The U.S. State Department includes something called the Bureau of Intelligence and Research. The Bureau’s primary mission is “to harness intelligence to serve U.S. diplomacy.” Dr. Rod Schoonover is a Senior Analyst in that Bureau, whose work is primarily focused on the implications of environmental and ecological change on national security and foreign policy. Dr. Schoonover…
WC has reported on the unprecedented sea ice melt in Nome, Alaska. Open water, in Nome, on the Being Sea, in mid-March. Today we’ll visit the other end of the planet, Antarctica, where even more climate change is under way. More than four years ago, WC wrote about Antarctica’s frightening melt rate. In December 2014,…
Long-time readers know that WC can get kind of geeky from time to time. You have been warned. Science “knows” the universe was born out of a cosmic explosion 13.8 billion years ago. The universe rapidly inflated and then cooled. It’s still expanding but at an increasing rate and is mostly made up of unknown…
Bernd Heinrich is a highly regarded biologist. The Birds of North America note on Common Ravens cites to him an amazing eighteen times. He’s now an emeritus professor at the University of Vermont and, at 80 years old, still runs ultra marathons. He’s also the author of some twenty popularizations, of wildly uneven quality. Here’s…
There is a measles epidemic in New York City. So far, it has sickened some 329 people, with no end in sight. This isn’t to be confused with the ongoing epidemic of measles in eastern Washington State. New York City has declared a public health emergency. The City has issued an emergency health order. ll…
WC has written of the sad death of his friend Kenelm Philip, physicist, fellow fan of good books, programmer and, above all, astonishing lepidopterist. WC has also written of Ken’s little “surprise” for WC: Ken named WC as his executor, to WC’s consternation. There have been subsequent events that merit a blot post. First, Ken’s…
To those of a geeky persuasion – a group that certainly includes WC – there is an important anniversary approaching. May 29 will be the centennial of Eddington’s confirmation of general relativity. To understand why this is important we have to go back to 1915 or so. Albert Einstein had published his four scientific papers…
