Fireside Chat Gravity: The Reckoning From black holes to landing a rover on Mars, gravity is the essential consideration. Gravity is not a classical force like magnetism. Newton described the behavior of objects subject to gravity, but did not describe its nature. Einstein showed mathematically that gravity is mass/energy distorting spacetime. Accordingly, gravity is now […]

Graphic: The Emberá Comarca of Eastern Panama within the red circle   Henupoto Wara: Supernatural Anti-Hero of the Mythical Past   The Emberá, a tropical lowland tribe of the Darién rain forest of Eastern Panama and the Pacific coastal lowlands of Colombia, have a strong tradition of telling detailed stories about animals, spirits, and demons […]

A few of my favorite hemes.  The "heme cofactor" is familiar to us as the part of hemoglobin where oxygen attaches for transport through blood. It lends blood its characteristic color. However, the heme unit is a versatile part of many biological functions. It participates in the metabolism of perceived toxins by the liver, in […]

Niels Henrik David Bohr 1885 – 1962. Danish physicist who made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922.     Understanding Science Particle Physics: The Search for the Smallest of Things   Only a century ago, while the concept of an irreducible […]

The recent state-wide cold snap that left many Texans without electricity and water seems like a good time to consider Kim Stanley Robinson's book The Ministry for the Future.      This book is disaster novel wrapped loosely around a series of essays, stories, metaphors, reports and commentaries about economics, politics and social inequality. The […]