CHERNOBYL MOULD MAY THRIVE ON RADIATION
THE HORRIFIC DISASTER OF CHERNOBYL may have a beneficial mouldy lining—thanks to the relatively recent discovery of radiotrophism. Just as plants thrive from the sun through photosynthesis, some moulds have … Continue reading
OUT OF AFRICA, KITTY-STYLE PART 2
Yesterday we began tidbits gleaned from Jonathan B. Losos’ “The Cat Diaspora Out Of Africa” and “The Dispersal of Domestic Cats from North Africa to Europe around 2000 Years Ago,” by … Continue reading
OUT OF AFRICA, KITTY-STYLE PART 1
AAAS SCIENCE, NOVEMBER 2025, DISPLAYS A FASCINATING cover blurb belying that our cat pals—as you might guess—got here in their own good time. Here in Parts 1 and 2 today … Continue reading
GOOGLING—FOR FUN AND PROFIT PART 2
YESTERDAY WE BEGAN GLEANING TIDBITS from Donald MacKenzie’s “The Future of Search,” London Review of Books, November 20, 2025. Today in Part 2 he (and we) continue analyzing implications of … Continue reading
GOOGLING—FOR FUN AND PROFIT PART 1
WHAT WITH RESEARCHING ONE THING AND ANOTHER, I am a regular user of the Google search engine. So it is with compelling interest that I read Donald MacKenzie’s “The Future … Continue reading
ON MATHEMATICAL PHILOSOPHIES
A CENTURY AGO, MATHEMATICIANS DEBATED THE EXISTENCE of numbers. “You’d think, after millenniums, we’d have gotten that straight,” writes Jordan Ellenberg in The New York Times Book Review, November 23, … Continue reading
FAKE IT TILL IT MAKES IT
HALLUCINATIONS MADE BY ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE are rooted in the adage above. Celina Zhao recounts, “A.I. Hallucinates Because It’s Trained to Fake Answers It Doesn’t Know,” AAAS Science, October 28, 2025. … Continue reading
SCIENCE AND OUR WORLD
ONE HUNDRED YEARS AGO, ENGLISH MATHEMATICIAN ALFRED NORTH WHITEHEAD delivered a series of Lowell Lectures titled Science and the Modern World. In a “Classics Revisited” essay, Science, October 16, 2025, … Continue reading
ONE BRILLIANT HELMET
MADELINE COLEMAN REPORTS IN THE ATHLETIC, The New York Times, October 9, 2025, “Isack Hadjar’s F1 Helmet is a Tribute to Physics, Fatherhood, and a Decade of Racing.” Coleman observes … Continue reading
INTERACTIVE MEDIA & GAME DEVELOPMENT—WPI AMONG THE LEADERS
COMPUTATIONAL ADVANCEMENTS—ROBOTICS, EDUCATION, HEALTHCARE, ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, AND EDUCATION—are a significant driver of modern culture. And Worcester Polytechnic Institute, my undergraduate school, is among those leading the way in Interactive Media … Continue reading
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