It’s an interesting time to be making a case for philosophy in science. On the one hand, some scientists working on ideas such as string theory or the multiverse—ideas that reach far beyond our current means to test them—are forced to make a philosophical defense of research that can’t rely on traditional hypothesis testing. On […]
Sometimes, you just have to ponder the impossible physics behind Star Wars. Other times, you simply have to remember the words from 1980s comic book Ambush Bug: "Someone once told George Lucas that there is no sound in airless space. He didn't believe it. Today, George Lucas is a millionaire." So, what’s been happening in […]
The 144 words of Robert Frost’s seminal poem “The Road Not Taken” fit neatly onto a single printed page. Or in a 1-kilobyte data file. Or, in Hyunjun Park’s hands, in a few drops of water at the bottom of a pink Eppendorf tube. Well, really what’s inside the water: invisible floating strands of DNA. […]
Last week, two American astronauts, Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold, and one Russian cosmonaut, Oleg Artemyev, climbed into a giant explosive stick and fired into space, ascending 250 miles before docking with the International Space Station on Friday. As usual, they flew in the storied Soyuz rocket, launched out of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan—the […]
There are plenty of big questions about tonight’s Golden Globe Awards ceremony: Can A Star is Born sweep all five of its big-category nominations, or will it get sha-la-la-la-shafted? Which award will be presented by Rami Malek’s stunt-teeth from Bohemian Rhapsody? And, when it comes to all-time great Globes reaction-shot memes, will any celeb be […]
Captain Marvel’s $455 million opening weekend is an enormous, expensive failure. Not for Marvel, or fans of superhero movies, or people whose opinions matter. For trolls. Trolls have been trying to sabotage Captain Marvel's success since the first trailer dropped last September. So persistent and numerous were these trolls in their “review bombing” that Rotten […]
Let’s say we had a way to distribute beacons around our solar system (or beyond) that could survive for billions of years, recording what our civilization has achieved. What should they be like? It’s easy to come up with what I consider to be sophomoric answers. But in reality I think this is a deep—and in […]
For many Americans, regardless of politics, race, gender, or creed, the Thanksgiving dinner table is an emotional minefield hiding underneath a kitschy tablecloth. As turkey time draws nearer, expectations and worries about relatives’ behavior begin to mount, while the media drum toll doles out advice about how to manage tensions. In truth, the holidays are […]
Who wouldn’t enjoy a little x-ray vision, really? You could cheat at cards, for one. And that game where someone puts something under one of three cups and you have to guess where it is. Easy. Of course, x-ray vision would come with a downside, in that you’d be spraying all your surveillance targets with […]
People love looking at pets on the internet. And that's just as true, if not more so, when said pet is a 100-plus-pound mountain lion that wears hot pink sweaters and lives in your house. Or a stunningly gorgeous red fox that's friends with a dog. Or a caracal (an African wild cat the size […]
