Written by Ron Clutz
The Closing of the Scientific Mind is a plea for scientists to celebrate and enhance humanity rather than belittle human life. Author David Gelernter is a professor of computer science at Yale. His book Subjectivism: The Mind from Inside will be published by Norton later this year. Excerpts below.
Written by John Kemp
The probability of El Nino, a warming of ocean surface temperatures in the eastern and central Pacific, developing this year has been downgraded by U.S. government forecasters as sea surface temperatures and wind speeds in the area remain close to their long-term averages.
Written by Leah Crane
A long-dormant plan for a space station built in space from recycled parts may be getting new legs. NASA has signed an estimated $10 million contract to study the possibility of turning used rocket stages into functioning labs with support for a crew.
Written by Andrew Follett
New data from the Curiosity rover suggests Mars could have been habitable in the distant past.
Written by Sarah Kaplan
Albert Einstein himself believed it couldn’t be done.
A few decades after he published his theory of general relativity, a colleague asked the famous physicist whether the concept could be used to calculate the weight of a star.
Written by Sarah Lewin
Millions of people intend to watch the 2017 total solar eclipse, which will cross the continental U.S. on Aug. 21. Here’s how NASA scientists figure out exactly where the moon’s shadow will fall on the surface of the Earth, down to the city block.
Written by Mike Wehner
The fictional concept that the government controls the weather has been a staple of tinfoil hat conspiracy theorists for decades, but a NASA experiment taking place tonight will turn that far-flung theory into reality, if only for a moment.
Written by Chris White
Nearly 15,000 companies tested in 28 cities across China are failing basic environmental standards, according to the communist country’s state-run media.
Written by Hannah Osborne
Scientists have discovered a population of “super corals” that appear to have become resistant to extreme environmental conditions—being able to survive and thrive in hot, acidic and low-oxygen waters.
Written by Cale Guthrie Weissman
Inside the New York Times‘ towering building in Midtown Manhattan, just off Times Square, sit 14 journalists whose primary role is to read and to click.
Written by Phys.org
Machine learning, the field that’s driving a revolution in artificial intelligence, has cemented its role in modern technology. Its tools and techniques have led to rapid improvements in everything from self-driving cars and speech recognition to the digital mastery of an ancient board game.
Written by Tony Heller
Climate experts continue to insist that Arctic sea ice is at a record low and declining.
Written by Alex Webb and Emily Chang
After years toiling away in secret on its car project, Apple Inc. Chief Executive Officer Tim Cook has for the first time laid out exactly what the company is up to in the automotive market: It’s concentrating on self-driving technology.
Written by Phys.org
An international group of scientists has found that Jupiter is the oldest planet in our solar system.
Written by Science Daily
Stars form from gas and dust floating in interstellar space. But, astronomers do not yet fully understand how it is possible to form the massive stars seen in space. One key issue is gas rotation.
Written by Andrew Follett
Most global climate models are underestimating increased rainfall caused by global warming, according to a study released Monday.