Preposterous Universe is a scientific blog written by cosmologist Dr. Sean Carroll. The purpose of Preposterous Universe, like Professor Johnson's blog, Asymptotia, is to take scientific topics and present them to the lay. Unlike Asymptotia, Preposterous Universe is dedicated exclusively to scientific topics. Dr. Carroll's work focuses on general relativity and dark energy, two topics at the forefront of our understanding of the fundamental structure of the universe.
Dr. Carroll's approach to making physics accessible to the lay is to tell the story with an aspect of magical realism that makes the laws of physics seem almost magical while keeping in mind the fact that these laws are in fact the laws which govern the universe we live in. Take, for example, Dr. Carroll's post about the discovery of gravitational waves in February. The post opens like a fairy tale:
"ONCE upon a time, there lived a man who was fascinated by the phenomenon of gravity. In his mind he imagined experiments in rocket ships and elevators, eventually concluding that gravity isn’t a conventional “force” at all — it’s a manifestation of the curvature of spacetime."
By writing in a style which is typical of fairy tales and mythology, Dr. Carroll reminds us that physics is simply playing the same role as any mythological story about gods and demons: it is an attempt to explain and make sense of the universe. If people are fascinated by stories of Prometheus bringing the gift of fire to man or how Zeus is capable of manipulating lightning, they should certainly be fascinated by our modern-day "stories" about how the structure of space and time itself can become distorted according to certain rules--provided the story is told in a way that makes them want to listen. This is what Dr. Carroll achieves in his blog.
As he describes the details of the experiment, Dr. Carroll explains,
"Some guy scribbles down some symbols in an esoteric mixture of Latin, Greek, and mathematical notation. [...] Other people (notably Rainer Weiss, Ronald Drever, and Kip Thorne), on the basis of taking those scribbles extremely seriously, launch a plan to spend hundreds of millions of dollars over the course of decades. They concoct an audacious scheme to shoot laser beams at mirrors to look for modulated displacements of less than a millionth of a billionth of a centimeter"
This time, he takes the mysticism out of physics by making it seem almost ridiculous. The man who "was fascinated by the phenomenon of gravity" and who then went on to "[scribble] down some symbols" is in fact Albert Einstein. Dr. Carroll presents Einstein as just another nutjob who thinks he's got the universe figured out. Unbelievably, everyone seems to think this guy is the real deal, and thousands wind up investing their precious time, money, and effort into proving to the rest of the world that he's right! Spoiler alert: it works.
Dr. Carroll's passion extends beyond simply telling the story of science. He's a firm believer that science is something that anyone can be involved in and that it can be meaningful endeavor for anyone who's even remotely interested. Because of this, he speaks with a loud voice when he sees people being prevented from doing science for reasons outside their own control.
For example, in another post, Dr. Carroll speaks out against gender discrimination in physics. He recalls a time when a professor asked him why it was that the women in his physics class were scoring higher on the problem sets, to which he responds "'Maybe they are ... also smart?'" The sarcasm in his voice conveys just how ridiculous such a question is. For what reason would anyone to do better on a problem set than their classmates? What else could it be other than that they have a better grasp of the material? Somehow, the professor fails to reach this incredibly obvious conclusion.
In the same post, Dr. Carroll makes it clear that he abhors the current status quo of academic science where a student who reaches out for help and support is regarded as incompetant. He characterises this attitude by giving an example of a response to a plea for help: "'You think your advisor is asking inappropriate things of you? I guess you're not cut out for this after all.'" Dr. Carroll's voice as he presents this statement shows how shallow and thoughtless he considers a statement like this to be. It is a mindset which is harsh, egotistical, and judgmental.
On his "About This Blog" page, Dr. Carroll mentions that he writes this blog for the sole purpose of talking about those things which interest him. Like anyone who simply wants to share a story that he/she finds interesting, Dr. Carroll presents his stories in a way that makes them enjoyable for readers. He fills them with emotion, draws humorous analogies, and most importantly of all, reminds us that science is a human endeavor.
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