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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From its first appearance, Star Trek has always been hopeful about the relationship between society and technology. Ethan Siegel doesn't lose sight of this in his book, Treknology, says Adam Frank.
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Something like Atlas, Spot and Handle will likely inhabit the world we're now building — and their weirdness will be just commonplace, says astrophysicist Adam Frank.
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As we find our way in a world shaped by Big Data, it's not the reams of information we gather but the networks they illuminate that's the newest addition to science's index of things, says Adam Frank.
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Once a technology that treats emotions as data becomes pervasive, we may soon find that data is the only aspect of emotion we come to recognize or value, says astrophysicist Adam Frank.
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In his new book, Robert Wright explores Buddhism's take on our suffering, our anxiety and our general dis-ease — where he sees it lining up with scientific fields, says blogger Adam Frank.
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We live in a world of endless pressing concerns with so many competing avenues of being productive. A good game makes no demands. All that matters is the enjoyment of the doing, says Adam Frank.
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Do cities destroy nature or are they part of nature? Astrophysicist Adam Frank looks at a new book attempting to answer that question — which he says could be a key to our collective future.
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While author Brad Warner's approach to 13th-century Japanese Zen master Eihei Dogen may be unorthodox, its freshness might be exactly what the doctor ordered, says Adam Frank.
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Beyond the fights and the chases in Ramez Naam's Nexus trilogy, it is an opportunity to consider how technology might move some humans beyond humanity, says astrophysicist Adam Frank.
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It's possible that string theory or the multiverse may find strong links with data, but a recent book provides a view of what a truly different philosophical approach would look like, says Adam Frank.