Evolution is a complicated thing. Much of modern evolutionary biology seeks to reconcile the seeming randomness of the forces behind the process — how mutations occur, for example — with the fundamental principles that apply across the biosphere. Generations of biologists have hoped to comprehend evolution’s rhyme and reason enough to be able to predict… Continue reading The New Quest to Control Evolution
Key Biden Climate Pollution Metric Is Safe–For Now
CLIMATEWIRE | The Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to take up a fight by Republican-led states over the federal government’s method of estimating the costs of climate change, in a win for President Joe Biden’s push to address rising emissions. In a short, unexplained order, the justices rejected a challenge led by Missouri Attorney General Andrew… Continue reading Key Biden Climate Pollution Metric Is Safe–For Now
Book Review: Walter Isaacson’s Spellbinding ‘Elon Musk’
At a retreat over the summer, one of the attendees was rather rich and rather famous in the technology space. Having made enormous sums of money in a variety of startups and corporate settings, this entrepreneur had started all over yet again. My question to him was if he still had the energy to pursue… Continue reading Book Review: Walter Isaacson’s Spellbinding ‘Elon Musk’
How Much Did Jesus Suffer? (& More Patrons’ Questions)
Podcast: Download MYS287: We regularly give Patrons the opportunity to ask Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli their mysterious questions and make them available exclusively to Patrons first and then later to the whole audience. This time the questions cover Jesus’ suffering; demons protecting us; Adam’s wife, Lilith; and more. Get all new episodes automatically and… Continue reading How Much Did Jesus Suffer? (& More Patrons’ Questions)
A Century Later, New Math Smooths Out General Relativity
Dong and Song proved a conjecture that was formulated in 2001 by the mathematicians Gerhard Huisken and Tom Ilmanen. The conjecture states that as the mass of a space approaches zero, so too must its curvature. Huisken and Ilmanen recognized, however, that this scenario is complicated by the presence of bubbles and spikes (which are… Continue reading A Century Later, New Math Smooths Out General Relativity
Many-Mirrored Galaxies Deepen Dark Matter Mystery
If you’re looking for intergalactic eye candy and cosmic bling, it’s hard to beat Abell 3827, a crowded cluster of hundreds of galaxies about 1.3 billion light-years from Earth. Hubble Space Telescope images of the cluster show a bright central quartet of merging galaxies shimmering like diamonds and perched on an ethereal azure engagement ring.… Continue reading Many-Mirrored Galaxies Deepen Dark Matter Mystery
Night of the Living Ed: Zombie Public Schools, Drained of Pandemic Lifeblood, Haunt the Land
Call them “zombie” schools. A significant but unknown number of public schools across the U.S., particularly in big cities, have lost so many students in the last half-decade that many of their classrooms sit empty. Gone is the loud clatter of students bursting through crowded hallways and slamming lockers. Marguerite Roza: “Too many schools, not… Continue reading Night of the Living Ed: Zombie Public Schools, Drained of Pandemic Lifeblood, Haunt the Land
Your Brain Finds It Easy to Size Up Four Objects But Not Five–Here’s Why
October 11, 2023 3 min read Neuron activity shows that the brain uses different systems for counting up to four, and for five or more By Nature magazine & Mariana Lenharo How many apples? Humans can size up a grouping of four or fewer items in an instant, but larger quantities pose a challenge. For… Continue reading Your Brain Finds It Easy to Size Up Four Objects But Not Five–Here’s Why
I Lie About What Happened in Combat
The following is an excerpt from River City One: A Novel (Knox Press; November 7, 2023). “West and me took a walk around the big base,” I started. “We wanted to see all the things we’d been deprived of and enjoy the freedom of stretching our legs without fear. West wanted something from the exchange, a tin… Continue reading I Lie About What Happened in Combat
NASA Reveals Sneak Peek of Historic Asteroid Sample
October 11, 2023 3 min read OSIRIS-REx’s treasure trove from asteroid Bennu includes material rich in water and carbon By SPACE.com & Mike Wall Accumulated debris from asteroid Bennu covers a portion of the OSIRIS-REx sample collector (middle right). Scientists’ initial analysis of this material shows it contains both carbon and water, two essential ingredients… Continue reading NASA Reveals Sneak Peek of Historic Asteroid Sample