Since Barack Obama became President, I’ve beaten up on him for being so hawkish, for perpetuating U.S. militarism–and hence militarism in general—as a way to solve conflicts. In a major speech yesterday at the National Defense University in McNair, Virginia, Obama took a few tiny steps toward becoming the Peace President many voters hoped he [...]

Enough wind energy to power about 85,000 homes in Pacific Northwest each month could be stored in porous rocks deep underground for later use, according to a new, comprehensive study. Researchers at the Department of Energy’s Pacific Northwest National Laboratory and Bonneville Power Administration identified two unique methods for this energy storage approach and two eastern Washington locations to put them into practice. Read more »

Lego's life-size X-wing fighter Dan Bracaglia 5.3 million: the number of Lego bricks used to build the world's largest Lego model, a life-size X-wing fighter complete with Lego Luke Skywalker 40,000: the planned population for Masdar City, a solar-powered eco-metropolis in the middle of the Arabian desert and the world's most ambitious eco-city 15 days: the time it took the journal Cell to accept and publish last week's study on the first cloned human embryo. An anonymous online […]

20 White Wines In 20 Flavors Sean Seidell Or, how to get smashed with class So you're about to order a bottle of tasty white wine! Do you want dry, very dry, or off-dry? And what ratio of melon-ness to butterscotch-ness do you want? What about saltiness? Stonefruit-ness? If you don't know, your waiter will look at you through eyes swollen with pity; your date will excuse him/herself and climb for freedom through a bathroom window; you will be left alone, with only a middling bottle by your […]

36 years ago, a brief radio signal was detected by an observatory in Ohio. Could it have been an extraterrestrial transmission? Continue reading →