jhecht.bsky.social
@jhecht.bsky.social
Jeff Hecht -- science and technology writer, journalist, author of books on lasers, fiber optics and sea-level rise, and writer of short science fiction, among other things. Rainbow from Peabody Pond Maine, the sun and a shower.
Organic molecules found in icy jets from Saturn's Enceladus may be signs of life in its ocean. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
New Study Identifies Organic Molecules Spewing from Saturn's Icy Moon Enceladus
The discovery of a new array of molecules spouted from Enceladus indicates new promise for habitability within its frozen-over ocean.
skyandtelescope.org
October 27, 2025 at 3:16 PM
Organic molecules found in icy jets from Saturn's Enceladus may be signs of life in its ocean. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Here's a new podcast about my book, Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long, Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon with Andrew Rubenstein of ShoreWindCapital that brings the story up to date. The Apple version is at podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
A Spotify version is open.spotify.com/episode/1pSo...
A Spotify version is open.spotify.com/episode/1pSo...
TaleWind
Business Podcast · The TaleWind pod features interviews with authors of books related to science, technology, and business.
podcasts.apple.com
September 5, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Here's a new podcast about my book, Lasers, Death Rays, and the Long, Strange Quest for the Ultimate Weapon with Andrew Rubenstein of ShoreWindCapital that brings the story up to date. The Apple version is at podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...
A Spotify version is open.spotify.com/episode/1pSo...
A Spotify version is open.spotify.com/episode/1pSo...
Signing up for @bot.astronomy.blue signup
Read about the carbon-rich interstellar comet skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Read about the carbon-rich interstellar comet skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
skyandtelescope.org
September 4, 2025 at 6:49 PM
Signing up for @bot.astronomy.blue signup
Read about the carbon-rich interstellar comet skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Read about the carbon-rich interstellar comet skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
New interstellar comet is made of different stuff than solar system comets. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... The dust and gas around it are mostly carbon dioxide not water vapor found in solar system comets. The comet will be around until mid-2026, stay tuned for more.
skyandtelescope.org
September 4, 2025 at 6:43 PM
New interstellar comet is made of different stuff than solar system comets. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne... The dust and gas around it are mostly carbon dioxide not water vapor found in solar system comets. The comet will be around until mid-2026, stay tuned for more.
I was amused to find that the "massive" 11.8 inch shoes found in an ancient Roman fort www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a... are smaller than the 13-inch sneakers I wear.
Archaeologists Keep Finding Massive Shoes at an Ancient Roman Fort—and They Have No Idea Why They're So Big
Discovered near Hadrian's Wall in northern England, the oversized leather footwear has left researchers puzzled
www.smithsonianmag.com
July 29, 2025 at 1:57 AM
I was amused to find that the "massive" 11.8 inch shoes found in an ancient Roman fort www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/a... are smaller than the 13-inch sneakers I wear.
To put the war in Gaza in context, the National Archives records 58,220 U.S. military casualties in the Vietnam War www.archives.gov/research/mil... . The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...? now reports the Gaze war has claimed "nearly 60,000 lives." We need peace now.
Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics
Electronic Records Reference Report Introduction The following tables were generated from the Vietnam Conflict Extract Data File of the Defense Casualty Analysis System (DCAS) Extract Files, which is ...
www.archives.gov
July 2, 2025 at 2:30 PM
To put the war in Gaza in context, the National Archives records 58,220 U.S. military casualties in the Vietnam War www.archives.gov/research/mil... . The Guardian www.theguardian.com/world/2025/j...? now reports the Gaze war has claimed "nearly 60,000 lives." We need peace now.
Car-mageddon typo: As of this morning, the east-west Massachusetts Turnpike has been re-designated I-95 in a story in the Newton Beacon on a major road reconstruction project www.newtonbeacon.org/traffic-trib... Let's hope they fix it soon.
Traffic Tribulation: Mass Pike work to bring Car-mageddon to region - Newton Beacon
You may think Memorial Day weekend is the biggest traffic headache of the season. Most years, you’d be right. This year, you’d be wrong. Next weekend, May 30 to June 2,work will begin on the [...]
www.newtonbeacon.org
May 23, 2025 at 1:51 PM
Car-mageddon typo: As of this morning, the east-west Massachusetts Turnpike has been re-designated I-95 in a story in the Newton Beacon on a major road reconstruction project www.newtonbeacon.org/traffic-trib... Let's hope they fix it soon.
Our lilacs are blooming here in the Boston area. What's blooming in your yard?
April 30, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Our lilacs are blooming here in the Boston area. What's blooming in your yard?
Looked out the back window this morning to see a beautiful wild turkey checking out our bird feeder and back yard. It's great to see them here in suburbia.
April 10, 2025 at 1:45 PM
Looked out the back window this morning to see a beautiful wild turkey checking out our bird feeder and back yard. It's great to see them here in suburbia.
Kip Siegel, founder of KMS Fusion, died just over 50 years ago after suffering a stroke while trying to persuade Congress to support his company's laser fusion tech. Livermore now has ignited seven fusion targets. That's progress, but will fusion energy take 50 more years? alchetron.com/Kip-Siegel
Kip Siegel - Alchetron, The Free Social Encyclopedia
Keeve M. (Kip) Siegel (19231975) was a US physicist. He was a professor of Physics at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, MI, and the founder of Conductron Corporation, a high tech producer of el...
alchetron.com
April 6, 2025 at 5:40 PM
Kip Siegel, founder of KMS Fusion, died just over 50 years ago after suffering a stroke while trying to persuade Congress to support his company's laser fusion tech. Livermore now has ignited seven fusion targets. That's progress, but will fusion energy take 50 more years? alchetron.com/Kip-Siegel
Sky & Telescope is one of only five monthly magazines that has published regularly for 80 years. The February 2025 issue was number 1000, and I had a story in the that print issue on the theory that Earth may have had a ring in it. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Did a Ring of Rocks and Dust Orbit Earth Before the Dinosaurs Roamed?
A team of scientists thinks a clustering of ancient impact craters points to a temporary ring around Earth hundreds of millions of years ago.
skyandtelescope.org
March 8, 2025 at 3:28 PM
Sky & Telescope is one of only five monthly magazines that has published regularly for 80 years. The February 2025 issue was number 1000, and I had a story in the that print issue on the theory that Earth may have had a ring in it. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
In Against the Odds, John and Mary Gribbin say a lack of women's toilets held back women in science. In 1969 the Caltech faculty told a committee on admitting women undergraduates in 1969. A plumber could solve that problem, and the first women were admitted in 1971. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
Against the odds: 12 women who beat bias to succeed in science
A book deftly highlights how women have been considered unsuitable as researchers for reasons other than their ability and commitment.
www.nature.com
March 4, 2025 at 7:45 PM
In Against the Odds, John and Mary Gribbin say a lack of women's toilets held back women in science. In 1969 the Caltech faculty told a committee on admitting women undergraduates in 1969. A plumber could solve that problem, and the first women were admitted in 1971. www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The rusty dust on Mars is different than terrestrial rust. It's a different iron oxide ferrihydrite that isn't stable on Earth, but it can survive billions of years on Mars which is very much colder. Neat stuff skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Why Is Mars Red?
Martian dust is red because of rust — but the rust on Mars is not the same iron oxide mineral found on Earth.
skyandtelescope.org
February 26, 2025 at 10:04 PM
The rusty dust on Mars is different than terrestrial rust. It's a different iron oxide ferrihydrite that isn't stable on Earth, but it can survive billions of years on Mars which is very much colder. Neat stuff skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
How James Reason became a specialist in human error, something should all think about. From his obituary in Aviation Week: aviationweek.com/air-transpor...?
Remembering Human Error Specialist James Reason | Aviation Week Network
James Reason was a leader in recognizing many mistakes as expected occasional outcomes rather than seeing all errors as intentional, deviant acts.
aviationweek.com
February 12, 2025 at 4:03 PM
How James Reason became a specialist in human error, something should all think about. From his obituary in Aviation Week: aviationweek.com/air-transpor...?
Cryptocurrency is "Schroedinger's Piggy Bank" www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis...
Arlo and Janis by Jimmy Johnson for February 06, 2025 | GoComics.com
www.gocomics.com
February 7, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Cryptocurrency is "Schroedinger's Piggy Bank" www.gocomics.com/arloandjanis...
What's the Kessler Syndrome. Here's what it can do in science fiction www.nature.com/articles/d41...
The Clear Space Foundation
Making a sale.
www.nature.com
December 28, 2024 at 1:48 PM
What's the Kessler Syndrome. Here's what it can do in science fiction www.nature.com/articles/d41...
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has reached the rim of the Jezero crater to explore new territory skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Perseverance Reaches Rim of Jezero Crater
It’s been a long upward climb for NASA’s premier rover. But the commanding view — and the geology — were worth it.
skyandtelescope.org
December 17, 2024 at 1:06 AM
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has reached the rim of the Jezero crater to explore new territory skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
The oldest and largest impact crater on Venus is nothing like what has been found before. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Oldest and Largest Impact Crater Found on Venus
Scientists have found possibly the oldest and largest crater on Venus — and it's like none they've ever seen on our sister planet.
skyandtelescope.org
November 8, 2024 at 2:12 AM
The oldest and largest impact crater on Venus is nothing like what has been found before. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
We've found the source of meteors. The biggest are fragments of asteroid collisions during the last 40 million years. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
We’ve Found the Source of Most Meteorites
Scientists have traced 70% of meteorite falls to three collisions that occurred in the asteroid belt within the past 40 million years.
skyandtelescope.org
October 28, 2024 at 2:09 PM
We've found the source of meteors. The biggest are fragments of asteroid collisions during the last 40 million years. skyandtelescope.org/astronomy-ne...
Vacuum tubes are back! Today I found the local electronics store is selling antiques -- vacuum tubes from the mid-20th century, many in their original boxes. I hadn't seen vacuum tubes on sale in a store for decades. Thanks to You-Do-It-Electronics for the blast from the past.
February 22, 2024 at 10:37 PM
Vacuum tubes are back! Today I found the local electronics store is selling antiques -- vacuum tubes from the mid-20th century, many in their original boxes. I hadn't seen vacuum tubes on sale in a store for decades. Thanks to You-Do-It-Electronics for the blast from the past.