Gilding the lily makes everybody look bad. When the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory detected ripples in the fabric of space-time from a pair of merging black holes, it was a technological and scientific accomplishment without peer! But LIGO did not “discover” gravity waves.

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

Fundamental change is always messy. As science tackles the complex processes that shape the real world it is having to reinvent itself on the fly. Welcome to the Wild West!

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

As science has evolved from simple observation to deep understanding, each new way of thinking about the world has transformed not only science, but human society. That evolution is far from over.

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

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.