Science Journalist Has Complete Thought About Procreation

Last Thursday, The Atlantic published an essay of mine called “How I Talk to My Daughter About Climate Change.” It was about, well, exactly that, but it was also about how parents talk to their kids about all kinds of scary things—from climate change to terrorism to our current global politics. I hoped it made some […]

Redux: Cinderella and the Cinema Hangover

Last time I was in my hometown of Seattle, I walked by the movie theater I worked at for many years in the 1990s and 2000s and found it permanently closed. Being sad and angry about changes in Seattle is kind of a thing, but I wasn’t just upset about a piece of the city–and […]

Why I’m Blogging Again

I don’t expect anyone to notice, but I’ve been on hiatus from Last Word On Nothing while I focused my attention on writing a book. With the book finished, I’ve decided it’s time to start blogging here again. My return wasn’t a given. Time away from LWON was an opportunity to contemplate whether I should […]

The Last Word

April 2 – 6, 2018 Nobody claimed Google’s Lunar X prize for going back to the moon, says Rebecca, and though China and India did/will get to the moon, “private moon exploration is a no-go.” Turns out going to the moon is hard. The lady in the log cabin whose collected stuff went up over […]

Why are people getting scarlet fever again?

The fever and rash appeared the day before we were scheduled to get on a 747 from London to New York. Twin 1’s face was a streaky, sickly red except for death-pale stripes around her mouth. I knew what I was looking at, because Twin 2 had just finished the last of her 10-day course […]

Guest Post: Astronomer’s Telegram Rediscovers Mars

Early on 20th March, professional theoretical cosmologist and amateur astrophotographer Peter Dunsby of the University of Cape Town was imaging a beautiful part of the sky, in the constellation of Sagittarius. When you look at this part of the sky, you’re staring toward the centre of the galaxy, and your view is filled with beautiful […]

Ode to materialism

When I lived in a small town in Colorado, I knew a woman who most people would describe as a hoarder. She made her home in a log cabin not far from a winding river, under ragged cottonwood trees that shed downy tufts in early summer, and showers of gold each autumn. You could see […]

We Did Not Go Back to the Moon, Because It Is Hard

Saturday, March 31, was kind of a big day for the moon. It was full for the second time this month, making it a blue moon — the second of 2018. It was also the first full moon after the spring equinox, what’s known as the Paschal moon. The first Sunday after such a moon […]