Christopher Intagliata: For Science, Quickly, I’m Christopher Intagliata. Indonesia’s more than 17,000 islands contain the largest expanse of tropical rain forest in Southeast Asia. And they’re teeming with biodiversity. [CLIP: Sound of hiking through the jungle] Erik Meijaard: These forests are just incredibly rich. Intagliata: Conservation scientist Erik Meijaard has worked for more than three… Continue reading Scientists Argue Conservation Is under Threat in Indonesia
Civility and Political Freedom | RealClearBooks
In my book, The Soul of Civility: Timeless Principles to Heal Society and Ourselves, I show why civility—basic respect for others—is essential to a free society. Here’s a story that exemplifies why. In the early 2000s, Mayor Michael Bloomberg launched a campaign against rudeness in New York City. Subway riders and showgoers could be fined fifty dollars… Continue reading Civility and Political Freedom | RealClearBooks
NASA’s Psyche Mission Launches to Mysterious Metallic Asteroid
Deep in the asteroid belt, between Mars and Jupiter, lies a strange, metal-rich asteroid unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. Dubbed Psyche, the unique object may offer investigators a truly alien landscape to explore—one that could yield new insights about the origin of our solar system and perhaps even about Earth’s most remote region:… Continue reading NASA’s Psyche Mission Launches to Mysterious Metallic Asteroid
Mega-Jolt: The Costs and Logistics of Plugging In EVs Are About to Become Supercharged
By John Murawski, RealClearInvestigationsOctober 24, 2023 U.S. Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm gave Americans an unintended glimpse of the future during her road trip this summer touting the wonders of electric vehicles. Far from spotlighting the promise of EVs, her public relations misadventure in Georgia involved one of her staff in a gasoline-powered vehicle blocking off… Continue reading Mega-Jolt: The Costs and Logistics of Plugging In EVs Are About to Become Supercharged
Climate Misinformation Persists in New Middle School Textbooks
Scientists have found no evidence that natural forces have contributed to our planet’s current global warming problem, but a middle school student reading a crisp new book from the nation’s top science textbook publisher might think otherwise. “Due to both human and natural activities,” the child would read, “the amount of carbon dioxide in the… Continue reading Climate Misinformation Persists in New Middle School Textbooks
Fossilized Molecules Reveal a Lost World of Ancient Life
At first, the stem group may have had an advantage. Oxygen levels in the atmosphere were significantly lower than they are today. Because building protosterols requires less oxygen and energy than modern sterols require, stem-group eukaryotes were likely more successful and abundant. Their influence declined when the world hit a critical transition known as the… Continue reading Fossilized Molecules Reveal a Lost World of Ancient Life
Tiny Language Models Thrive With GPT-4 as a Teacher
Learning English is no easy task, as countless students well know. But when the student is a computer, one approach works surprisingly well: Simply feed mountains of text from the internet to a giant mathematical model called a neural network. That’s the operating principle behind generative language models like OpenAI’s ChatGPT, whose ability to converse… Continue reading Tiny Language Models Thrive With GPT-4 as a Teacher
Dangerous ‘Superbugs’ Are on the Rise. What Can Stop Them?
The bacteria may have entered her flesh along with shrapnel from the bomb detonated in Brussels Airport in 2016. Or perhaps the microbes hitched a ride on the surgical instruments used to treat her wounds. Either way, the “superbug” refused to be vanquished, despite years of antibiotic treatment. The woman had survived a terrorist attack… Continue reading Dangerous ‘Superbugs’ Are on the Rise. What Can Stop Them?
It’s Always Alien-Demons? (UFOs, Extraterrestrials, Demonology)
Podcast: Download MYS281: Some claim that UFOs and extraterrestrials are always manifestations of demonic activity. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine the prominent hypotheses supporting this view and consider the question of whether it’s always alien-demons. Get all new episodes automatically and for free: Follow by Email | Watch this episode and subscribe on YouTube… Continue reading It’s Always Alien-Demons? (UFOs, Extraterrestrials, Demonology)
FEMA Offers Every State $2 Million to Adopt Safer Building Codes
CLIMATEWIRE | Two houses are side by side. One is a crumpled mess of splintered wood and ripped insulation. The other stands perfectly intact. This image is one that increasingly pops up on news sites and social media after hurricanes, floods and climate-fueled disasters. An accompanying caption often emphasizes that the intact home was built with… Continue reading FEMA Offers Every State $2 Million to Adopt Safer Building Codes