More math

If you want a break from using your computer to help search for extraterrestrial life, you can also use it to search for new prime numbers. (That is, numbers that can be divided only by themselves and 1.)

That’s my computer in the corner crunching away at 2^28025029-1 (The number 2, multiplied by itself 28,025,029 times, minus 1.) A number larger than the number of particles in the universe–larger than anything that has any intuitive or even much unintuitive meaning.

The universe is a cool place, in more ways and directions than any one person can keep track of. (But still in far fewer than 2^28025029-1 ways.)