Jonathan's blog

Bad Astronomy has come out with its list of Top Ten Astronomy Pictures of 2009, including this stunning beauty, a closeup of the surface of Mars:

There's also an even bigger version.

Real life has intervened, and the cosmic calendar will need to wait. :(

Astronomers have discovered the most distant object ever seen: a star that collapsed 13 billion years ago. The flash of light from the collapse reached Earth on April 23^rd.

The University of Utah has a wonderful demonstration of the scale of cells. (via kottke.org)

New Scientist has compiled a list of 26 unsolved mysteries, or in other words, 26 opportunities to discover something completely new.

• 13 things that do not make sense
• 13 more things that don't make sense

They Might Be Giants is releasing their latest in a triptych of CD/DVDs geared for children, but awesome enough for adults, too. (I love Never Go To Work from the previous albums! It's my Friday anthem.) Wired has an interview about the album. You can watch a couple of videos from the DVD.

In a seven lecture series targeted at the layman, Richard Feynman opens a window on the nature of physical laws. In his inimitable way, he engages his audience and provokes thought about what we know and how we know it. I'm not uninitiated to the world of physics, and I learned a lot.

So this is the central idea for this website: channel my enthusiasm for learning, giving myself an excuse for immersion in a series of subjects. I will share what I find along the way and will produce—as a salutary side effect—a handy learner's guide to the best the world has to offer on each subject.