February 15th 2026

Things from Today:

• Alien-Spider DNA - I couldn't find any scientific papers about spiders DNA being uniquely different to the DNA of other organisms (and therefore, more likely to be of extra-terrestrial origin); however, this did spark an interesting discussion about Panspermia (the highly speculative theory that life on Earth might have been seeded by some extra-terrestrial source). Ultimately.. What I find most fascinating is the actual origin of life from basic chemical ingredients. Whether this initial chemical reaction happened on Earth, or elsewhere in the cosmos seems less significant to me!

• Black Holes and Time Travel - There were lots of really fantastic questions about Black Holes today! The Extra Reading, and Extra Watching / Listening contains a few jumping off points to learn more!

• Spontaneous Vacuum Decay - This article nicely expands upon some of the discussion we had today about the rather terrifying prospect of spontaneous vacuum decay!

• Flat Land: A Romance of Many Dimensions - This is the book I briefly mentioned by Edwin A. Abbott. It's pretty short; so worth a read if you happen to have the overlapping interests of Victorian social commentary and 2D Euclidean geometry!

Extra Reading:

• [Article] Is Particle Physics Dead, Dying, or Just Hard? - N Wolchover (Quanta Magazine)

• [Book] Supermassive: Black Holes at the Beginning and End of the Universe - J Trefil & S Satyapal

Extra Watching / Listening:

• [Podcast] Priya Natarajan on Black Holes and Mapping the Universe - The Joy of x

• [Podcast] Janna Levin: Black Holes, Wormholes, Aliens, Paradoxes & Extra Dimensions - Lex Fridman Podcast

• [Video] Black Holes and Beyond (Southend Museum Lecture) - R Clemenson

Homework

This 'homework' is recurring, and one I like to set my own students (and try to stick to myself!):

1. Learn something new everyday.

2. Share what you know with someone else.

3. Look at the world and "think like a Martian".

If you learn something interesting, I would love to hear about it! Tell me about it next time or drop me an email!

spacetime-sundays@science-on-sea.com