Author: Matthew R. Francis
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City ant, country ant, and climate change
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] I know, I know: it’s been a long time since I last had something published. This is largely because I took a little time off to finish my novel.…
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How loud is a rock in a Mars rover wheel?
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] How does sound travel on Mars? The Curiosity rover is scraping a rock along in its wheels, but what would that actually sound like to our ears? For Astronomy…
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The many challenges to science in the Age of Trump
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] Science is Political Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. One of the big problems with privilege is the way it insulates the privileged from issues that are blatantly obvious to…
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The physics of dinosaurs!
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] Like many (most?) of us, I was a huge dinosaur fan as a kid. I read every horrible, outdated book I could get my hands on. I read Robert Bakker’s…
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Seeing the invisible monster at the Milky Way center
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] This is my second print magazine feature for Smithsonian Air & Space Magazine. The first was about gravitational waves, published not long before the LIGO detector found the first gravitational…
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Evolution, entropy, and beards
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] The Hidden Connections Between Darwin and the Physicist Who Championed Entropy These magnificently bearded men both introduced a dose of randomness and irreversibility into the universe For Smithsonian Magazine:…
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Forging dark matter in the Big Bang
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] The origins of dark matter Theorists think dark matter was forged in the hot aftermath of the Big Bang For Symmetry Magazine: Transitions are everywhere we look. Water freezes,…
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The search for magnetic monopoles, the truest north
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] The hunt for the truest north Many theories predict the existence of magnetic monopoles, but experiments have yet to see them For Symmetry Magazine: If you chop a magnet…
Bowler Hat Science 