onfocus

"Even after decades of research, the SETI community has yet to find evidence of aliens, probably for the same reason that extraterrestrial beings, should they exist, would be unlikely to visit our planet—the space between stars, let alone galaxies, is unfathomably vast…[Wright] sees no problem with the desire to better understand our airspace and investigate unexplained phenomena, “but why drag astronomers into it?”"

Spoilsports.

"The way I’ve framed the thought experiment in recent conversations is this: Imagine, tomorrow, an alien craft crashed down in Oregon. There are no life-forms in it. It’s effectively a drone. But it’s undeniably extraterrestrial in origin. So we are faced with the knowledge that we’re not alone, that we are perhaps being watched, and we have no way to make contact. How does that change human culture and society?"

This scenario is a little too specific. I'm in Oregon and now I'm worried. What does Ezra Klein know?

This is a nice map of light pollution. I'm thinking about summer camping trips and feeling lucky to live close to some holes in this map. I only get to see the night sky from one of these dark spots a few times each year and it's always awe-inspiring.

"Scientists think that millions of years ago, Venus actually had oceans of liquid water like Earth. At some point, however, a runaway greenhouse effect turned Venus into the inhospitable world it is today, with a surface temperature hot enough to melt lead."

Hey, no Earth spoilers! AND: I, for one, welcome our phosphine belching neighbors.

LOL. Nerds.

This is the first I’ve heard of Hawking’s no-boundary event theory. In this view time and matter exist due to the shape of the eternal universe, not because of an origin event like the big bang. Neat!