Science

Science Vox

Why haven’t we found aliens yet?

This piece unpicks a recent scientific paper that offers a new slant on the Fermi paradox. The paradox addresses the apparent inconsistency in the vast scale of the universe and the lack of signs of life outside planet Earth. The new slant is in essence that we need to significantly adjust upwards the possibility that we are in fact alone and there is no paradox at all. The author quotes Carl Sagan in considering the implications of humanity’s solitude – “In all this vastness, there is no hint that help will come from elsewhere to save us from ourselves. The Earth is the only world known so far to harbor life..the Earth is where we make our stand.”

Aeon Science

What would it take to build a tower as high as outer space?

Such are the advances that have been made in structural engineering, that proposals now exist to create buildings that can reach space. For such “megastructures” to be viable however, we may need to look to the natural world for inspiration – perhaps even our own bodies, where an estimated 98% of atoms are replaced each year.

Science The Atlantic

When Your Child Is a Psychopath

A look at what can be done for children that display traits commonly associated with psychopaths. They do not feel the wrong of actions, though they might intellectually understand them – they Òknow the words but not the musicÓ. http://www.bit.ly/atlantic-psychopath

Climate Feedback Science

Analysis of “The Uninhabitable Earth”

Climate Feedback is a platform created by scientists to highlight inaccuracy in media coverage of climate change (often that put forward by climate change skeptics) – they invited 17 scientists to comment on the article in their analysis piece. New York Magazine has felt sufficiently stung by the response to republish their piece complete with annotations and sources (this is the version we share here).

New York Science

The Uninhabitable Earth

Published this month, The Uninhabitable Earth is apparently the most read article in New York Magazine’s history. The piece proposes that the impact of climate change will be felt far sooner and far more severely that people realise. The piece is of interest in its own right, but has also provoked a strong response in the scientific community, including many climate change scientists who believe it overstates the case in an unhelpful manner.

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