The Controversial Link Between Epic Storms and a Warming Arctic
It’s that time of the year again, when massive winter storms lash the eastern United States and your uncle posts on Facebook about how it proves climate change is a hoax. After all, why would you still need a good coat on a warming planet? The fallacy is, of course, that weather is not the…
The Cambridge Analytica Data Apocalypse Was Predicted in 2007
In the early 2000s, Alex Pentland was running the wearable computing group at the MIT Media Lab—the place where the ideas behind augmented reality and Fitbit-style fitness trackers got their start. Back then, it was still mostly folks wearing computers in satchels and cameras on their heads. “They were basically cell phones, except we had…
When Modeling the Mississippi River, a Supercomputer Won't Do
The Mississippi River—it’s a big deal, OK? The combined ports of South Louisiana and New Orleans move more cargo, ton for ton, than any other US port. So figuring out the Mississippi’s hydrodynamics—the way its water, silt, and sand ebb and flow—matters. Matters so much, in fact, that Louisiana has dropped $18 million on a…
What Happens Now? Studies of Sexual Harassment Can Show the Way
Academics have been cast in a slow-motion horror movie for the past couple of years, as superstar scientist after superstar scientist has been pushed from his pedestal for allegations of sexual harassment. Societies and universities have tried to determine what to do—academe-style fixes like panels, workshops, and policies. None of that ivory-tower work cued the…
In the Courtroom, Climate Science Needs Substance—and Style
Chevron would like you to know that it believes in climate change. It also believes people cause it by burning carbon-based fuel—the kind Chevron extracts from the ground, refines, and sells. In fact, Chevron believes all this so hard that today its lawyer said so, in a federal court in San Francisco. Intergovernmental Panel on…
AI Algorithms Are Now Shockingly Good at Doing Science
No human, or team of humans, could possibly keep up with the avalanche of information produced by many of today’s physics and astronomy experiments. Some of them record terabytes of data every day—and the torrent is only increasing. The Square Kilometer Array, a radio telescope slated to switch on in the mid-2020s, will generate about…
Apple's Heart Study Is the Biggest Ever, But With a Catch
Last November, Apple Watch owners began receiving recruitment emails from Apple. The company was looking for owners of its smartwatch to participate in the Apple Heart Study—a Stanford-led investigation into the wearable's ability to sense irregular heart rhythms. Joining was simple: Install an app and wear your watch. If the watch's optical sensors detected an…
Jargon Watch: Silicages Could Make Gene Therapy Less Risky
Silicage ('sil-i-'kāj)n. A nanostructure made of silica that may provide a safer carrier for gene therapy. Viruses are nature’s Trojan horses—they replicate by smuggling their genes into a host’s cells, turning them into mini virus factories. So in the late ’80s, researchers got the clever idea of sucking out the viral innards and inserting good…
How to Easily Locate the Accelerometer in an iPhone
Everyone should probably know that I'm obsessed with both physics and smart phones. If I can use my phone for a physics experiment, I'm good to go. That's exactly what I am going to do right now—use some physics to find the location of the accelerometer in the iPhone 7. Your smart phone has a…
Tonight: Watch SpaceX Try to Land Its First Rocket on California Soil
For the first time since July 25, a Falcon 9 sits perched atop SpaceX’s California launch pad, ready to fly. Its mission: to deposit an Argentinean Earth-observing satellite, dubbed SAOCOMM-1A, into orbit. What’s new with this flight is that SpaceX will attempt to have the rocket touch down in the middle of a new landing…