wired
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Mass Extinction
“It could happen again…” There is some evidence that the onset of the end-Triassic mass extinction—which occurred 200 million years ago and wiped out at least half of all living species—may have been much more sudden that previously believed. And…
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5 for Print
Wired has 5 reasons why E-books cannot replace print. Besides the tech-related qualms (like books being divided by app, not allowing readers to see all their books in one place), problems like “an unfinished e-book isn’t a constant reminder to…
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THE BLURB #21: This Is Your Brain—on Books, on Screens
After just five hundred years of movable type and the Enlightenment it begat, we are blinded by how brief our dwelling in the kingdom of print turned out to be.
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Depressed Creativity? Sort Of.
When Martin Heidegger wrote his gargantuan Magnus opus, Being and Time, he posited that it was Angst, the fundamental human condition, that brought us into the most authentic relationship with our selves and our surroundings. Angst, for Heidegger, is caused…
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The Ultimate in Recycling
It’s just a coincidence that I’ll be teaching the Wendell Berry poem “Enriching the Earth” tomorrow, a poem which ends with the lines “And so what was heaviest / and most mute is at last raised up into song,” but…
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What if the Facebook privacy changes are a good thing?
Fred Vogelstein, writing for the Wired blog Epicenter, looks at Facebook’s history on privacy, and points out that we shouldn’t really be shocked at what Mark Zuckerberg is doing. “Indeed, Zuckerberg’s challenges to conventional thinking about online privacy have become…
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Science Saturday–Oil Spill Edition
Birds are already starting to turn up covered in oil. National Geographic has some early photos. In what will come as a surprise to almost no one, it’s being reported that BP had almost no plan in place to respond…
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Science Saturday
The surface of Mars had liquid water recently. Two things. 1. I’m not talking about the latest Doctor Who special which hasn’t aired in the US yet so why would I know anything at all about it? 2. Recently has…
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Science Saturday
Happy 40th birthday to the internet. Just don’t go buying a Harley to prove you’re still vibrant. In what may be the most counter-intuitive finding in recent years, the internet might actually make people smarter, which frightens the hell out…
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Science Saturday
Lots of fascinating science news this week. Here we go. The IgNobel Prizes were given out last night, and the honored research included a bra that doubles as a gas mask, diamonds made from tequila, and the discovery that an…
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Science Saturday
Can a dead fish perceive humans and tell their emotional states? No, but the reason for the story is an interesting one. This is the world’s most awesome science fair project. I especially like the inclusion of the Confederate Battle…
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Science Saturday
We begin with death today, specifically the smell of it. Apparently, insects all emit the same blend of fatty acids when they die, and that smell sends them scurrying. High cholesterol may reduce sexual arousal in women. Geckos can self-amputate…