Celebrating Eid in Trump’s America
It seems when our dialogue loses nuance, society in turn loses its mind.
...more
Posts Tagged: NASA
The American Woman
[A]s the world found out on January 28, 1986, an extraordinary circumstance can also be an unimaginable tragedy.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Patrick Ryan
Patrick Ryan discusses his new collection The Dream Life of Astronauts, the “bad old days,” and the human need to believe that everything will turn out okay in the end (even when we know it won’t).
...moreWeekly Geekery
Why Finnish women matter to the history of science fiction. Holiday science books: let visions of squid and sarcophagi dance in their heads. Astronauts survive thanks to a black female mathematician. This robot could make your toddler Mark Zuckerberg. (Minus the billions.)
...more
The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Tinfoil Astronaut
Every time I leap there is a chance I will fall, and every time I fall there is a chance I will finally crack my head open like a Faberge egg and luminous black spiders will crawl out to mark the outline of my body with blinking stars and black thread.
...more
Bodies in Space: Teaching after Trauma
Turning onto my street and looking south I feel the ground drop beneath me every time—I turn the corner and the sidewalk falls. I feel invisible then, as if I’ve vaporized.
...moreWeekly Geekery
Extremely large and incredibly close (to your tent): bison! Did you know Tom Sawyer used glowing fungi (a real thing) to light up a tunnel? Watch 6,000 years of civilization develop in three minutes. Thanks, science. Forget fireworks: a NASA probe met Jupiter last night. The secret life of Amazon’s tiny—yet powerful—in-house book review.
...moreWeekly Geekery
A professor who lived as a badger shares nature-writing tips. Casual sex after college: definitely a thing. Peanut butter purity battles—and is “natural” food really better? NASA plays God, recreates Earth. When, oh when, will you write your masterpiece? At age 45.
...more
The Sunday Rumpus Essay: Nix
My sister used to accuse me of intellectualizing mental illness when I spoke of our brother’s brain, his schizophrenia, in scientific terms… I never knew how to explain what I felt—that science could be a way of loving something more deeply.
...more
The Saturday Rumpus Review of The Martian
It is the story of an astronaut stranded on Mars for about a year, all by himself.
...more
The Rumpus Interview with Sean Wilsey
Sean Wilsey discusses his latest book of essays, More Curious, being David Foster Wallace’s neighbor, the healing power of the American road trip, and the difference between writing fiction and memoir.
...moreWeekly Geekery
Grumbling about technology. Reddit users can report harassment. Will it help? The New York Times and Buzzfeed published directly to Facebook, just like your mom. Is technology destroying men? Pooping in space!
...moreReminder of the Importance of NASA
Glasses, extra light wheelchairs, satellite technology, and even moon boot technology in KangaROOs. But even more impressive is NASA’s ability to get Gloria Steinem and Charlton Heston in the same room. Just a few days after many were disappointed by the update from the Curiosity, Wired shares vintage PSAs that are endearingly genuine reminders of all […]
...moreChecking In With The Curiosity Rover
Using a camera on its arm, the Curiosity rover took a break from its Mars excursion to snap a self-portrait. Maggie Koerth-Baker documents the picture and explores how time passes on Earth versus how it passes on Mars, for Boing Boing. She explains that the Martian equivalent to an Earth day is a “Sol,” and is […]
...moreA History of Mars Exploration
Last night, NASA’s Curiosity rover landed on the surface of Mars, beginning its year long exploration of the planet. The Guardian has compiled a short history of Mars musing, which highlights scientists’ fascination with the planet. Since their first sightings in the 17th century, scientists argued about the planet’s capability for sustaining life: “Lowell eventually ‘saw’ […]
...moreLook Closer
Yesterday marked the fortieth anniversary of the launch of Landsat, America’s longest running Earth-imaging satellite program. Since the NASA-run program began in 1972, Landsat has captured more than three million images of our planet. To look at some particularly stunning photographs taken by the satellite (pictures chosen through Nasa’s ‘Earth as Art’ contest), click here. […]
...moreNovelists and NASA
The publisher Tor/Forge and NASA will collaborate on the creation of “science-based science fiction.” The budding relationship will allow writers to consult scientists about the facts behind their stories. “GSFC’s Innovative Partnerships Program (IPP) Office will host a select group of Tor/Forge authors — some of whom already write science based fiction — to learn […]
...moreIndependent Astronauts
Atlantis just returned from its last mission and here we are with our feet firmly on the ground. But surely there is an alternative to NASA. For inspiration into space travel here on earth experience the short film Life as An Independent Astronaut and an interview with the documentary’s star and director David Wilson. “The […]
...moreAlbums of Our Lives: Sound of Genesis’ Journey to the Moon
The Space Age drifted all around me: Major Matt Mason toys in various heroic poses on the basement floor, plastic red-and-blue rockets ascending and landing, the interstellar playing out under the pool table as astral 45s by Eumir Deodato (“Also Spake Zarathustra 2001”) and Vik Venus (“Moonflight”) revolve on the Bonomo family stereo. The […]
...moreThe Rumpus Interview with Mary Roach
Mary Roach discusses Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, the rigors of interviewing aerospace administrators, and why that process nearly caused her to abandon the book entirely.
...moreNotes on E-books and Readers
The big news this week was the iPad announcement, including the tech-world’s dismissal of it. (Fraser Speirs addresses that nicely.) But there’s a lot more happening in the world of e-books. For example, NASA just opened an e-book section and its first offering is a history of the X-15 hypersonic test aircraft. And the Library […]
...moreScience Saturday
NASA is providing information from its satellites to aid in disaster relief in Haiti. NASA’s Mars Rover Phoenix went to sleep for the winter, and now they’re trying to wake it up. The biggest black hole in the universe. Great images from Antarctica by National Geographic. Self-control, or lack of it, can be contagious. I […]
...moreScience Saturday
In yet another example of how the real world is far weirder than most peoples’ imaginations, I give you brain-shrinking algae. NASA has an iPhone app. There are scientific questions with surprising answers, and then there’s this one. MSNBC has a terrific collection of insect photos. Really beautiful closeups. The Walt Disney company is offering […]
...moreThe Rumpus Sunday Book Blog Roundup
Good morning, world. This week, the blogs are full of fun. Many of them had wondrous posts having to do with lovable, humorous, classic sci-fi authors like Vonnegut and Bradbury and Adams. It was a week made for me. Also, apologies in advance for the sparse posts today. School calls. The LA Times reconsiders Vonnegut, […]
...moreScience Saturday
The jokes write themselves sometimes–on the same day that the sitting President of the US wins the Nobel Peace Prize, we bombed the moon. To be fair, we had warned the moon repeatedly about pulling all that romantic shit. When this thing can catch and eat bugs to power itself, call me. I’ve got a […]
...moreScience Saturday
In the months I’ve been the Saturday editor, I’ve noticed that a large number of my links and other posts come from science and technology sources: popular magazines, not hardcore stuff. But I rarely have much more to add to these pieces than “ooh, that’s cool” or “look at this picture.” So I’ve decided to […]
...moreA Found 1969 Editorial on the Moon Landing
Mumpsimus was digging through his attic and found an old editorial his grandfather wrote for The Needham Times after the moon landing. Funny how a forty year old opinion piece is a million times more enlightened than Sarah Palin’s recent op-ed in The Washington Post. Here’s part of his grandfather’s piece: “Given a team approach of […]
...more