Stars and Stardom

By dava On April 20, 2012 · Leave a Comment

Recalling, as I do, the birth and short life of the long-echoing “Star Trek” television series, I was honored to meet the real Lt. Uhura — Nichelle Nichols — at the Astrobiology Science Conference in Atlanta this week. We exchanged pleasantries with “Live long and prosper” hand salutes.

As the former communications officer [...]

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Postage to Pluto

By dava On March 3, 2012 · 1 Comment

The status of Pluto is about to change again. A century ago it went from an unknown entity to a new discovery, hailed as the ninth planet. A few years ago it traded that title for a designation as the first dwarf planet. Now, thanks to the New Horizons spacecraft currently en route to Pluto, the [...]

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Science in Rome

On February 10, 2012 By dava

What surprised me most about the 7th Annual Rome Science Festival, devoted this year to the theme of Time, was the attendance. I had heard that Festival events sold out quickly, but I still found myself amazed to see hundreds of Romans of all ages milling about the Parco della Musica and crowding into its [...]

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Year of Wonders

On January 4, 2012 By dava

On the first truly frigid night of winter (Jan. 3-4), I set an alarm for 2 a.m. and went out to take in the Quadrantid Meteor Shower.

I’m fond of meteor showers because they’re so low-tech. You don’t need a telescope to observe them, or even binoculars, but just the willingness to lie outside in [...]

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First Christmas in the Cloister

On December 11, 2011 By dava

“We’ll plant trees in the spring,” their leader promised. Meanwhile the few young nuns newly arrived from Chicago must embrace the sere brown fields of their new home in New Mexico, and try to forget about snow.

The story of the first Christmas at the Poor Clare Monastery of Our Lady of Guadalupe was the [...]

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In his element

On November 6, 2011 By dava

A few friends sent me excited word this week that a new element had been named for Copernicus — and perfectly timed for the release of my book about him.

Only, I had already reported this news in the new book. The  designation of super-heavy atomic element number 112 as “copernicium” (symbol Cn) occurred nearly a [...]

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Enduring Legacy

On October 28, 2011 By dava

Being interviewed by NPR’s science correspondent Joe Palca would have been thrill enough, but he also chose the perfect venue for our meeting on Thursday (October 27) — at the Dibner Library of the History of Science & Technology, a trove of rare books and manuscripts tucked inside the National Museum of American [...]

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Dividing Lines

On October 20, 2011 By dava

As I travel from book store to book store in cities around the country, I find that my talk of Copernicus’s Sun-centered cosmos quickly raises questions about the relationship between science and religion. Last week in New Hampshire a pamphleteer deemed Copernicus’s ideas “anti-God.” This week a Denver resident attacked science more broadly, bringing evolution into the discussion of [...]

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Time travel?

On October 12, 2011 By dava

The first round of U.S. travel to promote A More Perfect Heaven landed me last Sunday (October 9) in Concord, New Hampshire as a guest of Gibson’s Bookstore. Two extraordinary experiences bracketed my talk at the Capitol Center for the Arts.

First, on approaching the theater for the 7 p.m. event, I saw [...]

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Second debut

On October 5, 2011 By dava

On Tuesday, October 4, the official publication date of A More Perfect Heaven, “And the Sun Stood Still” enjoyed its second debut in the town where I live. It felt good to launch the new book with a staged reading of the play inside it, right here at home, among family and friends — and under [...]

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