From roughneck to Principle Investigator of Hubble’s Wide Field/Planetary Camera, Jim Westphal showed just how far competence, curiosity, and a flawless bullshit filter can take you.

This article originally appeared in my Astronomy Magazine column, For Your Consideration.

Sometimes people ask me why I write about so many different topics. My answer is always the same. “Because that’s astronomy, too.”

This article originally appeared in my Astronomy Magazine column, For Your Consideration.

Evolution has no goal, but there are things that it stumbles onto over and over again. If the other-worldly octopus is any indication, intelligence could be common wherever complex life appears.

This article originally appeared in my Astronomy Magazine column, For Your Consideration.

A lot of what we think of as conscious decisions are actually the consciously inaccessible pieces of behavioral code that we call habits. You can’t take charge of your life without facing that basic, unalterable fact about how the brain works.

Reality need not conform to our preferences. To complain that multiverses are “outlandish” or “unscientific” is to ignore the history of scientific discovery.

This article originally appeared in my Astronomy Magazine column, For Your Consideration.

The Great Recession was a product of willful ignorance. There is a lot to be learned from the few who won big by allowing themselves to see what others would not.

The Aliso Canyon methane leak is a major disaster. It is also a showcase for some really fun physics! Including, among other things, the fun physics behind global warming.

The Cosmos itself is the ultimate high energy particle physics experiment.

This article originally appeared in my Astronomy Magazine column, For Your Consideration.

Impostor Syndrome is real and it’s no fun. But if you come at it properly, it can also be a starting point for a better future.