Week In Review
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Ebbs and Flows
August 27, 2010
Alien-yet-familiar worlds are discovered around distant stars, extreme weather batters the Earth, stimulus spending energizes renewables, and the stem-cell debate reignites.
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Two Wrongs from the Right
July 23, 2010
The deaths of a climate scientist and of meaningful climate-change legislation bode poorly for a prosperous energy-independent future.
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An Embarrassment of Riches
June 18, 2010
Kepler’s planetary gold rush, a Japanese spacecraft that rides sunlight, a virtual Cambrian explosion, and the problem of performance metrics.
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A Titanic Challenge
June 11, 2010
What might a glut of hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Mexico—and a dearth of them on Saturn's moon, Titan—imply about humanity's long-term prospects?
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Weapons of Fast Destruction
May 28, 2010
A nuclear summit winds down, an ambitious defense initiative ramps up, synthetic biology enters the limelight, the BP oil spill grows, and new pathogens emerge.
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A Distressed Asset
May 14, 2010
Volatility prompts rapid regulatory reform on Wall Street, while biodiversity crashes and a climate change bill flounders. What if we treated Earth like a company?
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On the Horizon
April 30, 2010
As a disastrous oil spill spreads across the Gulf of Mexico, it also rekindles hope for renewed political action on climate change and energy.
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Ashes to Ashes
April 23, 2010
A deeper understanding of the modern world's fragile complexity is glimpsed in the aftermath of a disruptive volcanic eruption.
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Truth and Inconsequence
April 09, 2010
A leaked video of wartime atrocities sparks a media firestorm and raises questions about the accuracy and validity of new media.
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Leading Lights
April 02, 2010
Aligning economic value with currently unpriced things—in nature and society—could be the ticket to global sustainability.
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Long Time Coming
March 26, 2010
The story of one of history's most infamous math problems illustrates the difficulties facing congress in the wake of healthcare reform.
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Extinction’s Tipping Points
March 12, 2010
How the extinction of the dinosaurs, Arctic methane leaks, and nuclear weaponry reveal the precarious thresholds of life on Earth.
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Press Gang
March 05, 2010
With New York City about to let bloggers qualify for press passes, a look at what breaking down the walls between old and new media means for science reporting.
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Stranger than Fiction
February 25, 2010
There's no shortage of movies that play fast and loose with the laws of nature. One scientist is on a mission to fix these flaws, but will it really improve scientific literacy?
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Zero-Sum Game
February 19, 2010
With two power-players—Bill Gates and Barack Obama—placing their bets on nuclear energy, another round of debate begins over its place in a carbon-free future.
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Getting Snowed
February 12, 2010
As major storms cover the northeast, the classic canard of conflating climate with weather takes on ridiculous new forms. But is it better to fight or ignore them?
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Slate of the Union
January 29, 2010
A few hours after Steve Jobs announced the iPad, President Obama delivered a slightly more important speech. What he said—and didn’t say—about the future of science funding and NASA.
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Pay to Play
January 22, 2010
With the New York Times announcing that it will start charging for its website, an examination of why scientific and journalistic publishing seem to be headed in opposite directions.
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Trust in the Twitterverse
January 15, 2010
With the world scrambling to cover the recent devastating Haitian earthquake, journalists, neuroscientists, and everyone in between are testing the frontiers of social media.
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What a Water-Full World
December 18, 2009
The discovery of an ocean-covered planet prompts reflections on the purpose, cost, and value of our forays into the great unknown of outer space.
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Search Me
December 11, 2009
Amid a roll-out of a number of new features, Google’s biggest change went largely unnoticed, even though it could further fragment our shared pool of knowledge.
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Works in Progress
December 03, 2009
Whether it is climate change or life on Mars, revealing the hairy—and human—underbelly of how science is done means controversy for the public at large.
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Hair Raiser
November 20, 2009
Malcolm Gladwell and Steven Pinker duel over balancing scientific rigor with relatable narrative, while the future of personal genomics goes under the microscope.
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Signs from Above
November 13, 2009
The release of an apocalyptic movie prompts NASA to debunk planetary rumors, fowl play shuts down the LHC, and the Catholic Church discusses alien life.
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Sad Sacks
November 06, 2009
As a UK adviser is fired over politically unpalatable advice and an English teacher is suspended over an article about animal sexuality, the fate of facts is on the line.
Now on SEEDMAGAZINE.COM
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Ideas
I Tried Almost Everything Else
John Rinn, snowboarder, skateboarder, and “genomic origamist,” on why we should dumpster-dive in our genomes and the inspiration of a middle-distance runner.
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Ideas
Going, Going, Gone
The second most common element in the universe is increasingly rare on Earth—except, for now, in America.
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Ideas
Earth-like Planets Aren’t Rare
Renowned planetary scientist James Kasting on the odds of finding another Earth-like planet and the power of science fiction.
