Comments on Recent News

News of science and technology and their policy and social impacts comes in many venues.  I read the prime science journals, Science and Nature, as well as society journals and feeds (Physics Today, Eos Buzz), popular magazines, and online feeds.  I also keep up research with colleagues and publish with them at intervals.

The blog here is eclectic.  Most often, my entries are a hearkening back to mathematical and physical reality from accidentally or intentionally excessive claims.

Technology bound to fail – a satellite launcher

Spinlaunch is a company based in Sunnyvale, California.  They propose to start satellites on their journey to Low Earth Orbit ...

Zika not alone in affecting fetal brains

Fearsome flaviviruses: A very short note in a recent issue of Science (Vol. 359: 530, 2 Feb. 2018) cites a ...

Densified wood – stronger than steel (but…)

Densified wood: In a very recent issue of Nature (Vol 554: 224-228), authors Jianwei Song and others reported that they ...

Our brains got a lot of mutations while we were in utero

Mutations in our brains as they develop in our time as fetuses: In a very recent issue of Science (Vol ...

Proxima Centauri b – a habitable planet? (No)

Recently, astronomers using the European Southern Observatory telescope in northern Chile, detected a planet orbiting the star nearest to our ...

Making spider silk for fun and profit: worth it?

Company using microbes to make spider silk garners $123,000,000 in venture capital. This is a story reported on the Tech ...

Kelp won’t save us, alas

19 October 2017.  National Geographic misses the math.  In the November 2017 issue you'll find a two-page spread entitled Kelp ...

Hydrogen-powered vehicles

15 October 2017.  The pros and cons of hydrogen-powered cars and trucks have been discussed over the years, so I'm ...

Unequal treaty

15 October 2017.  "Wisconsin enters into an unequal treaty with Foxconn."  That's the title of an incisive column by Prof ...

Nemo’s Garden

12 October 2017: comments on a proposal to farm regular food crops, such as vegetables, underwater.  It’s called Nemo’s Garden.  I give ...

The archive of all posts from this page is available (useful when more than 10 posts have been made); the full content of each blog is present there.