Hard Science

Evolution exists and exerts itself in a different way than gravity does… because natural selection is an “algorithmic force.” 

So you think you’re “not a math person”? International Mathematical Olympiad coach Po-Shen Loh strongly disagrees.

Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society, offers an important 5-point plan for President Trump on space exploration and NASA’s budget.  

The European Geosciences Union predicts that over 70% of glacier volume in the Everest region could be lost by 2100. One man has engineered a solution so that life in these regions can go on.

Harvard scientists propose how mysterious Fast Radio Bursts from outer space could actually be powering the spacecrafts of an advanced alien civilization.

Ding-ding! Here’s round two of the viral Bill Nye vs. Tucker Carlson Fox News debate. The Science Guy replies, without interruptions, and makes Tucker Carlson an offer.

Are we alone in the universe? NASA’s exploration of TRAPPIST-1 has the potential to answer one of humanity’s deepest questions.

A new study tries to figure out who finds dark humor funny.

Natural “narrative selection” was key to turning insignificant apes (who had tools for 2 million years) into the species that now dominates the bio-sphere. 

How can we stop extinction? One solution scientists have been developing for decades is de-extinction — the process of resurrecting extinct species through genetic engineering.  

As its CEO, Bill Nye lays out the missions The Planetary Society would like to see NASA focus on over the next 20 years. NASA by nature goes where the future is, and Nye can’t help but think of another industry that should follow suit.

Disney does more than make cute movies. Researchers from its innovation branch want to turn your living room into a magnetic field. 

Glacier McGlacierface? Not likely. NASA has set some classy themes that will guide the naming of geographical features of Pluto and its moons.  

Elon Musk announces that SpaceX will fly two private citizens on a mission around the moon in 2018.

What happens up there directly affects life down here. From star-gazing to quantum mechanics, astronomy is one of humanity’s great thruster engines of innovation.

A “forbidden research” conference at MIT tackles areas of science constrained by ethical, cultural and institutional restrictions. 

Loop quantum gravity gets the ancient atomist back into the loop, showing how black holes might explode, and that the Big Bang might be a Big Bounce.   

There are many scientific explanations for ghost sightings. This is the first ever to involve CERN.   

Scientists release observation data from 1,600 stars in hopes the public can help find planets that orbit stars outside our solar system.

TRAPPIST-1 is 40 light years from Earth. It would take us millions of years to get there.   

Harvard scientists say they are two years away from creating a hybrid embryo with mammoth traits.

Bill Gates proposes an ingenious solution to the job losses from the coming automation.

We are what we are because of genes; we are who we are because of memes. Philosopher Daniel Dennett muses on an idea put forward by Richard Dawkins in 1976.

Creating a race of super soldiers is off the table, too.   

Churchill displays a surprising amount of knowledge on a question that we are still wrestling with. 

Time is this wild fourth dimension in nature, says Bill Nye. We depend on its neat measurements for survival – but subjectively it continues to elude us.

The causes of hit products are themselves uncausable. ‘Hit Makers’ by Derek Thompson explains why we know how to make songs, but not hits.  

The human mind is like a Turing machine, says Daniel Dennett. It’s made up of unthinking cogs – but when combined in the right order, their motion gives rise to consciousness.

Just as the collective ruckus of science deniers hits its peak, Netflix announces a date for ‘Bill Nye Saves the World’, a heroic new show that will answer the most pressing science questions of our era. 

Reading popular science articles is a fun pastime for many people, and can help everybody understand the world of science. But is there a downside to making this information so easy to understand?