After years as a federal officer helping the Drug Enforcement Administration hunt drug lords across Central Asia, and years more teaching in Maryland classrooms, Robin Shaffer anticipated a quiet retirement watching the deep swells roll across the Atlantic and crash on to the broad Jersey Shore. Robin Shaffer, Protect Our Coast NJ: “It’s very much… Continue reading Now Dominant, the Green Movement Is Gobbling Its $pinach, With Few Blutos Left to Clobber
In Our Cellular Clocks, She’s Found a Lifetime of Discoveries
For more than a quarter century, Partch has lived among the orchestrators of the circadian clock, the proteins whose rise and fall control its workings. As a postdoc, she produced the first visualization of the bound pair of proteins at its heart, CLOCK and BMAL1. Since then, she has continued to make visible the whorls… Continue reading In Our Cellular Clocks, She’s Found a Lifetime of Discoveries
We Need to Think about Conservation on a Different Timescale
Time is one of humanity’s greatest blind spots. We experience it as days, months, or years. But nature functions on much grander scales, measured in centuries, millennia and even longer intervals often lumped together as “deep time.” As paleontologists, we were trained to think in deep time. Yet, as conservationists, we’ve come to realize that… Continue reading We Need to Think about Conservation on a Different Timescale
The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs
Some scientific discoveries matter because they reveal something new — the double helical structure of DNA, for example, or the existence of black holes. However, some revelations are profound because they show that two old concepts, once thought distinct, are in fact the same. Take James Clerk Maxwell’s equations showing that electricity and magnetism are… Continue reading The Deep Link Equating Math Proofs and Computer Programs
Echoes of Electromagnetism Found in Number Theory
Pairings like that between automorphic forms and Galois groups are called dualities. They suggest that different classes of objects mirror each other, which allows mathematicians to study either one in terms of the other. Generations of mathematicians have worked to prove the existence of Langlands’ hypothesized duality. Though they have only managed to establish it… Continue reading Echoes of Electromagnetism Found in Number Theory
Secret Origin of the Mystery Airships! (Phantom Airships, Ghost Airships, UFOs, 1896, 1897)
Podcast: Download MYS280: In 1896 and 1897, Mystery Airships were reported from California to the Mississippi, which some believed were alien ships. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli eliminated many theories about the airships, and now address the final mystery: what were the airships, who made them, and was the government involved? Get all new episodes… Continue reading Secret Origin of the Mystery Airships! (Phantom Airships, Ghost Airships, UFOs, 1896, 1897)
In the Milky Way’s Stars, a History of Violence
With the cleaving of the cosmos into a home galaxy and a larger universe, the study of our finite home — and how it exists within that universe — could begin in earnest. Now, a century later, astronomers are still making unexpected discoveries about the only cosmic island we’ll ever inhabit. They may be able… Continue reading In the Milky Way’s Stars, a History of Violence
As Families Take to Charter Schools, Cities and Their Teacher Unions Throw Up Obstacles
Families are voting with their feet to charter schools, which are increasingly resisted by school boards and teacher unions. Diana Diaz-Harrison, above, started a charter in Arizona to fill a gap: no specialized services for children like her autistic son Sammy. By Vince Bielski, RealClearInvestigationsOctober 11, 2023 A vote by the Los Angeles board of… Continue reading As Families Take to Charter Schools, Cities and Their Teacher Unions Throw Up Obstacles
Are Naps Good for You?
It’s midafternoon. You’re full from lunch. The day is warm. You’re starting to feel drowsy. Should you give in to the comfort of a nap? From a health perspective, it may be worth it. Though there is some debate over whether napping benefits everyone, research suggests naps can boost at least some people’s cognitive performance… Continue reading Are Naps Good for You?
Anatomy of a Random, Unhinged Assault in Portland, City of Professed Benevolence
Above, a snapshot of fraying Portland: A surveillance image of the at-large suspect in the attack on Dr. Mary Costantino, shown below just afterward. She notes her assailant’s hand splayed in “hypertonic tension,” suggesting a psychotic episode. “I recognize this as a physician a mile away,” she says. By Nancy Rommelmann, RealClearInvestigationsOctober 10, 2023 It… Continue reading Anatomy of a Random, Unhinged Assault in Portland, City of Professed Benevolence