Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

New posts soon!

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I’m a little behind on the news after spending the weekend field tripping at Lassen Peak. I’ll be catching up soon, but to tide you over, here is a picture I took of some bubbling mudpots/springs at Bumpass Hell near Lassen Peak. The dark areas are pyrite crystals floating on the stew!

The Present

Why do we so consistently underestimate progress?

Three reasons why a radically better future is more likely than we think.

The Future

Electric planes are coming: Get ready for battery-powered flights

Short-hop regional flights could be running on batteries in a few years.

High Culture

50 years ago, an artist convincingly exhibited a fake Iron Age civilization

The artifacts were often made from found objects – an Ivory dish-soap bottle transformed into an earthenware figure.

Strange Maps

One ship in two centuries: the strange tale of the SS Warrimoo

On New Year’s Eve 1899, the captain of this Pacific steamliner sailed into history. Or did he?

The Well

Humans are not “tribal”

From politics to culture, we blame “tribalism” for humanity’s problems. This explanation is entirely wrong.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

A magma chamber’s ebb and flow

nnIf you ever want your research to be picked up by the popular press, you pretty much need to publish in the journal Science. It (along with Nature) are seen […]