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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Philosopher Henri Bergson didn't challenge Einstein's theory but, instead, a philosophy that grew up around it; Bergson's separation of science and metaphysics is worth considering, says Adam Frank.
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Why doesn't the winter solstice have the earliest sunset of the year? NPR's Ari Shapiro explores that and other fun celestial news with NPR blogger Adam Frank.
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Some of the five mass extinctions Earth experienced in the past were driven by climate changes. Future Earth will be just fine. It's us humans we need to worry about, says astrophysicist Adam Frank.
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NPR science blogger and astrophysicist Adam Frank argues infrastructure must change in order to develop new, environmentally friendly forms of transportation.
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Through climate science, we learned to read entire worlds — and no one can take that achievement from us: We are greater for what we have built with this knowledge, says astrophysicist Adam Frank.
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A new novel doesn't take the easy way out but, instead, asks questions about the mutations of human institutions under the pressure of global warming, says commentator Adam Frank.
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The power of science and pervasiveness of technology puts scientists in a position of unique responsibility that can make political activism very slippery, says commentator Adam Frank.
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Life as we know it is being threatened by everything from climate change to resource depletion. Commentator Adam Frank looks back at 1177 B.C. — and what we might learn from peoples past.
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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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Just in time for the official start of summer, NPR's Adam Frank heads outside to better understand the summer solstice. The secret, he says, is in the sunsets.