Engineers and architects have been facing the question for years. “When we were designing the Tate Modern, there was a moment when someone said, ‘What will you do when the water is a metre or two higher?’” remembers Stuart Smith, a director at global engineering firm Arup. “As an individual building, there’s not much you […]
Miscellaneous
March 17 – 21 This week, Ann interviewed Will Storr about his new book. The conversation turns to the dangers of congratulating yourself excessively on your own intelligence. Accidental rewilding or inadvertent resheepling? Michelle investigated. Helen dissected the persistent rumour that penguins need sweaters. But penguins made of sugary Peeps? They definitely need a knitting […]
I’m a lover of science and a devoted knitter. Science-related projects that appear on the internet and have to do with yarn find their way into my inbox. That means I am aware of the project in Glasgow to knit microbes for elementary schools. I am in love with that shawl that depicts the night […]
March 10 – 14 This week, Christie told us that story she doesn’t tell. Then lots of other people flocked to the comments to tell theirs. Guest poster Daniel O’Connell asked if there’s gold in them thar evolutionary hills. Cameron wondered if deep-sea species will be soon be forced to have their own reality show. […]
“Did I ever tell you about the time I got charged by a moose?” We were at the point in our camping trip where everyone was dusting off their close-encounters-with-wildlife stories. “Now, Davis, don’t tell that story or we’re going to get into an argument,” warned his wife. “She was downwind of the bear spray […]
I was having lunch with a vegetarian friend recently, when I caught myself wanting to tell her the story. When you’re a vegetarian, a lot of people — friends, distant relatives, complete strangers — barrage you with the story. It starts like this: “Yeah, I tried going vegetarian once.” During my 13 years as a […]
In the fourteen years that I’ve been teaching high school biology, I’ve been asked a lot of weird questions about evolution. But, until recently, I’ve not been asked whether Charles Darwin could make you rich. Is evolution good for business? In a recent debate, Bill Nye, the popular science educator, argued it is. Actually, Nye […]
March 3 – 7 This week, Ann’s love letter to the capital weather gang made me want to understand far more about the weather. You can either be totally secure, or you can be plugged into a network. Pick one, says Abstruse Goose. Helen says art about the Artic ice melt is beautiful and awful, […]
