Michael Simms: Consider the Hummingbird
Consider the hummingbird
How like the mind it is
Michael Simms: Oh God She Says
Oh God she says
The dog has learned to spell
José Alcantara: Countertop
The granite comes all the way from India,
but when I look closely, I see nebulae.
Rebecca Elson: Antidotes to Fear of Death
Sometimes as an antidote
To fear of death,
I eat the stars.
Stephon Alexander: The Physics of Jazz
Physicist Stephon Alexander narrates how he came to understand the parallels between quantum particle theory and jazz composition.
Video: Logic tells us that antimatter should have annihilated the Universe. So why hasn’t it?
If there’s no more matter than antimatter in existence, then the Universe should have annihilated itself soon after the Big Bang – yet, here we are. This brief animation breaks down this extraordinary, nearly century-long science puzzle, detailing some of the surprising explanations posited by contemporary physicists.
Stephen Dobyns: Scale
After that, he spots
specks of lint, dust motes that grow with his attention
so huge they change into solar systems with planets
where he might see cities, rooftops and, who knows,
even a man mowing a his lawn, if he had the time.
Molly Fisk: Firmament
Daylight and darkness are real, and seasons,
but everything else is a story…
Kristofer Collins: This Vicious Year
The common belief is the universe
is cold and empty and this speck of dust
is the only game in town. And what have we done
with this mathematically improbable honor?
Michael Simms: Dogsbody to the Muse
Sometimes it’s painful to watch a group of poets trying to work a room as if they were politicians. The AWP conference, as the wag put it, is comprised of 15,000 introverts pretending to be extroverts.
Video: Skylight — More Than Meets the Eye
This revealing video from the American Museum of Natural History guides us through celestial views at several electromagnetic frequencies, demonstrating how specialised telescopes reach beyond the visible spectrum to help demystify the observable Universe.
Video: What Does the Universe Sound Like? A Musical Tour
. Is outer space really the silent and lifeless place it’s often depicted to be? Perhaps not. Astrophysicist and musician Matt Russo takes us on a journey through the cosmos, … Continue reading
Leila A. McNeill: The struggle of women in science is written in the stars
In her 1968 poem, Planetarium, the poet Adrienne Rich wrestles with the crisis of female identity through the lens of astronomy. Rich wrote the poem after learning about the case … Continue reading
Video: Michelle Thaller — “We Are Dead Stars”
. In this collaboration between The Atlantic and the podcast TRBQ (The Really Big Questions), NASA astronomer Michelle Thaller explains how every atom in the human body – and, indeed, … Continue reading
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