An influential group of geologists, ecologists, and biologists argue that humans have so changed the planet that it is entering another phase of geological time, called the Anthropocene, “the Age of Man.”
The source of the rain that filled your town reservoir, or flooded your nearby river, or never arrived to water your crops, is most likely the ocean. The ocean contains 96% of the free water on Earth, and it acts like a massive water pump. It is powered by heat evaporating water into water vapor….
Why is school science, especially chemistry and physics, so unpopular in wealthier countries, and what can we do about it?
Does the threat of rampant disease leave people more likely to commit murder? It’s a provocative suggestion, that, if correct, should provide even more incentive to improve the quality of public healthcare in countries where disease is rife. Author Metanexus Editors
In a laboratory in Scotland, a revolutionary kind of laser is taking shape – the first one to be made out of an artificial black hole. Once complete, the device could help confirm mounting evidence that real black holes, despite their name, emit light. A black-hole laser could also find practical uses in devices that…
In fall 2009, the theoretical physicist Lawrence M. Krauss gave a talk about recent discoveries in cosmology that he engagingly titled, “A Universe From Nothing: Why There Is Something Rather Than Nothing.” The popularity of the video, viewed nearly a million times on YouTube, prompted Krauss to develop the ideas in the talk into a…
From Slate’s Future Tense blog: A study published in the journal Nature Geoscience indicates that human activity triggered a deadly earthquake in southern Spain last year. Meanwhile, the next day in Italy, six scientists and a government official were sentenced to six years in prison for a deadly earthquake last year that they played no…