A day in the life of an astronaut, Hawking’s football conclusions, politics and science and more

“Good morning world” (Courtesy: Tim Dodd)

By Tushna Commissariat

For most of us, the life of an astronaut is one of excitement and adventure. Indeed, the mere thought of being a “real live astronaut” brings out the gleeful inner child in many, and photographer Tim Dodd is much the same. After purchasing a Russian high-altitude space suit from an online auction website, Dodd put together a series of photographs titled “A day in the life of Everyday Astronaut”, my favourite of which you can see above. Do take a look at the rest of the excellent series on Dodd’s website and follow him on Instagram for even more of the same.

In other news, famed physicist Stephen Hawking has spent his considerable genius on developing a formula that could help the English football team win this year’s FIFA World Cup. This surprising turn of events took place when Irish bookmaker Paddy Power asked the scientist to look at England’s past World Cup performances and draw some conclusions about what conditions were most favourable for an English win. Take a look at this Guardian article to find out what Hawking’s conclusions were…and then hope that the kick-off for each game is at precisely 3 p.m. BST.

Talking of well-known physicists, Paul Frampton, the now infamous particle physicist from the University of North Carolina who was arrested at Buenos Aires airport in 2012 for drug smuggling, has been fired from his tenured university post for “for misconduct and neglect of duty”. You can read about why he was still employed while languishing in prison in Argentina for nearly two years in this article published on the New Observer website. Do you think this too will feature in the film about his incredible story that is in the pipeline?

Readers based in the UK might be interested in this New Scientist article that looks into the impact on science that anti-EU parties such as the UK Independence Party (UKIP) could have after they were elected in large numbers to the European Parliament. Author Michael Brooks looks at the realities of losing funding from the European Research Council, collapsed international collaborations and an all-around loss of “international competitiveness”.

And in other weekend reading, take a look at this Yale university course that brings together the “introductory principles in classical and modern physics and in classical and modern dance”, read about the sensational gamma-ray burst that wasn’t and take this Guardian quiz of classic sci-fi book covers.