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Small BodiesStories, updates, insights, and original analysis from The Planetary Society.
Is the study of astrophysics self-indulgent?
Is the study of astrophysics self-indulgent? I was caught aback by that assertion, made by a recent graduate in the latest issue of the Brown University alumni magazine.
Report from the Starship Century Conference: Monday
This week Jon Lomberg is attending the Starship Century conference, which brings together scientists, writers, and futurists to imagine the future of interstellar travel. The organizers are Greg and Jim Benford, and among the attendees are: David Brin, Neal Stephenson, Vernor Vinge, Joe Haldeman, Alan Steele, Geoffrey Landis, Freeman Dyson, Jill Tarter, Paul Davies, Nalaka Gunawardene, and Daniel Richter.
Better conference talks
I've been to a lot of conferences and seen a lot of talks and it's amazing to me how a bad presentation can get in the way of really exciting science. Here are my recommendations for how to approach a talk, and tips and tricks to make your talk better.
An editorial on the LPSC 2013 oral sessions
In which I complain just a little bit about talks at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference.
Scientists: Register to be a Lunar and Planetary Science Conference Microblogger!
Hey planetary scientists! Many of you know that the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC) is a great meeting in a venue that is perfect except for one thing: Internet access is positively lousy. So I'm really excited that a solution that I advocated to conference organizers is being adopted.
The Curiosity Kerfuffle: the big (and increasing) difference between data and discovery
I'm in San Francisco, reporting from the American Geophysical Union meeting. This morning, there was a much-anticipated press briefing featuring the latest results from Curiosity.
A dispatch from J-school: two short videos
Two short videos produced by Jason Davis on astronomy and planetary science work taking place at the University of Arizona.
Can tweets recap a new media space workshop?
Recapping the 2012 University of Colorado Laboratory for Atmospheric Space Physics new media workshop with attendees' tweets.
A plea to Mars Science Laboratory team members: write your experiences down
In which I beg the people working on Curiosity to write about what happens in the coming weeks, even if you never share those writings publicly.
Happy LPSC Deadline Day, especially to composers of abstract haiku
January 10, 2012 was a high-stress day for many in the world of planetary geology: the deadline for submission of abstracts for the 2012 Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC). One creative coping mechanism for the stress of completing the LPSC abstract submission process is the tradition of capturing the essence of one's work in the seventeen syllables of the Haiku form.
Print publications galore!
November has already been a very good month for me in the print publication realm. I've had published not one, but two, feature articles on Curiosity, the Mars Science Laboratory rover.
Eris and embargoes (or: don't fear Ingelfinger!)
Last Tuesday at the Division of Planetary Sciences meeting Bruno Sicardy presented the results of his research group's observations of a stellar occultation by Eris.
Sagan and Snooki
This image has been making the rounds of Google+ and Facebook today.
In their own words
While doing my daily reading today I was struck by the awesomeness of two recent blog posts. Both were composed not by professional bloggers like me but by professional space explorers, one a scientist and the other an engineer.
The role of press releases in space news coverage
I was not trained as a journalist, so before I started working for the Planetary Society I had no understanding of how much news reporters depend upon press releases to generate story ideas. Did you know that most of the news that you read on the Web or in a newspaper or hear on the radio probably originated as a press release or an arranged press event from somewhere?
On speculation in today's Dawn press briefing
When a spacecraft has visited a new body for the first time, the usual answer to any scientific question is
This year's Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award recipient is...me!
I was driving home from the Mars Science Laboratory site selection workshop yesterday when I got a thrilling call informing me that I've been awarded the 2011 Jonathan Eberhart Planetary Sciences Journalism Award.
The 42nd Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC)
Science is all about asking questions, coming up with ideas that might explain the answers, and then poking at those ideas to see if they work. Scientists spend much of their time in solitary research working out those ideas. But they also devote big chunks of time to meetings where they pitch their ideas and see what their peers think of them.
Carnival of Space #162
The 162nd Carnival of Space is live over at Skymania, so go check it out!
Where my stories come from
The stories I write about originate in space, of course, but as I was wrestling with what to write about in the couple of weeks before my vacation, it occurred to me that a lot of you might not know what tends to trigger space writers to choose what to write about.