Our twisted relationship with celebrity #DrMattSmith v #gemmacollins.

Everything that is twisted and wrong in our modern obsession with 'celebrity' has been seen in the UK 'news' (#NotNews) in the past few days. On the one hand, we have the brilliant Dr Matt Taylor. A dedicated, hard-working, genius, responsible for helping the ESAs Rosetta probe travel 4 BILLION miles across the solar system to land a module on the surface of a comet. The first time in history that this has been accomplished. A massive human achievement. Over 20 years in the planning and the result of targeted research and investment. That is NEWS. Despite this wonder of modern science, Dr Matt Taylor was not a household name and he became famous and was abused on social media for wearing a shirt, created and given to him by a female friend as a present. Most people had no idea who he is and what he and his wonderful team were doing or have achieved. They have 280,000 twitter followers.

4 BILLION years, 4 Billion miles. Human achievement. Science.

It is mind-blowing. The journey started 10 years ago with the launch of the ESAs 'Rosetta' mission to land a probe on the surface of a comet. A comet that is more than 4 billion years old, known to us as Comet 67P. There has been 25 years of research and planning. Yesterday, 4 BILLION miles (over 6 billion km) later, the probe, named Philae, completed its journey. Landing a probe, the size of a washing machine, on a comet that is travelling at more than 40,000 miles per hour over such unimaginable distances is nothing short of astonishing. A peak in human achievement, a wonderful example of what human beings are capable of when they push the boundaries of science and modern technology. The cutting edge of our understanding of space, the solar system and the universe.