Did the Solar System Pass Through a Giant Molecular Cloud Ten Million Years Ago?In June 2024, I co-authored a Nature Astronomy paper with the brilliant Merav Opher and Josh Peek. The paper suggested that Earth might…13h ago413h ago4
Lessons Learned from the DinosaursRestaurant menus include animals that we eat without inhibition because we regard ourselves at the top of the food chain on Earth right…1d ago81d ago8
Sharing My Office with GalileoFor the first time in 32 years since my arrival at Harvard, I am sharing my office with a companion. My office mate is a bronze sculpture…3d ago33d ago3
Harvesting Numerous Interstellar Objects with a Dedicated Space TelescopeIt is easiest to search for missing keys under the lamppost. Our nearest lamppost is the Sun. Our biggest scientific question is “Are we…5d ago35d ago3
The Oldest Relics Must be Younger than the UniverseThe lowest mass stars have 8% of the mass of the Sun and can live for up to 12 trillion years. This lifespan is 870 times longer than the…Feb 85Feb 85
The Existential Risk from Polyamory of Artificial General IntelligenceNot all intelligences are created equal. Human intelligence is fundamentally different from artificial intelligence (AI). The former relies…Feb 610Feb 610
Cosmic Birth of Supermassive TwinsTwin stars are often born in the delivery room of giant molecular clouds. A common mechanism to create a pair of stars involves the…Feb 52Feb 52
Physics is Our Scholar’s LionFollowing a lecture on the search for extraterrestrial life, hosted by Sir Richard Branson at Necker Island, I was asked by many attendees…Feb 22Feb 22
A New Message from the Asteroid BennuJust as with Large Language Models, the quality of our thoughts is dictated by our training dataset. Babies receive most of their training…Jan 3110Jan 3110
