Will space-based missile defense be a Golden Dome or a multi-trillion-dollar Gold Brick that will sink the national budget? Read my report at thebulletin.org/2026/04/spac...

Oldest moon rocks from the far side of the moon show the inner solar system probably did not get started with a Late Heavy Bombardment skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Organic molecules found in icy jets from Saturn's Enceladus may be signs of life in its ocean. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Here's a new podcast about my book, Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long, Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon with Andrew Rubenstein of ShoreWindCapital that brings the story up to date. The Apple version is at podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t... A Spotify version is open.spotify.com/episode/1pSo...

Signing up for @bot.astronomy.blue signup Read about the carbon-rich interstellar comet skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

New interstellar comet is made of different stuff than solar system comets. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... The dust and gas around it are mostly carbon dioxide not water vapor found in solar system comets. The comet will be around until mid-2026, stay tuned for more.

I was amused to find that the "massive" 11.8 inch shoes found in an ancient Roman fort www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a... are smaller than the 13-inch sneakers I wear.

To put the war in Gaza in context, the National Archives records 58,220 U.S. military casualties in the Vietnam War www.archives.gov/research/mil... . The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...? now reports the Gaze war has claimed "nearly 60,000 lives." We need peace now.

Car-mageddon typo: As of this morning, the east-west Massachusetts Turnpike has been re-designated I-95 in a story in the Newton Beacon on a major road reconstruction project www.newtonbeacon.org/traffic-trib... Let's hope they fix it soon.

Our lilacs are blooming here in the Boston area. What's blooming in your yard?

Looked out the back window this morning to see a beautiful wild turkey checking out our bird feeder and back yard. It's great to see them here in suburbia.

Kip Siegel, founder of KMS Fusion, died just over 50 years ago after suffering a stroke while trying to persuade Congress to support his company's laser fusion tech. Livermore now has ignited seven fusion targets. That's progress, but will fusion energy take 50 more years? alchetron.com/Kip-Siegel

Sky & Telescope is one of only five monthly magazines that has published regularly for 80 years. The February 2025 issue was number 1000, and I had a story in the that print issue on the theory that Earth may have had a ring in it. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

In Against the Odds, John and Mary Gribbin say a lack of women's toilets held back women in science. In 1969 the Caltech faculty told a committee on admitting women undergraduates in 1969. A plumber could solve that problem, and the first women were admitted in 1971. www.nature.com/articles/d41...

The rusty dust on Mars is different than terrestrial rust. It's a different iron oxide ferrihydrite that isn't stable on Earth, but it can survive billions of years on Mars which is very much colder. Neat stuff skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

How James Reason became a specialist in human error, something should all think about. From his obituary in Aviation Week: aviationweek.com/air-transpor...?

Cryptocurrency is "Schroedinger's Piggy Bank" www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis...

“Drop that baby!” My watercolor of Leptoceratops defends their young against Quetzalcoatlus. I do think smaller ceratopsians were punching above their weight class and made sure to convey it here. #paleoart #sciart

What's the Kessler Syndrome. Here's what it can do in science fiction www.nature.com/articles/d41...

NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has reached the rim of the Jezero crater to explore new territory skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

The oldest and largest impact crater on Venus is nothing like what has been found before. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

We've found the source of meteors. The biggest are fragments of asteroid collisions during the last 40 million years. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...

Vacuum tubes are back! Today I found the local electronics store is selling antiques -- vacuum tubes from the mid-20th century, many in their original boxes. I hadn't seen vacuum tubes on sale in a store for decades. Thanks to You-Do-It-Electronics for the blast from the past.