Here I showcase one of the latest talks, given by Juan Enriquez. The talk is titled “Beyond the crisis, mindboggling science and the arrival of Homo evolutis.” Enriquez uses a good bit of smart humor to illustrate our current economic crisis and why the advance of technology gives us good reason to have hope for the future.

*phew* Now that that’s out of the way… I’d like to start sharing with you some of the blogs I read. Every so often I’ll select a new one to introduce you to. And the first I’ve chosen to share is Bad Astronomy.

One of my favorite things to contemplate is the vastness of the universe. Not just in size, but also in the vast variety of phenomena that occur throughout the universe. Most people never think about the possibility of a supernova boiling us alive in an absurdly high energy blast of solar radiation. But, then there are people like astronomer Philip Plait, the author of the blog Bad Astronomy.

Each day Philip introduces his readers to new astronomical phenomena, blasts hokey science and reports the latest news from the field. And to top it off, his humorous, sometimes sardonic style of writing ensures that his posts will not only expand your knowledge, but keep you close to falling out of your chair laughing. For a great example of the hilarity, be sure to check out his dissection of a fake NASA shuttle image.

On the interesting side, in a recent post Philip describes the downright extreme conditions on planet HD 80606b orbiting a star in the constellation Ursa Major, better known as the Big Dipper. What makes this planet extreme? Well, there’s the extremely elliptical orbit that swings the planet as close as 4 million kilometers from its star, while Mecury swings around our Sun more than ten times further away at 46 million kilometers. Then, there’s its massive size—four times larger than Jupiter! And there’s also the winds that make Earth’s hurricanes look like a summer breeze clocking in at 5 kilometers a second…Google tells me that’s 11,184.6815 miles per hour! And there’s more crazy facts awaiting you, just read his post!

If you have even a passing interest in astronomy, be sure to check out Bad Astronomy. You’ll be amazed and amused.