Tag: cosmology
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Traces of particles from the first second after 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! ] Signs of neutrinos from the dawn of time, less than a second after the Big Bang First unambiguous observation of the cosmic neutrino background From Ars Technica: The first…
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A multitude of faint and fluffy galaxies
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] Scientists Discover Hundreds of Hidden Galaxies The new type of faint, fluffy galaxy might help resolve a cosmological conundrum For The Daily Beast: When we think of galaxies, we…
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No quantum foam seen in the cosmic beer glass
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] Light from distant black holes doesn’t surf on waves of quantum foam Strongest check yet on quantum gravity effects in astronomy turns up nothing For Ars Technica: Quantum gravity…
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Listening to the sounds of the cosmos
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] Last year, I went to a conference in Florida to hear — and in some cases meet — some of the leading thinkers in the study of gravitational waves.…
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Looking to the heavens for neutrino masses
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] Looking to the heavens for neutrino masses From Symmetry Magazine: Neutrinos may be the lightest of all the particles with mass, weighing in at a tiny fraction of the…
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If we could only build one huge observatory….
[ This blog is dedicated to tracking my most recent publications. Subscribe to the feed to keep up with all the science stories I write! ] Q: Suppose we can only build one big telescope. Should we look for life among the stars or the origins of the universe? I participated in an experts’ roundtable…
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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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Using Black Holes to Measure Dark Energy, Like a BOSS
Far from being invisible, black holes are among some of the brightest objects in the Universe. The black holes themselves aren’t emitting light, but the matter they draw in heats up and much of it shoots back out in powerful jets. When that happens, the black hole is known as a quasar, and it can…
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The Daily Beast’s latest astronomy columnist is…me!
Now it can be told: I will be writing a weekly post for The Daily Beast (making me The Weekly Beast?), on space, astronomy, and such things. My first column is about inflation, and why it’s a big deal: If you compare any two points on the night sky, their temperature as measured in microwave…
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New data offer a peek into the Universe’s first instants
Today was an exciting and stimulating day: the BICEP2 collaboration announced the first measurement of the cosmic microwave background that might tell us whether or not inflation happened. Inflation is the hypothetical rapid expansion of the Universe during its first instants, which explains a lot about why the cosmos appears the way it does. However,…
Bowler Hat Science 