Mal Andrews
LightNews LightNews
banner
mandre02.bsky.social
Mal Andrews
@mandre02.bsky.social
16 followers 26 following 36 posts
husband, dad, labrador owner, bass player, punk, metal head, physics nerd, writer.
Posts Replies Media Videos
mandre02.bsky.social
Buried beneath the French-Swiss border, protons are whipped around a 27km ring at 99.9999991% of light speed, through magnets colder than outer space, then smashed together on purpose. That’s the LHC. New post: how it works, and the day it found the Higgs boson.

malandally.co.uk/2026/10/09/t...
The Large Hadron Collider – A Machine for Asking the Universe Embarrassing Questions
Quite often on my socials, I see a T-Shirt designed by the ever-so awesome, Jim’ll Paint It, which says on it “Large Hadron Collider. What does it do? No one knows -> WTF? I once saw it in the w…
malandally.co.uk
October 9, 2026 at 4:06 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
About 95% of the universe is stuff we can't see, touch, or detect directly. Dark matter and dark energy: where are they, what are they? Honestly, nobody knows. New blog post: galaxy rotation, gravitational lensing, and why the universe's expansion is speeding up.

malandally.co.uk/2026/09/25/w...
Where Is It? What Is It? Why Can’t We See It? Dark Matter & Dark Energy Explained (Well, Sort Of).
And just like that, another Friday has appeared from nowhere. This week folks, I’m going to do a bit of a follow up on last week’s article. If the measurement problem is the biggest mystery in quan…
malandally.co.uk
September 25, 2026 at 1:32 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
Nobody actually knows why observing a quantum system changes it. That's not clickbait, it's one of the deepest unsolved mysteries in physics. New post: roulette wheels, Schrödinger's cat, & why decoherence gets us most of the way to an answer but not all the way.

malandally.co.uk/category/ast...
Astronomy & Physics and other Sciency Stuff – when I think of something snappy
Posts about Astronomy & Physics and other Sciency Stuff written by Mal Andrews
malandally.co.uk
September 18, 2026 at 11:38 AM
mandre02.bsky.social
Where does yesterday actually go? According to Einstein's physics, maybe nowhere. The Block Universe theory says past, present and future might all exist equally within spacetime itself. New blog post digs into the physics, and what it means for free will.

malandally.co.uk/2026/09/11/t...
The Block Universe: Is Time an Illusion? And Lunchtime Doubly So?
A change of pace this week folks, let’s take a look at one of the more far-out theories that has come from Einstein’s theories. Have you ever woken up in the morning and wondered what actually happ…
malandally.co.uk
September 11, 2026 at 1:00 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
A day late this week (turns out physics blogging and a body that occasionally rebels don't always mix) but here it is: Newton's Laws. Buses, footballs, and how three astronauts trusted 300-year-old physics to bring Apollo 13 home.

malandally.co.uk/2026/09/05/n...
Newton’s Laws: The Three Rules That Keep the World Moving
Another delay in posting, so apologies again, but at least I’m only a day late this time. Anyway, here it is, and this week I’m going to delve into the Laws of Sir Isaac Newton. Whether you&#…
malandally.co.uk
September 5, 2026 at 10:42 AM
mandre02.bsky.social
A few days late (bad back, long story) but here it is: Special Relativity. Trains, tennis balls, light beams, and why time itself isn't as fixed as it feels.

malandally.co.uk/2026/08/31/t...
TIME IS NOT WHAT YOU THINK IT IS – The Day Einstein Destroyed Common Sense
Hello everybody, apologies for the three-day wait for this one, I’ve been away with the family over the weekend, during which I have managed to properly injure my back. Despite the pain though, it’…
malandally.co.uk
August 31, 2026 at 6:07 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
What if the 3D world we live in is actually just information encoded on a flat surface — like a hologram? That's the wild idea behind the Holographic Principle, born from a puzzle about black holes and entropy. New post's up.

malandally.co.uk/2026/08/21/t...
The Holographic Principle – Could the Universe Be Stranger Than We Ever Imagined?
Apologies everyone, I’m a bit late this week. But, as they say, better late than never, and this week, I’m back on black holes again, with an article I promised a while back. So, settle down and st…
malandally.co.uk
August 21, 2026 at 11:11 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
Why doesn't Earth go flying off into space instead of orbiting the Sun? Turns out gravity isn't pulling it at all, spacetime is curved, and Earth's just following the shape. New post: bendy trampolines, black holes, and why Einstein overturned 200 years of Newton.

malandally.co.uk/category/ast...
Astronomy & Physics and other Sciency Stuff – when I think of something snappy
Posts about Astronomy & Physics and other Sciency Stuff written by Mal Andrews
malandally.co.uk
August 14, 2026 at 7:54 AM
mandre02.bsky.social
Your sugar cube contains 359,502,071,494,727 joules of energy. Einstein's E = mc² says so, and no, your tea isn't secretly radioactive.

Wrestling the equations into WordPress was way harder than the actual physics.

New post:

malandally.co.uk/2026/08/12/e...
E = mc² – The Tiny Equation That Changed the Universe
Just a quick note before you start reading. This was supposed to be a quick hit for a midweek article, however, it actually took me bloody ages!! Surprisingly, it wasn’t just the maths that caused …
malandally.co.uk
August 12, 2026 at 1:13 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
Why can't you un-melt an ice cube? Entropy, thermodynamics, and why black holes are the universe's biggest mess-makers. New blog post is live.

malandally.co.uk/2026/08/07/e...
Entropy, Thermodynamics & Black Holes – The Article I Promised You!
Hello again my faithful few, it is time, to discover the hidden rules that govern everything from your morning cup of tea to the edge of the universe. Are you ready? Of course you are! Did you know…
malandally.co.uk
August 7, 2026 at 10:23 AM
Reposted by Mal Andrews
tewalsh340.bsky.social
August 6, 2026 at 8:23 AM
mandre02.bsky.social
Science kept me up again last night. 1.7 million satellites proposed for orbit vs a “safe” limit of ~100,000. Same fortnight, UK astronomy funding got cut, Jodrell Bank now at risk of closing. Switching off the sky from above while defunding it from below. 🔭

malandally.co.uk/2026/08/02/w...
What Cost The Night Sky? How Three Unrelated News Stories Ruined My Sleep
There’s a particular kind of headache that comes from reading three unrelated news stories in the same week and realising they’re not unrelated at all, and this has been one of those we…
malandally.co.uk
August 2, 2026 at 8:22 PM
Reposted by Mal Andrews
psyll.bsky.social
The Fermi Paradox: given the age and size of the universe, intelligent life should be everywhere. It isn't (that we can detect). We look at the Great Filter, Rare Earth, Dark Forest, and Zoo hypotheses - plus a 2024 study putting the odds of intelligent life as low as 0.003%.
Where is everybody? The Fermi Paradox explained | Psyll
An exploration of the Fermi Paradox, the Drake Equation, and the silent mysteries of the cosmos as humanity seeks to understand its place among the stars.
urls.grow.me
July 31, 2026 at 9:54 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
Turns out neutron stars are so dense a teaspoon of one would weigh a billion tonnes. Naturally, the only fitting comparison is Nibbler, whose poo is so dense a pound weighs thousands of pounds. Physics backs it up!

malandally.co.uk/2026/07/31/f...

#Physics #Futurama #Nibbler #Space #ScienceIsWeird
Five Things That Sound Completely Made Up (But Are Annoyingly Real)
One of the side effects of learning about Hawking radiation is discovering that modern physics is less a collection of facts and more a collection of increasingly unsettling revelations. Every time…
malandally.co.uk
July 31, 2026 at 10:27 AM
mandre02.bsky.social
New Blog post: Quantum Teleportation

Spoiler: no matter moves, only information does. Entanglement+a Bell measurement+some ordinary classical bits=a qubit’s state vanishing here and reappearing there. Still can’t beat light speed though, sorry Star Trek fans.

malandally.co.uk/2026/07/17/q...
Quantum Teleportation: Not Star Trek, But Still Pretty Wild
Hello my lovely readers, you may be few, but I love you all the same. Having had a read through my previous articles since I started this whole bringing physics to the masses journey, I noticed the…
malandally.co.uk
July 17, 2026 at 11:05 AM
Reposted by Mal Andrews
setiinstitute.bsky.social
A new study suggests that the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS may be as old as 12 billion years. This result is especially remarkable because 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object ever discovered, meaning it came from another planetary system.

Learn more:
A Remarkably Ancient Visitor 3I/ATLAS
www.seti.org
July 13, 2026 at 7:00 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
So this is what happens when you argue with the lads in the pub on a Friday night 😂

malandally.co.uk/2026/07/12/3...
The Magnus Effect: The Beautiful Games’s Most Beautiful Cheat Code
I was in the pub Friday evening, having a sneaky pint after walking the pooch. As is inevitable at the moment, talk was on the World Cup. We were discussing England’s chances (I believe!), the Balo…
malandally.co.uk
July 12, 2026 at 5:36 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
This weeks article is up: Bella Inequalities: Spooky Action’s Reckoning

Einstein spent 30 years saying quantum mechanics couldn’t be the whole story. Then John Bell asked one deceptively simple question and turned it into something you could test in a lab.

malandally.co.uk/category/ast...
Astronomy & Physics and other Sciency Stuff – when I think of something snappy
Posts about Astronomy & Physics and other Sciency Stuff written by Elder Shredder
malandally.co.uk
July 10, 2026 at 8:33 AM
mandre02.bsky.social
Absolutely fascinating.
psyll.bsky.social Psyll Magazine - Science, Tech, Politics & Business @psyll.bsky.social · Jul 4
The forensic science of folklore reveals that indigenous cultures have preserved accurate records of natural disasters for over 10,000 years. Geomythology is changing how we view oral history and disaster resilience.
Geomythology: how myths decode ancient disasters | Psyll
Geomythology reveals how oral traditions and myths encode real earthquakes, tsunamis, and eruptions, helping scientists rediscover ancient natural disasters.
psyll.com
July 5, 2026 at 12:01 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
Last week I promised it gets weirder. I wasn't lying. Part Two of my quantum entanglement deep dive is up. Wormholes, black holes, the holographic universe, and why the whole thing might be built out of nothing but connections...

malandally.co.uk/category/ast...
Astronomy & Physics and other Sciency Stuff – when I think of something snappy
Posts about Astronomy & Physics and other Sciency Stuff written by Elder Shredder
malandally.co.uk
July 3, 2026 at 9:18 AM
Reposted by Mal Andrews
uahirise.bsky.social
HiPOD: Marathon Rover

We imaged the Perseverance rover as it approached a marathon mile on Mars! The visible rover tracks record the rover’s recent traverse beyond the western rim of Jezero Crater.

More: https://uahirise.org/hipod/ESP_093190_1985
NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona
#Mars #NASA
Enhanced color aerial view of the Perseverance rover on Mars, circled in yellow. There are rocky ridges and dark sands in the image, along with the tracks of the rover across the scene to where it is within the circle.
June 25, 2026 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Mal Andrews
startswithabang.bsky.social
Einstein’s E = mc² is only half of the full equation

Pretty much everyone knows Einstein's most famous equation: E = mc².

But that's only half of the full equation for energy in the Universe.

What comes out of that is so much richer.
bigthink.com/starts-with-...
#Einstein #energy #mass #physics
Einstein's E = mc² is only half of the full equation
Einstein's most famous equation is E = mc², which describes the rest mass energy inherent to particles. But motion matters for energy, too.
bigthink.com
June 25, 2026 at 4:24 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
I meant to write a quick post about quantum entanglement and somehow ended up with something much longer than intended.

So I’ve split it into two parts before it got completely out of hand.

You can read Part One here:

malandally.co.uk/2026/06/26/q...
Quantum Entanglement Part One – Spooky Action at a Distance
Just a quick note before we start: I got a bit carried away with this one. What was meant to be one article on quantum entanglement turned into something closer to a small dissertation, so I’…
malandally.co.uk
June 26, 2026 at 8:53 AM
mandre02.bsky.social
Every time you look at the sun, you're seeing it as it was 8 minutes ago. Look at a distant galaxy and you're looking literally billions of years into the past. The speed of light is wild so I went down a rabbit hole with it.

malandally.co.uk/2026/06/19/t...
The Speed of Light: The Universe’s Ultimate Limit
Due to another recent sleepless night thanks to my mind working in overdrive, I found myself contemplating the speed of light, and the more I contemplated it, the more it wouldn’t let me go back to…
malandally.co.uk
June 19, 2026 at 12:17 PM
mandre02.bsky.social
I’ve revamped and updated my blog site today. If you’d be so kind, please take a look here. There’ll be another exciting physics post coming soon:

malandally.co.uk
when I think of something snappy
i'll type it here
malandally.co.uk
June 18, 2026 at 3:31 PM