Adam Frank
Adam Frank was a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. A professor at the University of Rochester, Frank is a theoretical/computational astrophysicist and currently heads a research group developing supercomputer code to study the formation and death of stars. Frank's research has also explored the evolution of newly born planets and the structure of clouds in the interstellar medium. Recently, he has begun work in the fields of astrobiology and network theory/data science. Frank also holds a joint appointment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, a Department of Energy fusion lab.
Frank is the author of two books: The Constant Fire, Beyond the Science vs. Religion Debate (University of California Press, 2010), which was one of SEED magazine's "Best Picks of The Year," and About Time, Cosmology and Culture at the Twilight of the Big Bang (Free Press, 2011). He has contributed to The New York Times and magazines such as Discover, Scientific American and Tricycle.
Frank's work has also appeared in The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2009. In 1999 he was awarded an American Astronomical Society prize for his science writing.
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Understanding how things work in the quantum world is both fun and mind-bending. Physicist Adam Frank suggests spending a minute watching this video on the wave-particle duality.
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The endless debate over the relationship between science and religion in the United States ignores the thinking of much of the rest of the world, says commentator Adam Frank.
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Here are a couple of amazing videos showing what the Earth's sky would look like if some of the solar system's most familiar bodies orbited our planet at close range.
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Does science have limits? Commentator Adam Frank reviews Marcelo Gleiser's eye-opening new book exploring this very question. It appears that we are forever headed into the dark.
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The products of science define modern life. But existential danger lurks in the chasm between the relentless advance of science and the values of politics, says commentator Adam Frank.
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Our fear of sentient machines is overblown, says commentator Adam Frank. They won't have time to bother with us.
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Summer is the best season for star gazing and, in that spirit, commentator Adam Frank offers up a video of the Milky Way passing over the desert.
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When did scientists and politicians first start to think that man may be warming the planet through the burning of fossil fuels? It wasn't just yesterday, says Commentator Adam Frank.
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A whole new world opens up before our eyes when we look more closely at vibrations, says astrophysicist Adam Frank as he shares a video showing a dancing drop of mercury.
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The human experience of sacredness transcends debates about atheism and religion, says astrophysicist Adam Frank. So where does the sacred live and what does it point to?