Friday, 25 May, 2012

After six decades, the Palestine-Israel stalemate seems hopeless. But could that very hopelessness be blocking a solution? A new study of people on both sides of the struggle shows that learning about the peaceful resolution of other intractable conflicts can increase their willingness to compromise – a key to peace.

If conflicts are more common near the equator, what will global warming affect do? A new study shows increases in conflict during el Niño periods — but only during the warm, dry part of the cycle, and only in places affected by these big climatic cycles.

Hitting the road? What could be more enlightening than gawking at a cave, exploring a desert, or eyeballing the largest telescope in the world? Need proof that science is not just books and websites or equations and software? Get moving!

Impacts and concussions can cause long-lasting, even permanent brain damage. Millions of Americans have traumatic brain injuries. Could experimental techniques help mice and people?

When big tech goes bad, we ask: How do engineers design fail-safe mechanisms for nuclear weapons, radioactive waste, spaceships?

Which came first: The empire or the administration? Conventional wisdom says the demands of empire led to the rise of bureaucracy. But a new study of six early states suggests that the specialization of power and function we call bureaucracy arises at the same time as the territorial expansion that leads to empire.

Underground nuclear tests have been the biggest roadblock to a comprehensive test ban. How are these explosions detected, and how reliably?

As missiles get faster, the Navy can’t continue to rely on dumb armor. What can ship designers learn from dirt and beanbags?

What would happen to the global climate after a nuclear war between India and Pakistan? Study says the planet would be dark and cool for 10 years. How much would food production decline?

20 years ago, ecotourism was promoted as a way to save natural systems, and the people who lived in them. We ask: Is ecotourism a force for good, or just another form of “greenwashing”?