GEOLOGICALLY SPEAKING, WHAT TIME IS IT?
LET’S TALK ABOUT geology’s time clock. Stratigraphy concerns what can be learned from the order and relative position of rock layers. The word is a Latin/Greek hybrid: stratum Latin for … Continue reading
MORE POWER TO YA
AMERICA’S POWER GRID is the largest in the world. But it’s not the most modern, nor the most reliable. Gretchen Bakke’s book The Grid addresses these points and others. Cymene Howe … Continue reading
METHUSELAH AND THE BOMB
ABOVE-GROUND NUCLEAR weaponry helped researchers identify longevity of the Greenland shark, the world’s oldest known living vertebrate. Recently, a 400-year-old shark made the news; details of the research are given … Continue reading
APT, LG, SEC, BEAUT RIV VU, NR TRANS + SHPNG
HOUSE HUNTERS in Bronze Age Britain had some interesting options. As reported in Science, the weekly magazine of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, archaeologists have discovered residences … Continue reading
DREADFUL THINGS LARGE AND SMALL
LOOKING FOR something to worry about? I confess, my topics here at SimanaitisSays are ordinarily chosen to be pleasant, upbeat, non-threatening. I figure we’ve got plenty of other places to … Continue reading
FIDO’S ANCESTORS
THE DOG EVOLVED from the wolf. It was man’s first domesticated animal, accomplished before humankind’s domestication of farm stock. Details of canine domestication are still controversial. However, part of the … Continue reading
NANOTECH AND THE LITHIUM BATTERY
BATTERIES OF lithium-ion technology are the current state of the art, suppling power to everything from smart phones to Battery Electric Vehicles. Plenty of companies worldwide are striving to make … Continue reading
SET AND REST A SPELL
FLYING CREATURES conserve energy by occasionally perching. And, as reported in Science, published weekly by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, engineers are applying nature’s techniques to make … Continue reading
THE STATE OF CITIES
GIVEN THAT YOU’RE an Earthling, the probability is better than half that you live in an urban area. In the United States, this increases to 80 percent. So it’s most … Continue reading
ARE SURVEYS LEGIT?
THE PHRASE “According to a Pew Survey…” typically instills confidence in the conclusions that follow. However, two ex-Pew researchers have reported on controversial analyses suggesting that some broad-range surveys may … Continue reading