A podcast and newsletter about things that are not what they seem, hosted by journalist Evan Ratliff. Click to read Shell Game, a Substack publication with thousands of subscribers.

Incidentally, the word for "solstice" in the Irish language is grianstad which translates literally as "sun-stop". The Summer Solstice is Grianstad an tSamhraidh".

Abstract. Urinals are a staple of public spaces yet their designs have remained essentially stagnant for over a century. The use of urinals often results i

There’s more to the universe than meets the eye, he found. His studies led astronomy to the dark side, changing our view of what’s out there.

More data releases are coming, and with it more discoveries, but many are already wondering what’s next.

You may recall that back in November 2021 we received word that Maynooth University had been awarded one of ten new senior professorial positions under the Strategic Academic Leadership Initiative (SALI). I blogged about this scheme here. The position we were awarded is a Chair (Full Professorship) in Observational Astrophysics or Cosmology. We haven't been able to make an appointment so far, despite trying!

In the course of double-checking the time of perihelion for yesterday's post I did a quick Google search. What came up first was this: Google search results nowadays are prefaced by a short summary like this one, presumably generated by some sort of AI. This one - like many others I've seen recently - is just plain wrong. The time of perihelion was 13.28 Universal Time, not 09.00.

YouTube video by Adler Planetarium

How do you know what you’re not allowed to see?