Originally published on Smithsonian.com, January 19, 2016 Taylor Myers thinks he has a green solution for America, one that advocates say can lower the average household’s carbon footprint of some 50 tons per year by three to four tons. A wood stove, lowering a person’s carbon footprint? The idea is befuddling. A wood stove provides … Continue Reading
Originally published in SPS Observer, summer 2016 Neil Turok, to hear him tell it, has always been a rebel. As a student in primary school in Tanzania, Turok says he had teachers who encouraged learning by doing, “going outside as much as possible, making electric motors, taking apart cars.” So when he moved to London … Continue Reading
Originally published in Inside Unmanned Systems, May 2016 Cloud-Map, a joint project of four Midwestern universities supported by the National Science Foundation, aims to triple the warning time for tornadoes—as well as generally improve weather predictions nationwide—with a network of drones that measure temperature, pressure and humidity in the hard-to-study air directly above the Earth’s … Continue Reading
Originally published in National Geographic News, July 22, 2015 Stranded jellyfish are common sights along beaches around the world. Some places can see up to a billion animals coating the sand. But beachgoers along the U.S. East Coast are running across a surprising sight this summer: thousands of knuckle-size, gelatinous blobs washing up from the … Continue Reading
Originally published in the Washington Post, April 17, 2015 Science fiction isn’t the only source of comically weird predictions about what we’ll be eating in the future. Great (and not-so-great) minds in journalism and science have also spent a century forecasting the demise of meat and vegetables and the rise of foods in a pill … Continue Reading
YOU CAN’T SAY BILL MAHER IS AFRAID of offending people. After the “Real Time With Bill Maher” host’s broadcast show, “Politically Incorrect,” got pulled off the air after some of his post-9/11 comments, he took his political humor and commentary to a more receptive audience at HBO. But it’s stand-up Maher prefers. “Telling jokes to … Continue Reading
My apologies, readers (all four of you, anyway). Life, The Universe, and all that are conspiring to put this blog on ice for the time being. As much fun as it is to write, I just don’t have the time…Also, I really want to take some time to seriously think about what I want this … Continue Reading
I meant to do this last month, but please visit Life In A Bubble, the blog of a fellow former Minnesotan trying to break into journalism here in DC. I met Jessica at a women-only career seminar and totally understand how hard it is to do what she’s doing. So in the name of chicks … Continue Reading
The student editors of a University of Colorado newspaper were wrong to publish an opinion column written earlier this week that said all Asians hate white people and should be captured and “hog-tied,” CU officials said Wednesday. [DUH] [Original Column] Yeah, yeah, first amendment rights and freedom of speech…but I’ve always held the opinion that if … Continue Reading
Continuing the comments discussion from yesterday, Mindy McAdams’ 6 Tips for Comments on Stories and J-blogs says more than I ever could about comments. This is a great series of tips. Put the rules where everyone will see them. Check out Michelle Ferrier’s clever illustrated explanation of why this works. … Make the registration process … Continue Reading