Title slide showing a luminous grid across a background of distant galaxies in the Universe. Title: "A Game of Mysteries: Astronomy and the Unveiling of Nature's Secret Workings" by Shane L. Larson of Clarkson University. Link to blog: writescience.wordpress.com Virtual presentation, 7pm Central, for the Lake County Astronomical Society on 17 April 2026.

I'm giving a public lecture Friday night (7pm Central, 17 April) for the Lake County Astronomical Society. If you'd like to join us, we'll be talking about how we gain knowledge about the distant universe -- see you there! Streaming link on YouTube is: www.youtube.com/@lakecountya...

Hand holding a 4-cm tungsten cube, which is the same size and weight as the real gold-platinum cube that is the mirror inside LISA.

Tomorrow at Clarkson Science Cafe I'll be talking about gravitational waves, & the LISA observatory in space! Come see THE CUBE... it's the size and weight of the gold-platinum mirror at the heart of LISA! 7:15pm at the Potsdam Civic Center. @lisacommunity.bsky.social www.clarkson.edu/science-cafe

Title slide for "From Black Holes to Dead Stars: probing the cosmic graveyard with gravitational waves" by Shane Larson of Clarkson University. Clarkson Science Cafe, at the Potsdam Civic Center in Potsdam, NY, at 7:15pm on 8 April 2026. Background image of merging black holes in front of a turquoise nebula studded with stars and a faint grid of warped spacetime.

Hello North Country! Wednesday I'll give the Clarkson Science Cafe at the Potsdam Civic Center, talking about Gravitational Waves -- the observatories to detect them, and the things we are going to learn about the Universe as a result. 7:15pm, Potsdam Civic Center! www.clarkson.edu/science-cafe

Me and a copy of University Physics.

University Physics on display table with other books. Cover is golden with black and white Charlie Chaplin image on it.

Me holding copy of University Physics in front of MIT Press booth.

Before Ron Hellings passed away, he handed his calculus-based physics textbook off to me to finish up. It's been a long road, but I went into the exhibit hall here at the @apsphysics.bsky.social Global Summit and the book is out! @mitpress.bsky.social surprised me!

Title slide says "Wormholes, Spacewarps, and Tunnels to Otherwheres" overlaid on a illuminated round tunnel with colorful stars, nebulae, and galaxies wrapped around it. Speaker is Shane L. Larson from Clarkson University, for San Francisco Mensa, in a virtual event at 2:30pm PST / 5:30pm EST, on 21 Feb 2026.

I'mq giving a virtual talk Saturday afternoon (2:30pm PST / 5:30pm EST) for San Francisco Mensa, called "Wormholes, Spacewarps, and Tunnels to Otherwheres."

The talk is open for anyone! Register and get the link here: space-talk.link/FEB

Advertising slide showing the Milky Way as a diagonal band of stars across a black sky, inset photo of Shane on lower right, and title "A Storm of Stars: Knowing the Milky Way" on the left.

I'll be doing a Webinar Tuesday night (17 Feb) for NASA's Night Sky Network, talking about the MILKY WAY and how we know what we know about our home galaxy. It will stream to YouTube live at 9pm Eastern (6pm Pacific). LINK: www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlW0...

A sun-sized space telescope could transform how we see the cosmos A sun-sized space detector called LISA is set to catch ripples from colliding black holes, giving scientists a brand-new way to explore the universe.

On my way to Boise to do some talks about LISA and gravitational waves. Did an interview this week with Idaho Matters on Idaho Public Radio about what we are going to talk about! Give it a listen! www.boisestatepublicradio.org/show/idaho-m...

LISA Pathfinder Reunion in Barcelona for the 10th Anniversary of the launch! I LOVE this picture!

Today is the 10th Anniversary of the LISA Pathfinder launch! This set the stage for the road to LISA we are currently on -- a remarkable mission that highlights the enormous talent, perseverance, and imagination of the scientists and engineers in the gravitational wave community!

Artist’s impression of LISA Pathfinder in space. The Earth is visible in the background, partly lit.

Happy 10th launch anniversary, LISA Pathfinder! 🥳

For the first time ever, this mission tested in space the technology needed to detect gravitational waves, which paved the way to LISA 🤜 🤛

Planned to launch in 2035, LISA will be first gravitational wave detector in space 👉 esa.int/lisa

🔭

Picture of the bright Milky Way over a star party -- sillohuettes of pine trees on a hill in the background, the foreground is a large campsite with telescopes illuminated by redlights. Photo of the Table Mountain Star Party, by Alan Dyer. Title overlaid: "Star Light, Star Bright: Discovering the Secret Lives of Stars" by Shane L. Larson, Clarkson University. Syracuse Astronomical Society, 20 Nov 2025.

Hey New York! I'll be talking tomorrow night for the Syracuse Astronomical Society -- 6:30pm tomorrow night (20 Nov) at Lemoyne College in Syracuse!

This is still the best (and IMO only truly funny) April Fool's prank ever pulled. It's genius.

AWESOME. How have I not know about this before? Thanks, Phil!

The Clarkson University Golden Knight mascot in gold and green armor holding the tungsten analog of the LISA Cube (the mirror the LISA lasers bounce off of to detect gravitational waves).

The Clarkson Golden Knight with the LISA Cube! #theCube @clarksonuniv.bsky.social @lisacommunity.bsky.social

Wow! Did you write that Bob? I'm adding that to my quote file!

Dare Mighty Things by Shane L. Larson In an age of short video reels, endless scrolling through social media, and fractured multi-tasking attention spans, there is a tendency to reduce our civilization — who we…

There are myriad existential threats to our society right now, the government shutdown non-withstanding. A bit I've been working on to add to your regular calls to your legislators in Congress, and why it matters. wp.me/p19G0g-YS

The Circle of Life by Shane L. Larson For most of our lives, we live day to day surrounded by family, friends, colleagues, and acquaintances. Whether we share only brief hellos, a quick text message, or long conversa…

In recent months, I've lost a dear cousin, watched friends lose parents, lost an old friend from graduate school, and spent a lot of time with beloved friends who are much older than I. So I've been pondering mortality a bit, and so a bit of writing emerges.

wp.me/p19G0g-YH

Me and my title slide for "Secrets of the Quasars"

Quasar time at Sunriver Nature Center & Observatory!

Talking soon at Carlton Observatory/Evergreen Aviation Museum -- the IMAX screen is HUGE!

Me in front of my title slide -- Wormholes, Spacewarps, and Tunnels to Otherwheres. Stars and nebulae looking like a long tunnel.

A quick hop from the PNW to Chicago for a long ago arranged talk for Mensa -- Wormholes and Bending Spacetime!

On a roadtrip during the image release party today... LOOK AT THESE IMAGES! WOWZERS!!!!

Dangerous Ideas by Shane L. Larson There are many ideas in the world. Some are awe-inspiring (“Perhaps we are the only planet with life in all the Cosmos.”). Some are frightening (“What if there were still no vacc…

I've been sitting on this bit of science writing for a couple of weeks now, just overwhelmed by... <waves vaguely at the world> My former PhD student (Lindsay DeMarchi) pushed me out of my infinite loop.

wp.me/p19G0g-Yq

📢 LISA News! 📢

Today at the #ParisAirShow, ESA and OHB System AG have signed their agreement to build LISA!

Overlap map of my location, auroral oval, and cloud cover.

A Swiss village is buried after a glacier collapses in the Alps The Birch Glacier above the village of Blatten collapsed and caused a landslide that has buried most of the village. Authorities had evacuated residents earlier this month, but one person is missing.

Holy frap! Glacier catstrophically collapsed yesterday in Switzerland, burying the village of Blatten. Caught on video. Shifting temperatures are melting *permafrost*, which releases rocks and boulders, triggering the glacier collapse. www.npr.org/2025/05/29/g...

Not worried about cuts to the federal science program? It touches every life, every day, in ways we don't think about. Make no mistake -- the decimation of the federal science program impacts a long list from food safety, forecasts, disaster readiness... things that protect Every. Single. Person.

Small box with colored labels. Pink one reads "Bookshelf hardware", orange one reads "The Last Box", and Blue one an itemized list of contents.

We have the "Last Box" from our move to Chicago, so used it as Last Box again! Movers are here, we'll be at Clarkson in New York by the end of the week!

Top half of solar halo amid scattered clouds, Chicago buildings and trees in the foreground

Half of the Chicago Bean (Cloudgate sculpture) reflecting buildings, clouds, blue skies, then Sun, and a solar halo.

Great sun halo over Chicago this morning! Bright enough to reflect in the Bean! #lookUp

Slide for talk entitled "SCIENCE IN THE LISA ERA" by Shane Larson from Clarkson University and Northwestern University. Slide shows a scene in space, with Earth in the background and stylized triangle of laser light representing LISA. Bluesky @sciencejedi, and YouTube link: youtube.com/sciencejedi/ .

Talk at #APSSummit25 is in the bag! In the special workshop by the Precision Measurement Topical Group called "New Methods to Detect Gravitational Waves." I would say @lisacommunity.bsky.social is the most "traditional" method so far -- been hearing about all kinds of cool new things!

I'm in Anaheim for the Global Physics Summit! #APSSummit25 @apsphysics.bsky.social