Pandemics Don’t Really End—They Echo

The public health emergency related to the COVID-19 pandemic officially ended on May 11, 2023. It was a purely administrative step. Viruses do not answer to government decrees. Reported numbers were declining, but then started coming up again during the summer. By August, hospital admissions climbed to more than 10,000 a week. This was nowhere… Continue reading Pandemics Don’t Really End—They Echo

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Reincarnation Research (Ian Stevenson)

Podcast: Download MYS275: Belief in reincarnation is found in multiple world religions, but it is also studied from a scientific perspective today as well. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss what parapsychologists have found about cases of the reincarnation type and ask what could explain their findings. Get all new episodes automatically and for free:… Continue reading Reincarnation Research (Ian Stevenson)

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Ruins of Emperor Nero’s Theater Discovered near Vatican

Ahead of construction of a luxury hotel, archaeologists working at a site near the Vatican unearthed the ruins of a private theater where the notoriously cruel Roman emperor Nero once prepared for his public appearances. The whereabouts of the first-century-C.E. theater, which is described in Roman writings, were unknown until now. The researchers who made… Continue reading Ruins of Emperor Nero’s Theater Discovered near Vatican

China Ponders Russia’s Logistical Challenges in the Ukraine War

A saying attributed to General Omar Bradley notes that “amateurs talk strategy, professionals talk logistics.” Any attempt by China to use military force to seize Taiwan would be an immense logistical undertaking requiring moving large quantities of troops and materiel across the Taiwan Strait. What then, are Chinese observers learning from the logistical realm of… Continue reading China Ponders Russia’s Logistical Challenges in the Ukraine War

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Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking

Algorithms have become ubiquitous. They optimize our commutes, process payments and coordinate the flow of internet traffic. It seems that for every problem that can be articulated in precise mathematical terms, there’s an algorithm that can solve it, at least in principle. But that’s not the case — some seemingly simple problems can never be… Continue reading Alan Turing and the Power of Negative Thinking

A Trilateral Summit to Deal with Trilateral Threats

U.S. President Joe Biden, South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in August held a trailblazing trilateral summit. The summit’s particular focus was on countering military threats in East Asia, and it hailed “a new era of trilateral partnership” in which the three countries “are determined to align our collective efforts… Continue reading A Trilateral Summit to Deal with Trilateral Threats

Magnetism May Have Given Life Its Molecular Asymmetry

Some event or series of events early in the history of life must have “broken the mirror,” as biochemists put it, throwing life into molecular asymmetry. Scientists have debated why life became homochiral, and whether it needed to happen or if it was purely a fluke. Were chiral preferences impressed on early life by biased… Continue reading Magnetism May Have Given Life Its Molecular Asymmetry

A Potential Alternative for Regulating Internet-Based Platform Services

Centralized policy may help soften deceptively predatory aspects of Internet-platform services. The use of internet-based platform services like Amazon, DoorDash, and Uber Eats is increasing and can be helpful. But the companies that offer these services may be engaging in predatory practices that can harm users and local businesses. State and local governments have tried… Continue reading A Potential Alternative for Regulating Internet-Based Platform Services

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The AI Tools Making Images Look Better

It’s one of the biggest cliches in crime and science fiction: An investigator pulls up a blurry photo on a computer screen and asks for it to be enhanced, and boom, the image comes into focus, revealing some essential clue. It’s a wonderful storytelling convenience, but it’s been a frustrating fiction for decades — blow… Continue reading The AI Tools Making Images Look Better