Danish Protest Pigs It’s no revelation that the history of Europe is complex. The countries we see today are just the latest configuration of a jigsaw puzzle that has altered shapes and piece totals over thousands of years. If anything, today’s map is relatively uncomplicated compared to centuries past, before nation-states existed and tiny kingdoms, […]
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The Red Beach of Hormuz Perhaps the most recognizable macro features of a map of the Middle East are the arms of water surrounding the Arabian Peninsula. Toward Africa, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden are separated by the Bab al-Mandab Strait. On the eastern side are the Persian Gulf and the Gulf
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Taranaki Maunga, the Mountain Person New Zealand is a nation of two main islands, north and south. Though the South Island contains the country’s 18 tallest peaks, the North Island packs a few skyscrapers. Top in the north is Ruapehu, which rises 9,177 feet (2,797 meters) above sea level. The second-highest peak on the North
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Schrödinger’s Grand Canyons of the Moon Erwin Schrödinger is best known to the modern layperson for his eponymous, feline thought experiment. Schrödinger’s cat was designed during a conversation he had with Albert Einstein, about potential paradoxes that arise with certain interpretations of quantum mechanics. Inside a box is a kitty, a vial of poison, a radioactive
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Vinson Massif – Antarctica’s High Point Earth’s basement – Antarctica – is most famous for the South Pole and being extraordinarily cold. The pole put a massive target on the continent for adventurers, leading to the Heroic Age of Antarctic Exploration. The planet’s harshest climate caused those explorations to be rather gnarly. One of the two expeditions that
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Lady Tasting Tea A statistician, a biochemist, and a phycologist walk into a teahouse… This setup sounds like the start of a science joke. Instead, it’s a real-life scenario that showcased a potential superpower (using the term lightly) and set the stage for modern statistics. In the early 1920s, a phycologist – someone who studies
Santa Ana Winds In January 2025, wildfires devastated residential areas of southern California. According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, as of 27 January, four distinct fires have killed 28 people, forced 200,000 to evacuate, and damaged 16,000 structures over 57,000 acres. The scale and intensity of this disaster is difficult to fathom but
Adiabatic Heating Furnace Creek at Death Valley National Park holds the record for hottest place on Earth. In 1913, the spot hit 134 degrees Fahrenheit! The park is home to Badwater Basin, the lowest point in North America, which is 282 feet below sea level. Death Valley is just 85 miles from Mount Whitney, the High
Katabatic Winds What is wind? The question seems simple, but I cannot recall learning about this topic in science classes in school. In simplest terms, wind is the movement of air. But why does air move? What causes wind? The simple concept bleeds into complexity rather quickly, as new questions emerge. Wind occurs because of
