Here’s a number of pieces I’ve gathered in the last few months related to science and math that I found worth sharing. A few of them require deeper knowledge on the topic, but many of them are suitable for anyone to read.

in the area of space and astronomy:

• Let’s start with this interesting paper on the Colonization of Venus.
• Speaking of Venus: Kosmos-482, a spacecraft bound for Venus in 1972, just returned to earth.
• Closer to earth, this piece is on the sad ending for Athena, which landed on its side. Space is hard. Here’s something on another mission, the Blue ghost mission to the moon.
• A good story on how NASA selects its flight crews.
• If you want to go to space, then apply here to work at the Space Telescope Science Institute. Maybe you could end up in a Prada spacesuit.
• Eye candy: astronomy photographer of the year. Related, here’s some great moon photos.
• The black hole at the center of our galaxy is giving off flares of light. Also: Is mathematics the only way we have of peering into a black hole?
• For you amateurs: here’s what’s happening in Toronto’s night sky.
• Fun: what did the Hubble telescope see on your birthday.
• This is a beautiful old text on Galileo’s work.
• Here’s a good piece on cosmic jets.
• Finally, did the dinosaur killer asteroid come from deep space?

Moving on to biology:

• I thought this was a good piece on brain mapping.
• Speaking of the nervous system: On the vagus nerve, a weird and wonderful part of our body.
• A good question: How the brain protects itself from blood borne threats?
• Another good question:  How does life happen when there is hardy any light?

Regarding mathematics, physics and more:

• For those looking to learn more math, here’s: Calculus for beginners.
• More math: The search for the random numbers that run our lives.
• For game theory fans, here’s what you need to know about the Stag hunt and game theory. Here’s more on the stag hunt.
• More game theory: Something on simultaneous move one shot games.
• On how an undergrad upended what we know about hash tables in Computer Science.
• I was recently interested in this: On the power law and, More on the power law.
• Some combined math and physics: Tensors to the rescue (of Einstein) and   Emmy Noether to the rescue (of Einstein and more).
• Also math and physics related: All about the principle of least action.
• Finally, here’s some science history here,  On the Ultraviolet catastrophe, and here, List of superseded scientific theories,

(Photos – Venus, seen by NASA’s Mariner 10 spacecraft in 1974.Credit: NASA and Emmy Noether Credit: Kristina Armitage/Quanta Magazine)