The First Nuclear Arms Race: Churchill's Bomb, Part 1
Graham Farmelo is the award-winning author of the Dirac biography The Strangest Man. His latest book is Churchill’s Bomb: How the United States Overtook Britain in the First Nuclear Arms Race
Charles Darwin and the Early Search for Extraterrestrial Life
In August 1881 the journal “Science” published an article with a letter exchange by two amateur geologist – British Charles R.
What Shakespeare Knew about Science [Excerpt]
William Shakespeare may well have been more aware of his era’s science—including the Copernican view that the planets revolve around the sun—than has generally been thought
Why Prejudice Alone Doesn't Explain the Gender Gap in Science
This is a guest post from my friend Chris Martin. Chris (chriscmartin.com) studied psychology and music at Davidson College, human-computer interaction at Georgia Tech, and psychology at the College of William and Mary.
What’s the Deal with Euclid’s Fourth Postulate?
In February, I wrote about Euclid’s parallel postulate, the black sheep of the big, happy family of definitions, postulates, and axioms that make up the foundations of Euclidean geometry.
The Birth of Modern Peer Review
Peer review was introduced to scholarly publication in 1731 by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, which published a collection of peer-reviewed medical articles.
Blame the Jet Stream for Frigid Winters in Eastern U.S.
Cold back East and warmth out West is a jet stream pattern that has been in place for 4,000 years, according to new research
The Renaissance's Contribution to Geology: Landscape Painting
In the Renaissance (1450-1600) architecture and pictorial arts, but also scientific disciplines like astronomy, physics and medicine, experienced a rebirth and important improvements – but what about geology?
It’s the End of Fundamental Physics... Again
Fellow Scientific American blogger John Horgan is at it again. This time he is heralding the end of fundamental physics based on the increasing time lag between Nobel Prizes awarded for fundamental discoveries.
Science Book Wins a Pulitzer Prize
I am always thrilled when a science themed book wins the General Non-Fiction Pulitzer Prize. Some of my favorites from previous years include the following: 2011 Siddhartha Mukherjee “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” 1998 Jared Diamond “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” 1995 Jonathan Weiner “The Beak Of [...]
Offshore Drilling Exhibit Opens at George Bush Presidential Library
The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University has a new exhibit that tells the story of offshore drilling and the 41st President’s previous life as an oilman.
How to Solve Global Warming: It's the Energy Supply
Carbon storage has to expand rapidly, or coal burning has to cease, if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change