Science and Technology - Understandings about science and technology

  • Short of meds…
    Short of meds…

    When hospitals run out of anesthetics, antibiotics and cancer drugs, should we blame or thank the “gray-market”?


    Thursday, October 13th, 2011
  • Tsunami: The killer wave
    Tsunami: The killer wave

    After earthquakes caused horrific tsunamis in Sumatra and Japan, we wonder where tsunamis get their power, how warning systems work, and what’s left after the cataclysm.


    Thursday, March 17th, 2011
  • Science of spending
    Science of spending

    Marketers may try, but can they really coerce you to buy stuff you don’t need? To find out, join us for a meander through modern marketing. How do sound, scent and touch affect buying behavior? How are brands used and misused? And what can brand do for you as a consumer?


    Thursday, December 9th, 2010
  • 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
  • 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
  • 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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