THE MARTIAN asks some tough metaphysical questions as it answers some thorny scientific problems with nifty solutions. What’s worth living for? What’s worth dying for? And why should giving up never be an option? The premise is daunting. Mark Watney (Matt Damon), ace botanist and member of the Ares 3 exploratory expedition to Mars in… Read More »
PROJECT ALMANAC Flunks
After being delayed delayed half a year or so, PROJECT ALMANAC (aka WELCOME TO YESTERDAY and ALMANAC) has finally crept onto movie screens only to prove that waiting a year for its release would not have been nearly long enough. The trope of time travel and second chances has never been rendered in a more… Read More »
Dr. David Kaplan has PARTICLE FEVER (and It’s Contagious)
I was only half joking when I told particle physicist Dr. David Kaplan that listening to him had raised my IQ at least five points. He had just explained in garrulous fashion, and in terms that were both clear and compelling, how the observer effect couldn’t have applied to the search for the Higgs particle… Read More »