This post originally ran last summer. This summer, we tried to do better–we only planted two squash plants. Still, we went to dinner at a friend’s house last night and left behind a very large zucchini. At dinner for my 18th birthday, one of my friends gave me one of those long, narrow posters filled […]
Month: August 2018
August 6-10, 2018 In a personal archaeology, your memories are the artifacts, writes Craig this week. And they are all rooted in place. Guest Melinda Wenner Moyer did us all a favour and brought together some of science writing’s greats to ask which of their stories we should read—and likely didn’t find the first time. […]
It looks like the Basilisk definitely got him, so it’s worth resurfacing the explainer I wrote earlier this year. If you’re like most people, you haven’t heard of Roko’s Basilisk. If you’re like most of the people who have heard of Roko’s Basilisk, there’s a good chance you started to look into it, encountered […]
If you know anything about beavers, it’s likely that they build dams. Natures engineers, they’re called. Eager beavers are up and at ‘em, ready to build complex structures with the simplest materials in just the right spot to stop a river from flowing. In fact, engineering schools across the country — MIT, Oregon State, American […]
I pack four books and a magazine for a three-day trip. Then I buy more at the airport. I forget to pack a change of trousers. This will come back to bite me when I vomit on a boat. The first thing I do when I land is get hoodwinked by not one, but two […]
Every science journalist has a mixed portfolio. Some stories go viral. Others feel as if they’re read by five people including your parents. Our pieces also have a spectrum of meaningfulness. I’ve published articles to pay the bills that I hardly remember writing — I stumble across them sometimes, years later, and am shocked to […]
July 30 – August 3: Climate, sex, and death edition Everyone is getting nervous about the climate these days, or the weather, or the fires, or the droughts, or all the opaque but undeniable links that bind them. Emma is not so much nervous as she is furious. We’ve known about climate change – and […]
It’s July, and I’m sitting in a backyard in Flagstaff, Arizona, when I feel something wet hit my arm. It’s the first drop of rain that’s touched my skin in months, and the pleasure is exquisite. Not just the pleasure of water touching my moisture-starved body, but the sight of thunderclouds after weeks of uninterrupted […]
