How to avoid an Armageddon situation

Hello, friends!

How are you doing this week? I’m spending as much time outside as I can before the weather realises what it’s done and slams the door on the Sun for another month.

It’s the Easter holidays so there aren’t so many talks and lectures on the slate, but there’s still lots to be getting on with this week. (As well as stockpiling on chocolate, of course.)

Let’s go!

🍿 online talks and events 🐧

All times are BST.

🧠 mind

Challenging traditional, male-focused views of autism

Brain scientist Gina Rippon looks at why there is so little research into female autism, the impact of this bias on our understanding of autism, and how we are working to redress this injustice.

UnMasked: the lost girls of autism, hybrid event by Conway Hall, Tuesday 8 April, 18.30, from £7

🪐 space

*Do* want to miss a thing. An asteroid, to be exact

Astronomy professor and planetary defence expert Alan Fitzsimmons explains how we use telescopes to discover asteroids and calculate the risk of impact, as well as how we’re developing solutions to protect the Earth. Don’t have nightmares.

Planetary defence: preventing asteroid impacts, hybrid lecture by Jodrell Bank, Thursday 10 April, 19.30, £8

🌕 in a sky near you… 🔭

Views from Science, Please HQ, London. See Stellarium for a personalised view of your night sky after setting your location and time.

Pink Moon: Look out for the full Moon on Sunday, which will rise in the southeast at about 9pm before setting in the southwest at around 6am.

Sadly, it’s not actually pink – “Pink Moon” is just the name we give the fourth full Moon of the year. But it will be a bit of a special one this year, as it coincides with the Moon’s apogee – when it’s furthest from the Earth in its orbit (406,295 km, thereabouts). That means it’ll appear smaller and dimmer than usual – a so-called “micromoon”.

🌸 closer to Earth 👀

Blue with bells on: The bluebells are here! I’ve seen them in parks and church gardens in the last week or so, and will soon make my annual trip to the wood in Kew Gardens to take in their carpet of blue that appears to go on forever.

Seek British bluebells (Hyacinthoides non-scripta) out in places where the soil has been left alone, such as woodlands – bluebells are a strong indicator or ancient woodland. The Woodland Trusts has this round up of where to find bluebells in your area.

💫 we need answers

Last week I asked:

In 2015, a new machine was installed on the International Space Station. The first-of-a-kind machine, co-developed by an Italian company founded in 1895, has been described as a “long-awaited fluid dynamics experiment that offers astronauts a taste of home”.

What daily ritual, beloved by Voltaire, Beethoven, and Monica Geller, did this machine allow astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti to enjoy in orbit for the first time?

The answer is… a freshly brewed cup of coffee.

A brand new espresso machine specially designed to work in microgravity was installed on the International Space Station back in 2015. It was called… ISSpresso. The machine was developed by aerospace company Argotec and heritage coffee brand Lavazza, which opened its first shop in 1895.

To mark the occasion, astronaut Cristoforetti changed into her Star Trek uniform top, took a selfie as she sipped her brew from a special cup, and tweeted: “Coffee: the finest organic suspension ever devised. Fresh espresso in the new zero-G cup! To boldly brew ...”.

🤔 until next week…

What astronomical object could come next in the following sequence?

• the process of restoring degraded landscapes by planting vegetation

• random movement of suspended particles in a liquid or gas

• the common name of the perennial plant Hyacinthoides non-scripta

• the name given to the fourth full Moon in a calendar year

Answer comes next week. See you then! x