We survey the groundbreaking ideas of 2011 from experts such as Daniel Kahneman, Ray Kurzweil, Peter Diamandis, Sal Khan, Daniel Burrus, Michio Kaku, Steven Pinker and many others.
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Our power to manipulate our brains and genes is increasing dramatically – and it raises serious ethical questions.
With the successful docking of its Tiangong space module and the Shenzhou-8 space craft this week – the so-called “Space Kiss” – China has shown the world that it is […]
Elon Musk is an advocate for interplanetary life, which will require great leaps in technology. According to Musk, the grand challenge is to “find a Moore’s Law of space.” In other words, we must think exponentially if we are to colonize another planet.
War is hell. The culture war is no exception—and the funny bone is usually the first casualty. The recent talk about abortion and contraception got me thinking, what would the […]
In his book Blind Spots, Professor Max Bazerman of Harvard Business School argues that the Challenger fiasco exploited inconsistencies in the decision-making mechanisms of the brain.
We have argued for decades that we are running out of space for our garbage in the thousands of landfills currently peppering the globe… Now we are faced with another […]
So you want to live forever? Double-check your motives, says ethicist Paul Root Wolpe.
Boo!Scared you, didn’t I? I’m guessing not really. If you’re a grown-up, Halloween has probably lost its edge. Or at least its scary edge. The old tricks simply no longer […]
For decades, Mars has been the focus of intense interest and here are some of those updates that have recently transpired. NASA is preparing to launch its latest Mars probe, Curiosity (or the Mars Science […]
One of the major changes that’s come with the new site is that here, every post has to have an accompanying image. I’m not complaining – I had always meant […]
Scientists believe the discovery of fully-formed building blocks of DNA in meteorites suggests an extraterrestrial origin for some of the chemicals deemed necessary for organic life.
The first human-like robot, named R2, was sent to space this year to become a permanent resident of the International Space Station. Robonaut 2, or R2, was developed jointly by […]
Sorry about the paucity of new posts lately – there is a lot going on in the background here at Eruptions HQ, but all will be revealed in the next […]
The Earth could end up with a permanent junk belt that could make space too dangerous to fly in, a situation a new start-up plans to address with laser technology.
“I define an expert as someone who can tell you exactly how something can’t be done,” says X Prize founder and Chairman Peter Diamandis.
It’s not the technical challenge posed by dealing with an asteroid collision with Earth but the social and political issues that most trouble us. Inevitably, an Earth-shaking rock will hit again.
We heard earlier today that Dr. Boris Behncke thought that Etna was heading for its 10th paroxysm via his Twitter account – and I posted about it here in Eruptions. […]
After touching down early Thursday morning, the Atlantis shuttle is now officially a museum piece. It will be retired at the Kennedy Space Center Museum in Cape Canaveral, Florida. “Job […]
One of the most disappointing moments in an otherwise fairly encouraging Republican New Hampshire debate was that none of the seven candidates would continue federal funding for human space flight. […]
A permanent robot presence on the Moon may be the most feasible option for future lunar exploration. Robonaut, the first humanoid robot in space, is taking baby steps in that direction.
If astronomers spot a big one headed our way, our risk perception will switch to “It COULD happen to me, and SOON” and we’ll take the threat more seriously.
I enjoyed this recent article by Neal Stephenson in the World Policy Journal, but I think he and his editors may have buried their lede. Stephenson, a bestselling science fiction […]
The Virginia Earthquake has had most of our attention this week, but volcanoes continue to be noisy around the world (although no more so than usual). You can get yourself […]
We’re still getting little in the way of news about the Nabro eruption from Eritrea – I’ve been looking around and the best figure I’ve found is that at least […]
I am feverish packing/prepping for the start of field season (well, field work at Mineral King, field trip to Lassen Peak with lab work sprinkled in for good measure). So, […]
I wanted to point out a series of images posted by the NASA Earth Observatory that capture three volcanoes that are currently restless or outright erupting … right now! Well, […]
We’ve been getting bits and pieces of the lava flow from Nabro for the past few weeks, but some images from earlier this week reveal the full reach of the […]
NASA has released images of an enormous solar storm that extended over a three hour period on June 7. The series of pictures capture “a huge coronal mass ejection erupting […]
I’m back! It was a great week off down in Charleston, but it is now time to get back to work. Rather than try to catch up on all the […]