In a Fierce Desert, Microbe ‘Crusts’ Show How Life Tamed the Land

While all biocrusts perform some degree of weathering, the larger grains of the grit crust are especially suited for it. The process reveals the full potential of microbes to impact their environment. A microbial skin can glue together pebbles, break them down into soil and fertilize that soil with essential nutrients. In effect, the crust… Continue reading In a Fierce Desert, Microbe ‘Crusts’ Show How Life Tamed the Land

Woe, the Humanity: How AI Fits Into Broadly Rising Anti-Humanism

The future of humanity is becoming ever less human. The astounding capabilities of ChatGPT and other forms of artificial intelligence have triggered fears about the coming age of machines leaving little place for human creativity or employment. Even the architects of this brave new world are sounding the alarm. Sam Altman, chairman and CEO of… Continue reading Woe, the Humanity: How AI Fits Into Broadly Rising Anti-Humanism

New Tool Reveals How AI Makes Decisions

When I asked ChatGPT to name the editor in chief of Spektrum der Wissenschaft, the German-language sister publication of Scientific American, the answer was, “I have the latest information until 2021, and at that time Dr. Florian Freistetter was the editor-in-chief of Spektrum der Wissenschaft. However, it is possible that the information has changed since… Continue reading New Tool Reveals How AI Makes Decisions

Why Is PBS’s Frontline Circulating Election 2016 Conspiracy Theories?

Michael Bloomberg spent something north of $500 million on his 2020 presidential candidacy, only for the multi-billionaire to quickly drop out $500 million poorer. Bloomberg was hardly unique. He joined a long list of well-funded candidates whose war chests got them nowhere. Names like Phil Gramm, Jeb Bush, John Connally, and Tom Steyer similarly come… Continue reading Why Is PBS’s Frontline Circulating Election 2016 Conspiracy Theories?

Useful Feedback, More Than Praise, Helps Students Flourish

“Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” This proverb has become a cliché, but it remains a useful shorthand for self-sufficiency. If you want someone to succeed independently, give them the tools to do so. Within the realm… Continue reading Useful Feedback, More Than Praise, Helps Students Flourish

Here’s What the Supreme Court’s Clean Water Act Ruling Means to You

If you ever drank a glass of clean water, caught a freshwater fish, swam in a lake or even maybe avoided a flood, you have directly benefited from wetlands. But those benefits are drying up, thanks to a Supreme Court decision that has overturned five decades of wetland protections. The 1972 federal Clean Water Act… Continue reading Here’s What the Supreme Court’s Clean Water Act Ruling Means to You

After Affirmative Action Rulings, Americans Are Talking

In the words of President Joe Biden, the Supreme Court has “effectively ended affirmative action in college admissions.” Affirmative action is the practice, as the Court described, that took race into account when evaluating applicants, benefiting members of certain races at the expense of others. Some have praised the Court’s decision and some have denounced it, but… Continue reading After Affirmative Action Rulings, Americans Are Talking

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