Cat-Ice Most topics we explore in this project have a significant background of research. Some subjects have such an extensive knowledge base that distilling them into a readable chunk is a laborious exercise in curation. Periodically, an issue pops up with scant information on the internet. This occurrence is a modern rarity; at this point, […]
The Green Parabola If any early humans or Neanderthals had turned their gaze to the cosmos 50,000 years ago, they might have been treated to a rarity. If, however, no one happened to catch the streaking sky-body 50 millennia ago, it’s possible that today’s humans will be the first to ever spy a comet that
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Fission, Fusion, Hot and Cold It’s always a great episode when we get to open with a clip from Back to the Future. In the final scene from the 1985 film, Christopher Lloyd’s Doc Brown arrives from 2015 to take Marty McFly and Jennifer Parker back to the future. As he attempts to wrangle the surprised
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The Liquid Rainbow The Andes dominate the western portion of South America, forming a continent-long spine of gnarly mountains. In Colombia, near the northern reaches of the Andes, another range sits just 25 miles to the east. The Serranía de la Macarena run for 75 miles north-to-south and stretch just 20 miles in width. The tallest
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Christmas Trees Perhaps the ubiquity of Christmas ubiquities is the tree that many celebrants add to their homes to decorate during the season. Raising plants indoors is not an oddity, but purchasing a sizable tree to move into one’s abode seems a bit out of the ordinary. How did we begin to string lights, toss
Mt. Marcy – New York’s High Point Northeastern New York is dominated by the Adirondack Mountains. Of the hundreds of summits that rise from the massif, none stretches higher into the sky than Mount Marcy. With an elevation of 5,344 feet above sea level, Marcy clocks in at 21st on the list of state High Points; it’s also the
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The Sun Queen It is the things supposed to be impossible that interest me. I like to do things they say cannot be done. — Mária Telkes Aladar Telkes and Maria Laban de Telkes welcomed a daughter to the world on 12 December 1900 in Budapest, at the time part of Austria-Hungary. The Telkes did
The Mingan Sorcerer The timescales of geology are fickle artists. Some of the planet’s great features require millions of years to craft; other spots arise in the blink of a universal eye. Of course, on human scales, both these poles are unfathomably large. On the northern shores of the Gulf of St. Lawrence in Quebec, a master
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The Slow Loris Its life is not a happy one, for it is continually seeing ghosts; that is why it hides its face in its hands. — Daniel Giraud Elliot When it comes to cute and funny animals on the internet, cats and dogs easily rule the charts; occasionally, parrots, rabbits, and otters bubble up. Every so often,
Geomythology and the Fimbulwinter Then snow will drift from all directions.There will then be great frosts and keen winds.The sun will do no good.There will be three of these winters togetherand no summer in between. — Snorri Sturluson, Poetic Edda The notion of a myth contains denotative undertones of untruth. Often, supernatural entities or events mold
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