Tag Archives: Science Notes

October 17, 2025

Science Notes (10/17/25)

This Science Notes series (a subset of the Friday Notes series) gives me a chance to record bits of science articles that catch my eye and seem worth sharing. I’ve been doing this since my library app provided access to a huge number of online magazines.

Nearly all of which don’t interest me — in some cases, seriously don’t interest me. Bridal and Fan magazines are an obvious example, but there are myriad magazines devoted to interests that don’t interest me at all.

But I do like the ones devoted to science, and some articles fit some receptor in my mind enough to generate a note.

4 Comments | tags: gravity, human consciousness, infinity, lucid dreaming, real numbers, Science Notes | posted in Friday Notes, Science

May 9, 2025

Science Notes (5/9/25)

By Wyrd Smythe

My usual breakfast — literally breaking the short fast that begins for me before midnight — isn’t until at least noon to ensure a minimum of 12 hours without food. If I get busy doing something in the morning, I might not break-fast until much later. “Lunch” therefore takes place around 4:00 or 5:00 PM, and “dinner” somewhere around 9:00 PM. I try to not eat after 10:00 PM, but definitely not after midnight.

Which isn’t particularly relevant here, but what does apply is that I typically read while I eat my two slices of breakfast toast. What I usually read is the latest issue of New Scientist or, more recently, Popular Mechanics (which is where Popular Science went when it died).

All of which is to say, here’s another issue of Science Notes.

Leave a comment | tags: Betelgeuse, Lee Smolin, New Scientist magazine, Popular Mechanics magazine, Roger Penrose, Sabine Hossenfelder, Science Notes, social media | posted in Friday Notes, Science

March 21, 2025

Science Notes (3/21/25)

By Wyrd Smythe

I’ve written here before about the Libby app I use to access the local library’s ebook catalog. Over the years, I’ve read hundreds of library books without ever having to actually visit the library. (Which is a pity in some ways. I’ve always loved libraries and even was a student librarian in high school. And there is value in being able to wander and browse.)

A while back the Libby app seriously expanded access to periodicals, so I’ve been reading the British magazine, New Scientist.

Which has turned out to be yet another reason to take notes…

2 Comments | tags: assembly theory, dark forest, Earth, Fermi Paradox, Libby, New Scientist magazine, Science Notes, solar system, three-body problem | posted in Friday Notes, Science

May 26, 2024

Stillness and Solitude

By Wyrd Smythe

In the Science Notes post published last Friday, I didn’t have room for the last article that caught my eye in recent issues of New Scientist. This article was, I thought, a bit different from the others and seemed to require its own post.

Firstly, it has a meaty heft and ties in with an old post of mine as well as some notes I have for a post I thought to call Stillness Redux (in reference back to that old post).

What’s ironic to me is how what the article offers as possible anodyne for modern life is very much the life I’ve lived since I began navigating my own course across life’s seas.

11 Comments | tags: Science Notes, silence, stillness | posted in Society, Sunday Sermons

May 24, 2024

Science Notes (5/24/24)

By Wyrd Smythe

It’s Friday, and I have Notes, but they’re all Science Notes, so while this post (and any others of similar ilk that may follow) is in the spirit of Friday Notes, it comes from a different direction. Science from right field, so to speak, rather than the usual oddities from left field.

These Notes were originally meant as reminders to mention some cool science things to friends over burgers and beers (or whatever). But rather than tasty morsels for the few, why not for the many? (Or at least for a few more.)

So today, Science Notes (and some reactions):

1 Comment | tags: AI, aircraft pilots, Black Labrador Retriever, burning iron, cosmology, dogs, Parker Solar Probe, positronic brain, Science Notes, toys | posted in Friday Notes, Science