MEASLES REDUX—AN IGNORANCE OF SCIENCE
ON SEPTEMBER 27, 2016, the Pan American Health Organization declared that “The Region of the Americas is the first in the world to have eliminated measles, a viral disease that … Continue reading
LOCKHEED MARTIN F-35—THE FINAL GENERATION?
MY INTERESTS in aviation are few beyond its Golden Age of the 1930s. However, I’m fascinated by the overwhelming technicalities of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter. … Continue reading
SCIENCE AND “AIR QUOTES”
ACCORDING TO White House press secretary Sean Spicer, we’re supposed to identify “air quotes” in presidential tweets about surveillance. And, says presidential senior advisor Kellyanne Conway, we’re to acknowledge “microwaves … Continue reading
SCIENCE AND GOVERNMENT POLICY
TWO SUCCESSIVE issues of Science magazine have multiple articles on science and government policy. Here I glean tidbits from two pieces in particular: Informing Policy with Science was a Science … Continue reading
HEY! YOU! GET OFF MY CLOUD!
PROFESSORS AT Worcester Polytechnic Institute’s Vernam Group hacked Amazon Web Services, the Cloud computing business that earned Amazon more than $6 billion in 2015. Then, honest guys that WPI’s Thomas … Continue reading
MAKE TOMATOES GREAT AGAIN!
MODERN TOMATOES don’t taste as good as they did in the old days. Nor are today’s commercial varieties as tasty as their heirloom counterparts. How come? Is there any hope … Continue reading
WOODSMAN, SPARE THAT CO2
BURNING WOOD to make electricity? There’s enough controversy in this concept to keep us occupied for awhile, so let’s begin by considering several aspects of the matter, as discussed in … Continue reading
THOSE WITHOUT GUMTION NEED NOT APPLY
THERE’S A CONFLUENCE of art and science in the works of 19th-century English painter J.M.W. Turner. London Review of Books, October 20, 2016, contained an article titled “The Chase: Inigo … Continue reading
THE PERIL TO EARTHBOUND ASTRONOMY
PITY POOR Earthbound astronomers. Their telescopes have to gaze through more than haze. Other perils include L.E.D. street lighting, the Internet and then there is the prospect of autonomous cars. … Continue reading
CROWD-COUNT CROWING
IN THESE DAYS OF alternative facts, I realize that anything scientific may be a hard sell to some. However, recent brouhahas over counting people make this an irresistible topic of … Continue reading
