by Richard Easther | Dec 24, 2016 | Cosmology
It’s not often an advertisement sums up a deep truth about the universe, but here’s one that does. One of the commonest questions about the Big Bang is “If the universe is expanding, is everything in it getting bigger? The solar system, the sun, the earth, our...
by Richard Easther | Nov 22, 2016 | New Zealand
On November 17 my alarm went off simultaneously with a call from Radio New Zealand asking me to do an on-air interview about the end of the world. It turned out that it wasn’t the actual end of the world that was making the news, but Stephen Hawking’s declaration...
by Richard Easther | Oct 3, 2016 | Academia, Featured
Over the coming week 2016’s slate of Nobel Laureates will be announced. These are the Academy Awards of science; it is not the only prize scientists can win (and others, such the Shaw, Gruber and Kavli prizes, are financially competitive)...
by Richard Easther | Sep 28, 2016 | Astronomy
Elon Musk knows how to make a splash, and today he outlined his plan to turn humanity into a “multiplanetary species”. Getting people to Mars is certainly doable and Musk’s company SpaceX is at the forefront of current developments in space...
by Richard Easther | Aug 21, 2016 | Astronomy
Last Friday, work kept me late at the office. It was a clear and cloudless night and the stars were out as I biked home in the dusk. And as my pedals turned, the night sky wheeled more slowly above me. My route starts with a mild climb along a ridge and turns...
