Author: Matthew R. Francis
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The dinosaur-killing dark matter of DOOM!
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] A few weeks ago, several news outlets ran stories based on a press release, in which a researcher claimed that dense clumps of dark matter could be responsible for…
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Slowing light to measure the creep of glaciers
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] My most recent article is an interesting combination of fundamental quantum physics research — the slowing of light inside specially-designed materials — with the study of the impacts of…
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A space robot arrives at a new world: Dawn at Ceres
Sunday is my birthday, and NASA kindly decided to give me a whole asteroid. I got to write about it for The Daily Beast. NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Made It to Dwarf Planet Ceres From The Daily Beast: When I was young, I obsessively read through a National Geographic science book called Our Universe, a good…
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Of symmetries, the strong force and Helen Quinn
[ I am reviving the Bowler Hat Science blog as a quick way to link all my new publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all my stories! ] Of symmetries, the strong force and Helen Quinn From Symmetry: Modern theoretical physicists spend much of their time examining the symmetries governing particles and…
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Weird X-Rays Spur Speculation about Dark Matter Detection
[ I am reviving the Bowler Hat Science blog as a quick way to link all my new publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all my stories! ] Weird X-Rays Spur Speculation about Dark Matter Detection From Scientific American: Many major discoveries in astronomy began with an unexplained signal: pulsars, quasars and…
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The dark horse of the dark matter hunt
[ I am reviving the Bowler Hat Science blog as a quick way to link all my new publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all my stories! ] The dark horse of the dark matter hunt From Symmetry Magazine: The ADMX experiment seems to be an exercise in contradictions. Dark matter, the…
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Methane on Mars: life or just gas?
[ I am reviving the Bowler Hat Science blog as a quick way to link all my new publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all my stories! ] Methane on Mars: life or just gas? From The Daily Beast: Methane is a familiar chemical, whether you know it by that name or…
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Are comets the origin of Earth’s oceans?
[ I am reviving the Bowler Hat Science blog as a quick way to link all my new publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all my stories! ] Are comets the origin of Earth’s oceans? From The Daily Beast: Water, water everywhere, but where did it come from? One common explanation is…
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Does antimatter fall up or down?
[ I am reviving the Bowler Hat Science blog as a quick way to link all my new publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all my stories! ] Does antimatter fall up or down? From NOVA Nature of Reality: There are two kinds of matter in the universe: ordinary matter, which makes…
Bowler Hat Science 