As previously noted, Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz likes to claim that climate scientists have in “the past two or three years” switched to talking about climate change rather than global warming. In reality, of course, both terms have been … Continue reading
Research published in the 29 January issue of the journal Science shows that more than 2000 years ago, Babylonian astronomers in what is today Iraq were using unexpectedly advanced mathematics to predict the position of Jupiter. This is based on … Continue reading
As I’ve mentioned before (link), Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) has said some seriously absurd and misinformed things about global warming. Here’s another brief example from a Senate hearing in which Cruz questions David Titley, a retired rear admiral whose duties … Continue reading
This famous image of the Moon was shot on Christmas Eve 1968 from lunar orbit by Apollo 8 astronaut William A Anders in the Apollo 8 command module. He and his crewmates Frank Borman and James Lovell were the first … Continue reading
An experiment at the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna, Austria, suggests that dogs behave altruistically toward other dogs, especially toward dogs they know. The experiment involved teaching dogs to pull a string that delivered either a treat or an … Continue reading
A little over two years ago I posted something (link) about research showing that white American women without a high school diploma were experiencing falling life expectancy, though comparable members of other races were not. Note that this should not … Continue reading
An Englishman named Charles Babbage created the first design for a general-purpose programmable digital computer, which he called an “analytical engine,” in 1834. He never finished building it (the full machine would have been huge), but at a party he … Continue reading
In this 20-second clip from a Finnish television newscast, anchor Mika Saukkonen introduces weatherman Pekka Pouta, who issues a classic warning: Link: https://youtu.be/8sS7-CfPn6Q If you can spare another 21 seconds, here’s a follow-up: Link: https://youtu.be/p0Laj6GN4Tw Incidentally, it might surprise you … Continue reading
A recent paper published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences argues that a record drought in 2007 through 2010, combined with poor agricultural practices and environmental problems, led to “widespread crop failure and a mass migration of farming … Continue reading
In 1950 physicist Enrico Fermi was having lunch with his colleagues at Los Alamos when he suddenly asked something like “Where are they?” or “Where is everybody?” (recollections differed). Everyone laughed, because while the question came out of the blue, … Continue reading