Grades 9-12 - Science and Technology

  • Large truck with crane scooping dark mud from a large plot of brown earth, green grass in background
    Tar sands = Clean oil?

    Canada’s oil-drenched sands are the second-largest oil reserves. Using the “tar sands” pollutes air and water, destroys forests and boosts global warming. A good idea?


    Thursday, October 29th, 2009
  • Scraps of ancient textiles found
    Scraps of ancient textiles found

    Flax, the basis for linen, was spun and dyed, and lost in the mud. More than 30,000 years later, microscopic flax fibers provide the first cord in archeological history.


    Thursday, September 10th, 2009
  • Fabrication, falsification, ghostwriting, data mining, cherry picking, plagiarism, data massaging
    Phony science

    Fraud happens. In a 2009 survey, 2 percent of scientists admitted faking data; 14 percent said colleagues have done it. Problems worst in drug and other medical studies.


    Thursday, June 4th, 2009
  • Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrate eating — and food.

    Happy Thanksgiving! We celebrate eating — and food. Hungry: Is that your “food clock” ringing? Why does a fruitfly need to smell? How does bitter taste to you? And could eating MSG make you fat?


    Thursday, November 20th, 2008
  • Green as a garbage dump? Waste rots, makes energy…

    Decay is part of life, and death. When garbage decays in a landfill, or manure decays in a tank, the result is methane. Is this natural gas a problem — or an opportunity?


    Thursday, November 6th, 2008
  • Running short of copper, phosphorus, rare elements

    We need elements. Without phosphorus fertilizer, millions would starve. A shortage of copper means a shortage of electricity. And we’re importing more than 95% of the “rare-earth” elements needed for LCDs, cell phones and green energy. Is this smart?


    Thursday, September 11th, 2008
  • Questioning candidates
    Questioning candidates

    The candidates are skirting issues related to environment, energy and science policy. Heard promising plans for greener energy, solid science advice, or coping with the decline of oil? We neither…


    Thursday, August 28th, 2008
  • Mechanical mouth makes debut

    To measure the molecules that give food taste, you need a standardized eating machine. One has finally arrived, courtesy of food technologists in France (of all places!). Meet the mechanical masticator!


    Thursday, May 15th, 2008
  • Reprocessing nuclear fuel: A cure that’s worse than the disease?

    With the Nevada waste dump 20 years late, deadly radwaste still piles up. Would removing the plutonium for new fuel aid proliferators or help with waste storage? The debate continues.


    Thursday, February 28th, 2008
  • Political equation (1) Election + science = ?

    Use a cellphone? Love nature? Fear cancer? Then how can you hate science? Epidemics, environment, technology: We’ve got questions for the marathoners running (still?) for prexydent.


    Thursday, February 14th, 2008


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