Issue_54
27 articles-
7 Surprises That Climate Change Will Throw Us
The interdependence of ecosystems and their inhabitants means climate change may force animals, including us, to adapt in surprising ways—some startling changes are to come.“Leiv Eiriksson discovers North America,” by Christian Krohg (1893) Rising sea levels, lower air quality, and longer and more frequent droughts often top the list of climate change consequences that will […] -
Why a Hedge Fund Started a Video Game Competition
The chief technology officer of one of the world’s largest hedge funds talks data. -
Actually, There Is a Time Like the Present
Think there’s no time like the present? Modern physics begs to differ. -
Cormac McCarthy Returns to the Kekulé Problem
Answers to questions and questions that cannot be answered. -
How Sex Perps Use Deny, Attack, and Reverse
It’s important to give name to and recognize this phenomenon. Perpetrators of sexual violence—and any kind of wrongdoing—must not be allowed to continue to use DARVO (Deny, Attack, Reverse Victim and Offender) to hijack the truth.Photograph by Gage Skidmore / Wikicommons Last year, at a campaign rally, candidate Donald Trump denied that he had sexually […]
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A Modest Proposal for Thanksgiving
Or, For Preventing the Annual Repast from Being a Burden on the Earth, and for Making It Beneficial to the Publick.*
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Why Nuclear Power Professionals Are Serious About Joking Around
In August 2013, Finland’s young nuclear professionals, under 35 years old, met up for the Summer Games in Mikkeli municipality, put on by the Finnish Nuclear Society’s Young Generation Group. Launched in 1998, the organization helps people interested in nuclear fields network. As usual, the plan was to escape office life, eat, drink, use the […]
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Darwin’s Lost Beetle Is Back
It’s difficult to overstate the importance of finding an original Darwin specimen, collected during the Beagle’s first voyage. But finding it, and realizing it was a lost specimen collected by Darwin, was just the first step in a much longer journey.Photograph by fiddledydee / Flickr On August 24, 1832, HMS Beagle dropped anchor at Bahía […]
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How to Give Mars an Atmosphere, Maybe
The plan for an artificial Martian magnetosphere may sound “fanciful,” but researchers say that emerging research is starting to show that a miniature magnetosphere can be used to protect humans and spacecraft.NASA Earth is most fortunate to have vast webs of magnetic fields surrounding it. Without them, much of our atmosphere would have been gradually […]
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The Hidden Science and Tech of the Byzantine Empire
Byzantine military inventors perfected Greek Fire, a combustible liquid like napalm that could be hurled at enemy ships (or lobbed against land armies as hand grenades).Madrid Skylitzes (12th century) / Wikicommons Byzantine civilization, the eastern Roman empire whose capital was at Constantinople, is mostly known today for its spirituality and eccentricities, including the spectacular church […]
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Why Females Decide What’s Beautiful
Uncovering the nature of sexual selection. -
The Mate Selection Trapdoor
Tracing the evolution of hidden sexual preferences. -
What Tech Can Learn from the Fruit Fly’s Search Algorithm
Scientists are starting to understand that search powers much of the natural world, too.Image by Intelligent Product Solutions / YouTube Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.” Verse 7:7 from the Gospel of Matthew is generally considered to be a comment on […] -
The Rise and Fall of the English Sentence
The surprising forces influencing the complexity of the language we speak and write. -
Andy Weir Visits the Moon
The best-selling writer of “The Martian” has a new book out, and it’s set closer to home.
