Whether we’re considering global trade, new technologies or scientific research, everything seems to become more complex over time. In the past, polymaths became well versed in various disciplines and made important contributions to each. But today it is far more difficult for a person to excel in multiple domains, in part because of greater specialization.… Continue reading It’s Not Just You. Everything Really Is Getting More Complicated over Time
NASA Is Approaching the Final Frontier of Mortality
In 2012 NASA stealthily slipped a morgue into orbit. No press release. No fanfare. Just a sealed, soft-sided pouch tucked in a cargo shipment to the International Space Station (ISS) alongside freeze-dried meals and scientific gear. Officially, it was called the Human Remains Containment Unit (HRCU). To the untrained eye it looked like a shipping… Continue reading NASA Is Approaching the Final Frontier of Mortality
Taking Sides: Wikipedia Advances Anti-Israel Narratives
Wikipedia, the world’s go-to site for information that professes to take a neutral point of view, is coming under fire for alleged anti-Israel bias in the sources it favors and content it delivers to millions of readers. The criticism is coming from several quarters, including a bipartisan group of 23 members of Congress who, in an April… Continue reading Taking Sides: Wikipedia Advances Anti-Israel Narratives
Buried Pirate Treasure and More Patron Questions
Podcast: Download MYS368: 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 first answers questions from Patrons’ children and then more from the Patrons themselves. Get all new episodes automatically and… Continue reading Buried Pirate Treasure and More Patron Questions
How Paradoxical Questions and Simple Wonder Lead to Great Science
We discovered that the cell has a beautiful buoyancy engine. It inflates like a hot air balloon and is a lot like a desalination plant. Aquaporins, [proteins that form pores in cell membranes], bring in fresh water that has a lower density, so it can suddenly skyrocket up 250 to 300 meters. It produces proteins… Continue reading How Paradoxical Questions and Simple Wonder Lead to Great Science
Friends With Benefits: Stacey Abrams Funneled $20 Million to Her Lawyer
A nonprofit founded by Georgia Democratic politician Stacey Abrams to protect voting rights paid more than $20 million to a lawyer who is a close friend and helped set up two of her private businesses, according to tax and state incorporation filings and other records obtained by RealClearInvestigations. Abrams’ Fair Fight Action redirected the tax-exempt donations… Continue reading Friends With Benefits: Stacey Abrams Funneled $20 Million to Her Lawyer
This Budget Plan Would Devastate U.S. Space Science
Late last week the Trump Administration released its detailed budget request for fiscal year 2026 —a request that, if enacted, would be the equivalent of carpet-bombing the national scientific enterprise. “This is a profound, generational threat to scientific leadership in the United States,” says Casey Dreier, chief of space policy at the Planetary Society, a… Continue reading This Budget Plan Would Devastate U.S. Space Science
Trump Administration Shutters Climate Health Office
February 5, 2025 3 min read Trump Administration Shutters Climate Health Office A climate office at the Department of Health and Human Services has been shuttered, and its staff was placed on administrative leave By Ariel Wittenberg & E&E News An elderly man faints in front of the Supreme Court in June 2024 as temperatures… Continue reading Trump Administration Shutters Climate Health Office
Will We Ever Prove String Theory?
For decades, string theory has been hailed as the leading candidate for the theory of everything in our universe. Yet despite its mathematical elegance, the theory still lacks empirical evidence. One of its most intriguing, yet vexing, implications is that if all matter and forces are composed of vibrations of tiny strands, then this allows… Continue reading Will We Ever Prove String Theory?
How Can AI Researchers Save Energy? By Going Backward.
This loss is a fundamental aspect of how computers operate. For example, when a computer adds two numbers together, it returns a single number for the total: 2 + 2 = 4. There’s a loss of information as you go from two numbers to one. You could have added 2 and 2, or you could… Continue reading How Can AI Researchers Save Energy? By Going Backward.