Claudia Geib
We Didn’t Evolve for This
A lesson from the animal kingdom on why COVID-19 is so deadly to humans.
Why Renaissance Astronomer Tycho Brahe Is Still a Star
A new theory on the scientist’s head-scratching demise.
How Climate Change Makes Social Learning Among Animals More Important
Put yourself in the mind of a killer whale. Let’s say you’re the little guy in the picture below. So far, you’ve lived off of a diet of only marine mammals: seals, sea lions, porpoises, even otters on occasion. Your family has taught you how to hunt these animals. You spend hours swimming alongside your […]
Benchtop Black Holes Help Physicists Glimpse the Quantum Universe
A black hole is a physicist’s playground: A place where some of the most bizarre and fundamental concepts in physics can be observed and tested. However, there is currently no way to directly observe black holes in action; these bodies of matter don’t emit the sort of radiation, like light or X-rays, that telescopes are […]
7 Ways Humans Have Tried to Predict Earthquakes
Humans have been trying to predict earthquakes at least since first-century China, when the device of choice was a vessel fitted with metal dragons facing each compass direction. If the ground shook somewhere in the region, the metal ball in the dragon’s mouth would drop out, roughly indicating the direction of the earthquake. Our methods […]
The Ocean Gets Big Data
A new array of cameras, vehicles, and sensors promises to change ocean science.
El Niño Has Ended Kingdoms and Civilizations
On a damp, foggy January morning in 1793, Louis XVI, besieged monarch of France, stood before a guillotine. To some 20,000 of his angry subjects, Louis declared: “I die innocent of all the pretended crimes laid to my charge. I forgive all those who have had any hand in my misfortunes, and I pray that […]
