Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Articles”
Editor’s note: This article is part of our collaboration with Point Taken, a new program from WGBH that will next air on Tuesday, May 17 on PBS and online atpbs.org. The show features fact-based debate on major issues of the day, without the shouting. With fresh reports that the Islamic State (IS) group has bombed Baghdad to produce the “bloodiest day in months,” …
These Guys Figured Out How to Turn House Plants Into Phone Chargers (UR) Barcelona, Spain — Solar power, as we know, is a great source of energy: it’s renewable, it comes from the sun — the list goes on. Unlike humans, nature has “known” that the sun is a fantastic energy generator for, well, ever. Photosynthesis, the process by which plants convert solar power into …
For centuries hereditary monarchy was the dominant way to select national leaders, evolving into an intricate system that sustained itself through power and propaganda even as its ideological roots shriveled amid the Age of Reason. Yet, as monarchy became a dead idea, it still killed millions in its death throes. Today, the dangerous “dead ideas” are neoconservatism and its close ally …
The director of the Southern California Earthquake Center, Thomas Jordan, made an announcement recently that would have sent a chill down the spine of every Californian: that the San Andreas fault appears to be in a critical state and as such, could generate a large earthquake imminently. Of course, the reiteration of the seismic hazard to Californians will be nothing surprising, …
Americans might think they know how bad inequality is, but it turns out they actually have no idea. A new study conducted at Harvard Business School found that Americans believe CEOs make roughly 30 times what the average worker makes in the U.S., when in actuality they are making more than 350 times the average worker. “Americans drastically underestimated the gap in actual incomes …
Scientists understand that stress in early childhood can create lifelong psychological troubles, but have only begun to explain how they emerge in the brain. For example, they have observed that stress incurred early in life attenuates neural growth. Now a new study with male mice exposed to stress shows that the hippocampus reaches some developmental milestones early—essentially maturing faster in …
The world is hurtling towards an era when global concentrations of carbon dioxide never again dip below the 400 parts per million (ppm) milestone, as two important measuring stations sit on the point of no return. The news comes as one important atmospheric measuring station at Cape Grim in Australia is poised on the verge of 400ppm for the first …
Zero-tolerance policies are ineffective in combating bullying, an independent government advisory group says in urging schools to take a more preventative approach that includes teaching tolerance to address this “serious public health problem.” In a report released Tuesday, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine said bullying should no longer be dismissed as merely a matter of kids being …
Almost everything you know about climate change solutions is outdated, for several reasons. First, climate science and climate politics have been moving unexpectedly quickly toward a broad consensus that we need to keep total human-caused global warming as far as possible below 2°C (3.6°F) — and ideally to no more than 1.5°C. This has truly revolutionary implications for climate solutions …
On the surface, it would seem that Saudi Arabia and Israel would be the worst of enemies and indeed, they have never had diplomatic relations. After all, the Saudis have championed the cause of the Palestinians, who are oppressed by the Israelis. Israelis say they are besieged by Muslim extremists, and many of these extremists are motivated by the intolerant, …
