… Continue reading Daylight Saving Time ends 2022
Despite the somewhat difficult relations between Russia and the West in the last few years, it is worth looking back 65 years to October 1957 and the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik 1. This historic event, which caught many in the West by complete surprise, was the beginning of the space age. To… Continue reading 4 October 1957 – Sputnik 1
I was saddened to find out about the recent death, at the age of 92, of Frank Drake, one of the pioneers of SETI. One of the things he is most famous for is the equation bearing his name which estimates the number of intelligent civilisations in our galaxy, the Drake equation. As a tribute… Continue reading Frank Drake and the Drake equation
A friend of mine, the keen amateur astronomer Colin Henshaw, brought the following photograph to my attention. It appears to show the Moon rising over Mossel Bay in South Africa. Although it was passed off as a genuine image, in fact it must be a fake. If you study the Moon, it is how it… Continue reading Fake Astronomical Images
As discussed in my previous two posts our Universe appears to be very finely tuned and is governed by four fundamental interactions. A relatively small increase or decrease in the strength of one of these interactions, such as making the force of gravity weaker or stronger, would make the emergence of life impossible. The four… Continue reading Our finely-tuned Universe part III – Explanations for fine tuning
Explaining Science 