A Meteorite Killed My Cow

We live in very uncertain times! So, isn’t it reassuring to finally have an honest and authoritative guide to all those pressing questions, such as: What are the chances I will be killed by a falling space rock? What really happened to the dinosaurs? Why are we here? Where did Earth’s water come from? Do…

A new look at the family tree

So, now we have this lovely meteorite called Winchcombe (unofficial name for the moment). And everyone has been asking what sort of new and amazing stuff will we learn from it? The answer of course is loads – it’s packed full of exciting information about the earliest days of our Solar System. All we have…

The Write Stuff

  In The film The Right Stuff there is a scene that really caught my imagination. Following a spectacular crash there is an inferno of flames. The ambulance crew stares in disbelief as a figure walks stoically out of the swirling smoke. One of the crew says to the other “is that a man?” And after…

Spotted on Mars

I didn’t plan to write a sequel to the previous post about Beagle 2. But recently, while visiting the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, we came across a small, but very interesting exhibit. It was all about Damien Hirst’s Beagle 2 spot painting. In fact, it wasn’t really an artwork as such, but a calibration target…