Many have been concerned lately that the glory days of space exploration are behind us. The Apollo missions ended 44 years ago, and still we have not returned to the Moon. Our current Mars missions are only modestly more sophisticated than earlier missions.

Mae-Wan Ho, the Hong Kong-born evolution scientist and one of neo-Darwinism's most effective critics, has died at age 74, I learned today. Ho was co-founder with her husband, physicist Peter Saunders, of the Institute of Science in Society.

Adult Attention Deficit Disorder is the current fad-du-jour. It needs to be killed before it multiplies beyond easy taming. The best person to provide insight is Keith Conners, the man who did the first studies on ADHD -- even before there was an official DSM diagnosis called ADHD.

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What would it take to hide an entire planet? It sounds more like a question posed in an episode of "Star Trek" than in academic discourse, but sometimes the bleeding edge of science blurs with themes found in science fiction.

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Why do news media mangle these issues in sensationalist ways? For one thing, I suspect they didn't bother to read the actual article. But again, I also think it does harken to the emotionally-laden yet nebulous way desensitization is used and misused in the general public.

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Instead of putting together futuristic shiny suits that can fly and shoot missiles and crack jokes all at the same time, my colleagues and I are doing something much more complex: figuring out how to optimize the functioning of our most complicated -- and awesome -- bit of technology, our brain.

While some species are declining or going extinct as a result of climatic changes, others may be able to adapt. Understanding how they do so is important for conservation. Examining how climate change alters species gives us the opportunity to increase our understanding of evolution.

Sleep is a magical moment that allows us to disconnect from the world, hunger, worries, etc. Sleep is one of the last remaining mysteries in biology. We still don't understand why a typical human has to spend 25 years of life sleeping.

For women, cultivating the skill of well-being is an essential investment in their own futures, and potentially those of their children. If we can teach these skills to women during lifecycle transitions like pregnancy or to girls before the onset of adolescence, then maybe we can minimize the risk of mental health problems for both sexes throughout life.

Redmayne as Hawking. Cumberbatch as Turing. If the timing were right, Christopher Lee would have been superb in the big-screen story of British-born theoretical physicist Geoffrey West. (I've interviewed both.)

It's great to bring so much attention to kids doing science. But when you look over the projects that win the Google Science Fair and the Intel Science Talent Search these days, it's clear that they're mostly the products of very bright, motivated students lucky enough to work in university labs where they can take advantage of expertise and equipment.

Mark your calendars! On May 9, 2016 there will be a Transit of Mercury - that's when the tiny planet Mercury will come directly between us and the Sun. This rare and subtle event is visible only 13 or 14 times each century, and I want you to see it all.

Fifty-five years ago, humanity began its journey into the cosmos. The technological advances that were required to take our first steps came from a huge variety of fields, and many of these advances were subsequently co-opted for needs back on earth.

What can be done to improve the hurry-up-and-wait reality of vaccination approval when it comes to more dangerous pandemics?

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Exposing my vulnerabilities publicly and confidently gave that girl the strength she needed to participate. That's when I knew exactly what I wanted to do with my life -- I want to use computer science to inspire other women to explore computer science.