A half-century ago humanity sent its first postcard to the stars, carried by a narrow beam of radio waves. It was November 16, 1974—a turbulent time on planet Earth. The cold war was reaching its crescendo, and the world economy was still sputtering from a Middle East oil embargo that was imposed the previous year.… Continue reading The Arecibo Message, Earth’s First Interstellar Transmission, Turns 50
Stingrays Move Thousands of Tons of Sand on the Seafloor per Year
Stingrays Move Thousands of Tons of Sand on the Seafloor per Year In search of snacks, stingrays’ feeding technique supports ecosystems by rearranging the underwater geography By Jeanne Timmons Drone imagery of a fever of estuary stingrays feeding in seagrass meadows. With their winglike fins undulating in slow motion, stingrays and other rays seem to… Continue reading Stingrays Move Thousands of Tons of Sand on the Seafloor per Year
Casey Won’t Admit Defeat, But Here’s Why He Lost
U.S. Sen. Bob Casey’s final days in office read like a cautionary tale about the dangers of political evolution. His inbox overflows with increasingly desperate fundraising pleas – “Some bad news,” “More bad news,” “To avoid catastrophe” – while his campaign has embraced an unlikely role: election truther. The three-term senator now spams supporters daily,… Continue reading Casey Won’t Admit Defeat, But Here’s Why He Lost
The Church and Medjugorje
The Church and Medjugorje < !- end of Google Analytics Code Snippet by GA4WP–> ]]> Podcast: Download MYS338: In 1981, six young people in Medjugorje reported apparitions of the Virgin Mary. In the following 43 years, the Church at all levels has looked at whether they are authentic. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli discuss the… Continue reading The Church and Medjugorje
Physicists Spot Quantum Tornadoes Twirling in a ‘Supersolid’
In a lab nestled between the jagged peaks of the Austrian Alps, rare earth metals vaporize and spew out of an oven at the speed of a fighter jet. Then a medley of lasers and magnetic pulses slow the gas nearly to a halt, making it colder than the depths of space. The roughly 50,000… Continue reading Physicists Spot Quantum Tornadoes Twirling in a ‘Supersolid’
How Helene Gave Way to ‘Hurricane Snafu’ in the Carolinas
It wasn’t as if the Tar Heel state didn’t see Hurricane Helene coming. On Sept. 25, one day before Helene stormed ashore, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper declared a state of emergency as the storm’s path showed it churning northward toward Appalachia after making landfall in Florida. North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper, right, and Deanne… Continue reading How Helene Gave Way to ‘Hurricane Snafu’ in the Carolinas
How Is AI Changing the Science of Prediction?
Scientists routinely build quantitative models — of, say, the weather or an epidemic — and then use them to make predictions, which they can then test against the real thing. This work can reveal how well we understand complex phenomena, and also dictate where research should go next. In recent years, the remarkable successes of… Continue reading How Is AI Changing the Science of Prediction?
Schoolhouse Limbo: How Low Will Educators Go to ‘Better’ Grades?
Maryland’s new education chief, Carey Wright, an old-school champion of rigorous standards, is pushing back against efforts in other states to boost test scores by essentially lowering their expectations of students. States, including Oklahoma and Wisconsin, are making it easier for students to demonstrate on annual assessments that they are proficient in math and English… Continue reading Schoolhouse Limbo: How Low Will Educators Go to ‘Better’ Grades?
Paris Olympics Will Be a Training Ground for AI-Powered Mass Surveillance
Paris Olympics Will Be a Training Ground for AI-Powered Mass Surveillance In the run-up to the Paris 2024 Olympics, the French government has authorized wide-reaching use of AI software in security surveillance feeds By Anne Toomey McKenna & The Conversation US It won’t be just human eyes monitoring the thousands of security cameras at the… Continue reading Paris Olympics Will Be a Training Ground for AI-Powered Mass Surveillance
The Two Thanksgivings Between Halloween and Christmas
In the United States, November 11th has been known as Veterans Day since 1954 (before that, it was known as Armistice Day). Originally, Veterans Day commemorated the Allies’ victory in World War I. However, after the Second World War, veterans of that conflict including Dwight Eisenhower pushed to expand the holiday to honor all veterans.… Continue reading The Two Thanksgivings Between Halloween and Christmas