It was hard to miss the dire headlines: bed bugs were reportedly all over Paris during the city’s Fashion Week, from the metro to a high-end restaurant. As fashionistas made their way home—and in light of the fact that Paris has been preparing to host the Olympics next summer—people asked, why did this happen all… Continue reading Bed Bugs and Influencers Spark Pest Panic in Paris. Here’s What You Need to Know
The Quest to Quantify Quantumness
In other words, he showed that an entanglement-free quantum circuit was easy to simulate on a classical computer. In a computational sense, the circuit wasn’t intrinsically quantum. The collection of all such non-entangling circuits (or, equivalently, all arrangements of qubits that might come out of these non-entangling circuits) formed something of a classically simulable island… Continue reading The Quest to Quantify Quantumness
Climate Change Is Making Saltwater Intrusion Worse in Coastal Areas
The following essay is reprinted with permission from The Conversation, an online publication covering the latest research. Seawater intrusion is the movement of saline water from the ocean or estuaries into freshwater systems. The seawater that has crept up the Mississippi River in the summer and early fall of 2023 is a reminder that coastal communities teeter… Continue reading Climate Change Is Making Saltwater Intrusion Worse in Coastal Areas
Announcing Dreams (Unborn Children, Pre-Birth Communications, Related Experiences)
Podcast: Download MYS282: Some mothers and fathers report having dreams before the birth or even conception of their baby in which they are told about the child or even talk to the baby himself. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss the phenomena and what could be causing them. Get all new episodes automatically and for… Continue reading Announcing Dreams (Unborn Children, Pre-Birth Communications, Related Experiences)
Scientists Argue Conservation Is under Threat in Indonesia
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