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On my last post, there were a number of comments, but I wanted to highlight one thing Cliff wrote. I thought that this part of a comment he left was worth a full response. Quoted directly: “We can pound Gov Perry for pandering to those of his supporters who don’t…
Read More »It has been fascinating to watch Governor Rick Perry’s first week of campaigning. Before he announced, I began to think that he would be the nominee, if for no other reason than governors tend to do well in presidential races and Romney is, well, Romney. Governor Perry said a lot…
Read More »On Friday July 8th, at 11:26AM NASA will launch the space shuttle Atlantis on STS-135, the final shuttle mission. It marks the end of an era that began on April 12, 1981 with the first flight of Columbia. 135 missions later, the United States’ fourth great space program, the successor…
Read More »One of the more fascinating trends to arise in the wake of the financial crisis has been the renewed interest of the political right in gold. Today’s New York Times ran a story about the latest part of this trend: Utah has passed a law allowing gold and silver coins to…
Read More »On Thursday Vermont became the first state to enact a single payer healthcare system for its citizens. It’s not exactly surprising that one of the country’s most liberal states has become the first state to legislate a fundamental right to healthcare for all of its citizens. And, should the federal…
Read More »Last year, Harvard undergraduates organized the first Harvard Thinks Big, an opportunity for ten professors from different departments to give talks on a subject they care about. The event was based on the famous TED Talks and was a great success. Harvard Thinks Big 2 was held last Thursday. While…
Read More »Today we celebrate Charles Darwin’s birthday. The great biologist was born 202 years ago, meaning that it has been just over 151 years since the publication of On the Origin of Species. I have written in the past about his ideas, so to avoid repeating myself I would like to…
Read More »I’ve spent the past few days reading media reactions to the shooting in Tucson. There have been many calls for more civility, for more gun control, and better treatment of mental disorders, but I haven’t seen much in the way of accepting responsibility. I am not looking for the Sarah…
Read More »This was an interesting year for science. But rather than stretch for a list of the top ten accomplishments or discoveries I would like to focus in on three specific feats of technological achievement that, I think, have broad implications both for the future of science and how humanity views…
Read More »In my last post, I discussed how scientists have been able to prove that the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is due to human activity. It’s now time to discuss why carbon dioxide matters. Below is a chart from the IPCC of radiative forcings, which I explain below.…
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