The Milky Way’s rotating disk of gas and dust gives rise to graceful spiral arms, which make up the galaxy’s most active star formation sites. Now researchers using an airplane-borne telescope high in Earth’s atmosphere have found a mechanism for how magnetic fields shape star birth in the dense filaments, or “bones,” that wind their… Continue reading How Magnetic Fields Control Galactic Growth
Why U.S. Military Interventions Fail and What to Do About It
American soldiers have been deployed abroad almost continuously since the end of World War II. The best-known foreign interventions—in Vietnam, Afghanistan, and Iraq—were large, long, and costly. But there have been dozens of other such deployments, many smaller or shorter, for purposes ranging from deterrence to training. Taken as a whole, these operations have had… Continue reading Why U.S. Military Interventions Fail and What to Do About It
Remaining in the Fold – SpiritualDirection.com
The sheep hear his voice, as he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out. When he has driven out all his own, he walks ahead of them, and the sheep follow him, because they recognize his voice. (John 10:3-4) This past weekend Christ taught us about Himself as our Good Shepherd. Just… Continue reading Remaining in the Fold – SpiritualDirection.com
Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed
Dazzling intricacies of brain structure are revealed every day, but one of the most obvious aspects of brain wiring eludes neuroscientists. The nervous system is cross-wired, so that the left side of the brain controls the right half of the body and vice versa. Every doctor relies upon this fact in performing neurological exams, but… Continue reading Why the Brain’s Connections to the Body Are Crisscrossed
America’s Dangerous Short War Fixation
Americans have long been fixated on the idea of the short, decisive war. At the start of the American Civil War, Washington gentry traveled to watch the First Battle of Bull Run—to partake of a spectacle they presumed would soon end. In 1898, U.S. Secretary of State John Hay expected the Spanish-American War to be… Continue reading America’s Dangerous Short War Fixation
How Physicists Cracked a Black Hole Paradox
A few years ago a team of chemists unboiled an egg. Boiling causes protein molecules in the egg to twist around one another, and a centrifuge can disentangle them to restore the original. The technique is of dubious utility in a kitchen, but it neatly demonstrates the reversibility of physics. Anything in the physical world… Continue reading How Physicists Cracked a Black Hole Paradox
Violence in Schools, Neurodiversity and National Security, Drug Cartels: RAND Weekly Recap
This week, we discuss how to encourage threat reporting to help keep schools safe; why national security organizations need a neurodivergent workforce; the F.D.A. approval of over-the-counter Narcan sales; the implications of labeling drug cartels foreign terrorists; what happens when struggling students repeat a grade; and helping veterans find employment during a recession. Photo by… Continue reading Violence in Schools, Neurodiversity and National Security, Drug Cartels: RAND Weekly Recap
The Mystery of St. Toribio Romo (El Padre Pollero, El Santo Coyote)
Podcast: Download MYS256: St. Toribio Romo was born to a poor family in Mexico and became a priest in a time when the Church was being persecuted. He was eventually martyred. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli explore the saint’s life and death and the strange mystery that surrounds him today. Get all new episodes automatically… Continue reading The Mystery of St. Toribio Romo (El Padre Pollero, El Santo Coyote)
Exorcist Diary: Demons of Shame
“Jane” was besieged with thoughts of shame. These thoughts portrayed her entire life as one of dismal failure. She felt like she was diseased and disgusting. She could not imagine God or anyone else loving her or even wanting to look at her. She said, “I feel like walking shame.” Jane is afflicted with a… Continue reading Exorcist Diary: Demons of Shame
Greatest Migration on Earth Happens under Darkness Every Day
Every evening around the world trillions of zooplankton, many smaller than a grain of rice, hover hundreds of feet below the surface of the sea, waiting for their signal. Scientists long considered these tiny animals to be drifters, passive specks suspended in the ocean, moved by the whims of tides and currents. And yet, just… Continue reading Greatest Migration on Earth Happens under Darkness Every Day