Hello! Welcome back! This episode, we are doing a bit of a thought experiment about the Moon. The Earth and the Moon are so closely related, both directly in their physical effects on each other, but also indirectly. Through the effect they have on evolution, culture, seasons, and how we measure time. We all know the Moon is there and many people know the odd thing about the Moon affecting the tides on Earth, but I thought the best way to understand how much of an impact the Moon has on earth would be to consider what would the Earth be like without the Moon?

Hello, welcome back! This episode is part of one of the mini series I have in this podcast - Bookworm(hole), where, in simplest terms, I discuss science books I’ve read, my thoughts on them, and what I’d recommend to you. So far there has only been one previous episode in this series, that was all the way back in episode 5. In that, I actually discussed three non fiction science books. So more than 10 episodes later, I think it is high time for another bookish episode. Today, however, I am only going to talk about one book, and instead of a non-fiction science book, it’s a sci-fi book. it is one of my favourite books ever, not just in the sci-fi genre, but out of all books. And it is Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir.

I wonder what comes to your mind when I mention something that emits light. Perhaps a lightbulb, flames, or the sun. Maybe phone screens, the moon, or light reflecting off a shiny surface. In fact I think we often mainly associate light with astronomical objects like stars, fire, or man made electrical things like lightbulbs. However, there is another category of light emitting things that is more obscure but amazing. I’m talking about bioluminescence. In Episode 11, The Dark Side of Light, we looked at all the negative effects of light pollution on the natural world, so this episode, let’s look at the light that does belong: nature’s extraordinary way of producing its own light.