At 60 years old, Doctor Who, the BBC show following the adventures of the regenerating Time Lord, continues to be highly enjoyable fiction. But it’s science fiction. The Gallifreyan takes science seriously… so we take a closer look at some of the science of Doctor Who, from time travel and the TARDIS to invading Cybermen and rogue planets.
How to make the Moon on Earth
The expense and prestige involved in sending landers and rovers to the Moon means you can’t afford for them not to work when they get there. But the lunar landscape is like nothing here on Earth. So how, and where do you test equipment that’s bound for the Moon?
THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE (November 10, 2023): The latest issue features A Beginner’s Guide to Looking at the Universe; What Does the U.S. Space Force Actually Do? – Inside the highly secretive military branch responsible for protecting American interests in a vulnerable new domain; Their Final Wish? A Burial in Space. – Why some people decide to send their remains into orbit.
A stunning advancement in a long history of stargazing, the James Webb telescope reveals light where once we saw only darkness. Our view of the universe will never be the same.
Absinthe minded by Barnaby Conrad III The three faces of Lafayette by Michele H. Bogart Matisse & Derain: a study in contrasts by James Panero Rodin & Michelangelo: a speculation by Eric Gibson A German restoration drama by Michael J. Lewis Notes on “Le Serf” by William Tucker Thirties at the Met by Karen Wilkin
Science Magazine – November 10, 2023:The new issue features Mode-locked “chip lasers” generating intense ultrashort pulses of light have been the backbone of ultrafast sciences and technologies.
In thinking about the challenge of getting artificial intelligence (AI) to understand our complex world, I recalled a Twitter post from a user of Tesla’s self-driving system. The user tweeted that his car kept stopping abruptly at a particular location for no apparent reason. Then he noticed a billboard advertisement on the side of the road, featuring a sheriff holding up a stop sign. The car’s vision system had interpreted this as an actual stop sign, and slammed on the brakes.
Though it lies in ruins on the northeast coast of England, Kilton Castle was once an imposing stone fortress, home to several noble families, and—it appears—at least eight cats. Archaeological excavations in the 1960s uncovered a well, at the bottom of which lay the bones of several felines dating back to the 14th century. The animals were an odd mix: Some were domestic cats, but other, larger specimens appeared to be European wildcats, a fierce, burly species that has inhabited the continent for hundreds of thousands of years.
DISCOVER BRITAIN MAGAZINE (OCTOBER / NOVEMBER 2023 – The latest issue features Eastern delights – From punting in Cambridge to crabbing in Norfolk; Bloody Mary – Where England’s first Queen was proclaimed; London pubs – Perfectly pulled pints; Holkham Hall – Behind the scenes on the vast estate, and more…
The Economist Magazine (November 11, 2023): The latest issue features How Scary is China? – America must understand China’s weaknesses as well as its strengths; The Omnistar is born – How artificial intelligence will transform fame; Giorgia Meloni’s “mother of all reforms” is a power grab – Italians should reject their prime minister’s demagogic proposal, and more….
THE NEW YORK TIMES STYLE MAGAZINE (November 12, 2023) – T’S TRAVEL ISSUE features the writer Aatish Taseer embarked on an epic 40,000-mile journey through Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq. What he learned was less a life-altering revelation and more a lesson in curiosity itself.
A tourist camp about 50 miles east of Erdene Zuu monastery in Mongolia. Richard Mosse
The writer Aatish Taseer embarked on a journey through Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq. What he learned was less a life-altering revelation and more a lesson in curiosity itself.
Travel, the movement of people from one place to another, has always existed. But long before we thought to travel for pleasure, we traveled for purpose: for commerce, and for faith.
Even the most casual student of the Silk Road, that fearsome, wondrous network of routes that people began plying in the second century B.C. (and did so for approximately the next 1,600 years) knows that the two — business and God, whoever or whatever your god was — often intermingled. Merchants and adventurers returned with new kinds of goods, but also with new kinds of ideas: of art, of architecture, of ideology, of faith. The Silk Road brought Islam to India, and Buddhism to Japan. It’s why travel has always been both thrilling and dangerous. You never know how a new land is going to change you; it never knows how you’re going to change it.
The Island of the Sun in Bolivia’s Lake Titicaca, a pilgrimage site since before the Inca Empire.Credit…Stefan Ruiz
The dozens of books that T writer Aatish Taseer read before his journey through Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq, and what he learned from each pilgrimage.
Eighteen months ago, when the New York-based T writer at large Aatish Taseer began planning his reporting trips for this month’s three-part feature story — an exploration of religious travel in Bolivia, Mongolia and Iraq — he was already well acquainted with the idea of pilgrimage. His first book, the 2009 memoir “Stranger to History,” opens with what is arguably the world’s best-known faith-motivated journey, the hajj to Mecca, and ends with what he describes as a personal pilgrimage to meet his estranged father in Pakistan. In Delhi, India, where Taseer grew up, quick trips for the purpose of worship were commonplace. “People would do a pilgrimage on an ordinary Sunday,” he says, “instead of going to an amusement park.”
Times Literary Supplement (November 10, 2023): The new issue features The day everything changed – The war in Israel and Gaza; Russia at war; Animal liberation revisited; Publisher to the world; Maison Gainsbourg in Paris; and more…
The New Yorker – November 13, 2023 issue: The new issue‘s cover features Kadir Nelson’s “Dumbo” – The artist discusses the seasonal energy of the city, and his sources of inspiration.
On the morning of the Battle of Waterloo, Napoleon Bonaparte was full of catastrophic confidence. His seventy-three thousand troops were camped on a ridge near a tavern called La Belle Alliance. His nemesis, the Duke of Wellington, occupied a slope across the fields, with a mere sixty-seven thousand troops. Over breakfast, Napoleon predicted, “If my orders are well executed, we will sleep in Brussels this evening.” When his chief of staff offered a word of caution, Napoleon snapped, “Wellington is a bad general and the English are bad troops. The whole affair will not be more serious than swallowing one’s breakfast.”
Some people think that we can’t be held responsible for what we do, given that our actions are the inevitable consequence of the laws of nature. They’re only half right.
National Geographic Traveller Magazine (December 2023): The latest issue features the 30 best destinations for 2024, Northern Lights in Manitoba, sailing Denmark’s South Funen Archipelago on a tall ship and a long-distance rail trip in the US….
Also inside this issue:
Uganda: The wildlife of Queen Elizabeth National Park. Melbourne: In Victoria’s state capital, local innovators are breathing new life into forgotten spaces. Amman: Culture, cuisine and craft in Jordan’s kaleidoscopic, mountain-fringed capital. Tunisia: From laid-back coastal towns and diving spots to mountain trails in the county’s northern reaches. Warsaw: Traditional Polish flavours have found a new home in fine-dining establishments. Central London: Hotels to escape the crowds at, from budget boutiques to spruced-up luxury boltholes.
Plus, saddling up inGeorgia’s Tusheti region; the salt workers of India’s Habra city; Barcelona’s La Sagrada Família nears completion; Europe’s new UNESCO World Heritage Sites; the flavours of Sierra Leone;a pedal-powered tour of Malmö; design-led stays in Siem Reap; a Christmas break in Lapland; beach views and seafood in Aberdeen; a staycation in Arnside and Silverdale; great illustrated travel books and photography collections; and overnight essentials.
News, Views and Reviews For The Intellectually Curious
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