New research breathes life into an earlier theory about a possible connection between cosmic rays and the triggering of lightning during thunderstorms.
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You only know how hard it is to be a responsible consumer after you’ve tried it – running laps around isles trying to find that one brand you know is […]
Inequality in income and wealth in America has worsened in the last decades. The 15 items here, some monumental and some small, speak to the everyday texture of that inequality, […]
If we are to ever reach beyond our own planet, possibly colonizing asteroids and Jupiter’s moon Europa, we need a better propellant system. Rocket scientists recommend nuclear power.
Geoengineering or climate engineering refers to humans taking larger action to slow down climate change or even reverse it.
The ice has already melted to the point where heavily fortified ships can travel around the pole, but eventually even a moderately fortified ship will be able to just sail right on through, according to a new paper.
In the age of social media we might have large networks but few if any real relationships.
I feel quite strongly that solar power will be the single largest source of electricity generation by mid-21st century. In fact, just a simple extrapolation of the growth of solar […]
This blog often talks about risks that we fret over too much. Time to talk about one we worry about too little; the air we breath…indoors. For a number […]
With the slow death of “appointment television” comes an increasing tendency for spoilers to pop up in unexpected places. Writer Sean T. Collins discusses fans’ and critics’ attempts to preserve the suspense.
Although it took place early last month, the winning party is preparing to change the balance of power in the materials export industry, affecting production of electronics worldwide.
I just read an alarming piece on what the world will look like, possibly soon, when the efficacy of our current arsenal of antibiotics really starts to fade. There […]
If you’re anything like me, you can’t wait for summer to finally start. The Chicago winter dragged on forever and now the weather just can’t seem to make up its […]
To allow society to prosper without sapping the planet of life, a new approach is needed. The economy must be seen as servicing society, which will only function properly with a thriving ecosystem.
That would make it about ten times older than the oldest accepted examples of cartography
Choking is honorable failure and panicking is dishonorable failure. It’s important to maintain a line between those two things.
A new global warming study uses data going back to the end of the last ice age to demonstrate that the world is warmer now than at almost any other time since.
NASA has announced that its most recent Mars rover, Curiosity, recently found evidence of substantial water stores present on the planet’s surface billions of years ago.
Not quite yet…but a new study provides proof that global warming is extending the growing season in the upper Northern Hemisphere, making some areas greener than they have been in (literally) ages.
You’ve undoubtedly heard the maxim “Life finds a way.” Well, if life has indeed found a way on one of the other trillions of planets in our Milky Way Galaxy, it would likely not be our way.
The icy surface of this Jupiter moon hides a vast body of liquid that most scientists believe is water. Thanks to improved spectrometry, they now believe that that water may be salty.
One very prominent global warming denier is a Dane named Bjorn Lomborg. He wrote a book about ten years ago that got a great deal of attention and he called […]
There’s much to criticise about this map of Pangea [1], but in spite of the geological anachronisms, it’s hard to tear your eyes away from it. The map shows a […]
On a global level, we are adding connected intelligence to both machines and objects using chips, micro sensors, and both wired and wireless networks to create a rapidly growing “Internet […]
The fear of death. That’s how a friend of mine who works in television described the essential ingredient of hit reality shows like Ice Road Truckers. That’s why people watch. […]
The great American poet Wallace Stevens, author of “The Emperor of Ice-Cream” and many other famous works, was also a longtime insurance executive. While researching him for my previous post, I decided […]
Forget about Mars: British scientists have begun drilling through a two-mile-thick sheet of ice to reach a lake that hasn’t seen sunlight in at least 100,000 years.
Irrational tendencies mark human existence. Some can be of service to you, such as the phenomenon of honoring what economists call “sunk costs.”
Since its launch earlier this month, the Web site Rinkwatch has experienced an influx of data from volunteers in Canada and the United States.
A newly published paper reveals that the rate at which temperatures are rising was greatly underestimated, and the results parallel those recently found in Greenland and other northern polar regions.