The unknown frightens us a whole lot more than the known – we can plan on how to deal with hazards we know about while the unknown leaves us unprepared. When my son was young, for example, he was afraid of the dark. Or, rather, he was frightened of the things he could not see [...]
Anniversaries are important dates. They mark the return of the Earth to its previous position against the firmament – the completion of a year – they give us the opportunity to reflect on events that were important in our lives, on their significance, and how these events have affected us. March 11 – this Sunday [...]
Two billion or so years ago there was a brief moment of time (geologically speaking) when nature managed to make something that would not be seen again until the middle of the last century – a natural nuclear reactor. Earlier and there wasn’t enough oxygen in the atmosphere to mobilize uranium (uranium is only soluble [...]
North American wolves were hunted to near-extinction because they preyed on livestock. In recent years, after decades of recovery efforts, wolves have again become plentiful enough in some areas that predation is again a concern – to stave off ranchers’ demands to hunt wolves in order to reduce the numbers of lost livestock, meat is [...]