I always thought it was a rock between the proto-Earth and Mars, so that's cool.

New work pinpoints origins for the planet Theia, whose ancient collision with Earth likely produced the moon

The Future of Humanity: What Will We Become? youtu.be/pMwtrxpqH_Y From cyborgs to hive minds and civilizations of pure thought, we trace the possible futures of our species through the next trillion tomorrows.

Now I need to watch Core again.

Why We Should Go To Mars... And Why We Shouldn't youtu.be/_19nXFhPF0I Mars calls to us as the next world to conquer—but should we go yet? Explore the case for and against colonizing the Red Planet, from science to strategy to survival.

The First Interstellar Colony - Our First Home Among the Stars youtu.be/r1VZVmnIZDg Before we plant flags on alien worlds, we’ll build homes that can cross the void. This episode explores how humanity’s first interstellar colony might be born inside the ship itself.

I'm thinking that Oura (the smart ring manufacturer) is missing out on an opportunity to collaborate with the Tolkien estate, while knock offs are doing this anyway.

Doomsday Devices & Ontological Weaponry: The End of Worlds — and of Reality Itself youtu.be/DKHjxQYyjIs From nuclear nightmares to reality-breaking weapons we examine how science and fiction imagine the end of everything. What happens when weapons don’t just destroy worlds but unmake reality itself?

I voted.

Insectoid Aliens - Hive Minds, Swarms, and Alien Evolution youtu.be/UOFm4aJIHSw Forget little green men — the galaxy’s most likely aliens may be hives and swarms. From biology to starships, insectoid life could shape civilizations stranger than ours.

Since #NaNoWriMo is dead, what alternatives rose to take its ecological niche? I am not sure I'll have time to write a full novel this year, but I need to know. #amwriting #writing #amediting #editing

The Fermi Paradox - Cosmic Forbidden Zones youtu.be/h2teHmbvGR0 From supernova graveyards and magnetar death fields to alien quarantines and simulation boundaries, we map out the “haunted houses” of the Milky Way and ask: are we living in one?

It'll have to wait until December or January, but I'll definitely be submitting a story again. Again.

For any fantasy worldbuilders out there: folding knives were in existence before Rome was, so you can have a dwarf mob boss pulling out a switchblade on a gnome in a port-town back alley and not feel any shame about it. Maybe, after my hard-SF book, this'll be next. #worldbuilding #SFF #writing

Caretaker AI & Genus Loci youtu.be/YUQdTdfFZT8 Meet the caretaker AIs: guardians of planets, habitats, and civilizations. What happens when machines become the spirit and soul of the worlds they protect?

I've been inactive recently because 1: Work, 2: Master’s degree, 3: Life, 4: Writing. And somewhere in there I have time to eat and sleep, until technology can replace that too.

Work to clean up long-lived radioactive waste at one of the world’s most polluted places took a big step forward last week, when a facility at a former nuclear weapons site in eastern Washington state began to entomb radioactive waste in glass. https://scim.ag/47fPwEp

Abandoned Space Colonies - How Worlds Can Unterraform Themselves youtu.be/rZgJrLifKws Colonies won’t always last forever—sometimes planets revert, habitats decay, and entire worlds are left in ruins. Join us as we examine the life cycle of abandoned space settlements.

Twilight Imperium: When Galactic Civilizations Ebb youtu.be/o_AUTrkmWYE From Asimov’s Foundation to Warhammer 40K and Twilight Imperium, science fiction is filled with collapsing empires. But could civilizational decline really explain why the Universe seems so empty?

AI Alignment - Can We Make AI Safe? youtu.be/eKNbu6pRxjM From safety protocols to philosophy, AI alignment asks a hard question: can we build artificial intelligence that truly serves humanity?

Why Data Centers in Space Could Launch a New Space Economy youtu.be/iLNrYwx0th0 The future of computing might be off-world. Learn how orbital data centers could power AI, solar energy, and a thriving space industry.

In what little spare time I have, I started developing a tool for constructed languages based on the feedback I heard from some acquaintances. I’ve learned a lot about how hard it is to code translation from English. Grammar rules are a lot like programming, though, so that helps.

Dyson Spheres and Solar Commerce: The Birth of a Stellar Economy youtu.be/-FQxpIqciz0 A Dyson Swarm isn’t just power—it’s prosperity. See how humanity could turn a star’s energy into a solar-scale economy of trillions.

Solar Flares & Coronal Mass Ejections - Defending Earth from Our Own Star youtu.be/hWCp4iPkiqU Solar storms are inevitable; disaster isn’t. Explore the physics of flares and CMEs, historical extremes, and realistic defenses—detection, delay & planet-scale shielding to weather the Sun’s worst days.

The Fermi Paradox: How Natural Nuclear Reactors May Have Created Life on Earth youtu.be/e8Bei1l8vuU Could the origins of life on Earth trace back to a natural nuclear reactor? Long before humanity split the atom, nature itself may have done it first.

The problem of my weekend: Why won't my phone charge? Grass. My charging port was full of grass from weedwacking mixed with pocket lint.

After Mars - 8 Candidates For Where Humanity Should Go Next youtu.be/dJG1iTgUuG8 Mars may be humanity’s next great home—but it’s not the finish line. From floating cities above Venus to mining Mercury and the Belt, we explore what might follow Mars and how each could shape our future in space.

An interstellar gas station!

New Dwarf Planet Discovered... A Minor Planet With a Major Future? youtu.be/GboWwqzAHEo The discovery of 2017 OF201 reminds us that even small worlds can hold vast potential — not just as frozen orbs, but as stepping stones for interstellar civilization.

If anyone is in the Waynesboro, VA or Staunton, VA area, and wants to get together for dedicated writing time, this Thursday is our next Shut up & Write meeting. We will… Shut Up & Write for an hour. Going forward, this will be meeting on the 1st and 3rd Thursdays of each month. See you there!

#Shiptember Day 25 USS Grissom's Demise.

My 1:1055 scale model of the B'rel class Klingon Bird of Prey! It can be easily converted to a raised wing configuration by swapping a few pieces. Really happy with this one :) Instructions: liliumbrickyards.com/product/brel...

Exploring The Multiverse: Infinite Realities, One Grand Mystery youtu.be/wb3jGT6vob4 The universe is beyond immense, and yet it might be nothing more than a tiny dot beside the rest of reality.

The most accurate recreation of DS9 I've seen.

I often read or hear that money shouldn’t be spent for space travel until we solve all our problems here on Earth. We do have problems, that is an undeniable fact, but our exploration of space often provides solutions to problems that we haven’t encountered yet on Earth. 1/?

Once we have in-space manufacturing, we win the whole ball game. Solar mirrors for climate control, space based solar power, massive space habitats, reliable supplies to Mars colonies, generation ships to the stars, etc. All if we can get manufacturing set up up there.

Is 3I/ATLAS an Alien Artifact? youtu.be/mwlTlw3rV5I 3I/ATLAS is only the third interstellar object we’ve ever seen — but could it really be an alien artifact, or just another comet with unusual traits?

Life in Methane Oceans: Could Aliens Evolve on Titan-like Worlds? youtu.be/IJQoFXO5YcU Could life thrive in seas of methane instead of water? We explore Titan-like worlds and the alien ecosystems they might harbor.

Space Habitat Clusters & Conglomerations youtu.be/jEWRL-6BR0A Space isn’t just for lonely colonies—it’s for communities. Join us as we imagine constellations of space habitats bound by tethers, trade, and trust, building not just homes in the stars but entire civilizations.

So you know EXACTLY what you just walked into.

Gonna try to do 2 (small) Star Trek ships this week, here's #1

Re-listened to the @isaac-arthur.bsky.social podcast episode on the Phosphorus Problem while walking the dogs today. It is one of the bottlenecks to civilization that we need (not want) nuclear fusion technology to solve.

#Shiptember Day 20 Concept USS Enterprise-C

At least it isn't "all the neighbors are burning leaves" season. Like here.

Sigurd Battles Fafnir by Justin Sweet www.artstation.com/a...

Statistics is simultaneously a fun and infuriating topic. We can use it to contemplate interesting problems, like the Fermi Paradox and the Drake Equation, and we can use it for something else, like LLMs. And, statistics is a way of describing the entire universe. (Quantum Mechanics) So, cool.

Little late, but tonight is the first meeting of the Waynesboro, VA chapter of Shut Up And Write! If you're in the area, stop by the Waynesboro Panera Bread for an hour of dedicated, quiet writing time. We're scheduled from 6:30-7:30 this evening. Thanks! www.meetup.com/shut-up-writ...

Tired: Pi Day Wired: Pythagorean Triple Square Day Expired: Our social life. www.popsci.com/science/what...

The Mars Conveyor belt, go to my latest personal blog here: @i4interstellar.bsky.social adamhibberd.com/2025/09/16/b...

Life on Mars? Perseverance’s Sapphire Canyon Discovery youtu.be/_o9-YFkK88s NASA’s Perseverance rover may have found the best hint yet of Martian life — strange minerals in Jezero Crater that could be microbial fingerprints… or just clever geology.