To teach in the time of ChatGPT is to know pain
I’ve been teaching college Earth science courses as a part-time faculty member for a long time now, all while juggling other jobs. I started because it was enjoyable; no one…
Shock from Iran war has Trump’s vision for US energy dominance flailing
In President Donald Trump’s telling, the United States has fuel enough to hover above the chaos that his attack on Iran has triggered in global energy markets. “We’re in great…
How to start metal detecting
It’s been called “dirt fishing,” “beach scooping” and “relic hunting,” but no matter what you choose to call it, you’ll almost always see someone with a metal detector scanning the…
How to stop your smart TV from tracking you
Most of the tech you use each day tracks you—whether it’s to target ads at you or to make sure your smart lights come on when you walk in the…
Four astronauts are back home after a daring ride around the Moon
Slamming into the atmosphere at more than 30 times the speed of sound, NASA’s Orion spacecraft blazed a trail over the Pacific Ocean on Friday, returning home with four astronauts…
New paper argues history, not mantle plume, powers Yellowstone
North America wouldn’t look much like it currently does without a tectonic plate that has largely been lost to the Earth’s geological history. The Farallon plate, which has since largely…
“Oobleck” still holds some surprises
Mixing corn starch and water in appropriate amounts produces a slurry that is liquid when stirred slowly but hardens when you punch it—a substance colorfully dubbed “oobleck.” (The name derives…
Oldest octopus fossil found to not be an octopusÂ
Pohlsepia mazonensis, a visually underwhelming fossil from Illinois, fundamentally broke our understanding of cephalopod evolution. Described in 2000 and hailed as the oldest known octopus in the fossil record, the…
Robot birds deployed in Grand Teton National Park for sexy time
Spring is here, and that can only mean one thing: the return of robot birds. In Wyoming’s Grand Teton National Park, rangers and conservationists are once again deploying specially designed…
Orion helium leak no threat to Artemis II reentry, but will require redesign
Apart from pesky issues with the spacecraft’s toilet and waste disposal system, most of the Artemis II mission has proceeded like clockwork. NASA has made few changes to the flight…