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sethdmichaels.bsky.social · @sethdmichaels.bsky.social@bridge.neodb.net

Rated Dark Matter and the Dinosaurs: The Astounding Interconnectedness of the Universe 8/10

Terrific tour of the latest ideas in physics about the evolution and structure of the universe and how it relates to the history of our solar system and life on earth. The centerpiece is Randall's theory about how dark matter in the galaxy could cause gravitational disturbances that could result in comets like the one that killed the dinosaurs. Highly recommend if you have interest in how theoretical physics works and how a physicist thinks. <br/><br/>The most interesting part for me is in the middle of the book, where she talks about the extinction of the dinosaurs. I'm just old enough that when I was a big dinosaur nerd as a little kid, "what happened to the dinosaurs" was described as a distant and maybe never-to-be-solved mystery, but by the time I was old enough to check back, the comet-strike explanation was as clear and concrete as a scientific theory can be. In one chapter, Randall explains how scientists figured this out over the 80s and 90s and it's honestly riveting (at least to me). It's a great case study in how science works. <br/><br/>Randall is very good at explaining very abstract, complex subjects, although there's a limit to how well you can do this - there were things I had to skim over, as there were with her last book [b:Knocking on Heaven's Door: How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World|12470311|Knocking on Heaven's Door How Physics and Scientific Thinking Illuminate the Universe and the Modern World|Lisa Randall|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1328760741s/12470311.jpg|16225008]. Dark matter is very hard to get your head around because its defining feature is that it interacts barely at all with normal matter and normal light, so we can't really see it even though there's actually more of it than there is of normal matter. The theories about what dark matter is are head-hurty abstract and the descriptions of how scientists try to detect it are a little numbing and technical, so those are the parts I skimmed. <br/><br/>Still, I love Randall's attitude, her enthusiasm and the ease with which she walks the reader through the incredibly weird/cool work she does as a physicist. <br/><br/>

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Published 2026-08-18 17:04 UTC · bridged from Atmosphere