Why does music exist, and why does it move us so deeply? Beyond being a universal source of emotion, music reveals something fundamental about how the brain works: we are constantly predicting. Check this @nature.com review www.nature.com/articles/s41... @manlius.bsky.social @gemmadlc.bsky.social

I keep forgetting — is “the shooting was staged” a right-wing conspiracy theory, or a left-wing conspiracy theory?

I waited a month to allow folks time to see the film -- and now, a question about Project Hail Mary: How do you feel about the grotesque violation of consent? (I appreciate that it's "just a story" etc -- but still.) (And also, for the most part, it's being treated as a feel-good film.)

Free will, consciousness and AI: a conversation with Daniel Dennett - ABC listen Daniel Dennett is one of the world's leading philosophers and cognitive scientists - at 81, and with a new memoir published, he's still as provocative and inspiring as ever.

We lost Daniel Dennett, one of the great thinkers in philosophy of mind, two years ago. In 2023, I conducted a career-spanning interview with him, covering many of his (and my) favourite subjects, from the puzzle of free will to the question of machine consciousness:
www.abc.net.au/listen/progr...

Random Darwin factoid: Darwin’s dad, Robert, could (in theory) have seen Mozart perform. Darwin’s son Leonard could have met baby Paul McCartney.

And at one point it was so windy that it was coming down at like a 30 degree angle (not quite horizontal, but still 😐 )

The image is of of Herb Block ("Herblock")'s 1955 cartoon, showing various planets scattered about space. One of them -- Earth -- bears a large sign saying "Albert Einstein Lived Here."

Albert Einstein died on April 18, 1955. This cartoon by Herb Block ("Herblock") was published in the Washington Post the following day (and I've gotten into the habit of posting it every year #OTD). #Einstein #science #histsci

The characters in spy movies clearly don’t watch a lot of spy movies — otherwise they wouldn’t fall so readily for spy shenanigans. (Such as “attractive woman at the bar is hitting on me, for some reason” etc)

😡

Me 😐 when they play a censored version of Alanis Morrissette’s “Hand in my Pocket” on the radio.

If you’re on University Challenge, and the question is “What Swiss mathematician…” just hit the buzzer and say Euler. Seriously just say Euler. :) 🇨🇭🧀🧮

😡

A screen grab from NASA TV, in which we see a Navy helicopter hovering above the Orion capsule, in the Pacific.

I’m enjoying the circular wave patterns that the helicopter makes. 🔘 🙂

One minute to service module separation!

I keep forgetting that Ransom and Taken are two different films.

😳

These Scientists Are Proposing a New Law of Nature These Scientists Are Proposing a New Law of Nature: Entropy isn’t the final word. Time also brings order to the universe.

The 2nd law of thermodynamics famously points to death and decay--but, could there be another, overlooked law responsible for *increasing* order? Robert Hazen & @miquai.bsky.social make the argument in their new book, "Time's Second Arrow." I spoke with them for @nautil.us:
nautil.us/time-brings-...

The 10-Year-Old Nikon D5 DSLR Really Is the Best Camera for Artemis II The Nikon D5 may be relatively old, but it's also uniquely powerful in low light.

So why is the crew using a 10 year old Nikon? For those that are interested:

petapixel.com/2026/04/06/t...

A photo of Bruce from Linda Hall Library and myself, looking at. rare books spread out on a table.

The frontispiece of Edward Topsell's "The History of Four-footed Beasts" (1607), with an engraving of a strange, scaled cow-like creature.

A page from Edward Topsell's "The History of Four-footed Beasts" (1607), showing a grumpy-looking animal labelled as a "cat."

It was a treat to see some of the items in the rare book collection at the Linda Hall Library in KC last month. Here's Bruce showing me a first edition of Galileo's Siderius Nuncius; also, here's Edward Topsell's "The History of Four-footed Beasts" (1607). #books #science #histsci

Of course you can find much, much more along these lines in David Baron’s The Martians.

A 1911 page from the New York Times with the headline, “Martians build two immense canals in two years.”

I always enjoy these Lowell-involved newspaper headlines — e.g. this one from 1911, seen here in A Universe of Earths by Danielson and Graney:

The Sunday after the full moon after the vernal equinox -- Happy Easter!

I guess people either didn’t notice the typo, or were too polite to point it out. I mean 2026 of course. Cheers!

cool!

Here we see the original NASA "whole Earth" image at lower-left; then at upper right we see a close up of North Africa and southern Europe, with a number of cities identified by text and arrows.

You've all seen the April 2 "whole Earth at night" photo; just for fun, I've added the names of some of the cities whose lights are seen in the pic. (Obv there are some others one could add, but I didn't want to get too carried away.) #NASA #Artemis #wholeEarth

Two mildly irksome items: when a journalist pronounces it “Nassau” rather than NASA; and when they say “dark side” when they mean “far side.”

I haven’t read all the replies, but presumably someone has said “the experts are waffling.”

Yep. Which is why folks ought to steer clear of even the “benign” conspiracy theories.

Tbh it took the deniers about a day and a half longer to come out of the woodwork than I expected.

I wonder if Nikon camera sales will get a boost.