Science, Spoken

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Darpa's Next Challenge? A Grueling Underground Journey May 15, 2018

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I can’t sit here and guarantee you a robot won’t take your job one day—capitalism kind of has a thing for automation. What I can tell you is that in the near future, robots will be doing jobs that no one wants to do. For instance, risking your life doing rescue operations after mining disasters. Which is why for its next robotics competition, Darpa is going underground, with the Darpa Subterranean Challenge.

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The Race to Save Arctic Cities As Permafrost Melts May 15, 2018

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This storyoriginally appeared on CityLaband is part of theClimate Deskcollaboration. In Russia, buildings are sagging and crumbling. In Greenland, a wildfire broke out last year. And in Alaska, entire villages may be relocated because the land upon which they’re built is no long trustworthy. All across the North, the very ground is changing, and the buildings and roads built upon the thawing permafrost are shifting and cracking.

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The Japanese Space Bots That Could Build ‘Moon Valley’ May 14, 2018

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On March 11, 2011, Kazuya Yoshida’s lab at Tohoku University in Japan started shaking. Things fell from the ceiling. The bookshelves collapsed. Off the coast of the city of Sendai, the ocean floor had ruptured, triggering a magnitude 9 earthquake and tsunami waves that inundated inland regions. Although it only lasted minutes, time seemed to dilate. When it was finally over, nearly 16,000 people were dead. For many of those left, there was no water, no power, no phone connection.

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Something's Off With the Turbolaser Shots in The Last Jedi May 14, 2018

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I have a problem: I can't stop analyzing Star Wars movies. On top of that, there is another issue. I've stated that the physics of a movie doesn't have to be absolutely correct—and I still believe that. And now, I am going to complain about some physics in Star Wars: The Last Jedi even though I said you shouldn't. But first, let me give you a couple of examples of bad physics that doesn't bother me. Consider an x-wing fighter flying near the Death Star.

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The Implacable Power of Volcanic Lava May 11, 2018

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In 1935, lava from an eruption of the volcano Mauna Loa, on the Big Island of Hawai’i, started oozing toward the Wailuku River, main source of water for the city of Hilo. This danger to the more than 15,000 residents of Hilo was exactly the opportunity that Thomas Jaggar, founder of the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, had been waiting for: to blow up a volcano. This isn’t as crazy as it sounds. Actually, no, it was crazy.

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Lots of Doctors Recommend Weed Without Understanding It May 11, 2018

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If you go to a doctor and ask them to recommend you medical marijuana, don’t expect them to fully understand how the drug works, both for you as an individual patient and in general as a therapy. Because no one really does. With more and more states legalizing marijuana for medical or recreational use, cannabis is shedding its stigma and entering the mainstream.

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The Research Behind Google's New Tools for Digital Well-Being May 10, 2018

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Google wants to help its users take back their time. On Tuesday at its annual developers conference, the company announced several new features designed to help people monitor and manage the time they spend on their devices. The goal: Help users understand their habits, control the demands technology places on their attention, and focus on what matters. "Helping people with their digital well-being is more important to us than ever," said vice president of product management Sameer Samat.

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The Physics of Swinging a Mass on a String for Fun May 10, 2018

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Occasionally there are physics lab demonstrations that I think are pretty awesome but that my students just think are "meh." This is one of those cases. The basic idea in this demo, which I used in my class at Southeastern Louisiana University, is to swing a mass around in a horizontal circle. But wait! There's a cooler part: By running the string through a vertical tube and attaching it to another mass, we can control the tension in the string. It's loads of fun.

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Troubled Times for Alternatives to Einstein’s Theory of Gravity May 09, 2018

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Miguel Zumalacárregui knows what it feels like when theories die. In September 2017, he was at the Institute for Theoretical Physics in Saclay, near Paris, to speak at a meeting about dark energy and modified gravity.

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A Tornado's Secret Sounds Could Reveal Where It'll Strike May 09, 2018

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Along with the roar of a grizzly bear and a crack of lightning, the sound of a tornado is among the most terrifying natural sounds on Earth. Depending on the twister and where you’re standing, it can sound like a hiss, a buzz, a rumble, or even a freight train. It’s the auditory manifestation of trouble. But tornadoes also seem to emit low-frequency sound waves called infrasound that the human ear can’t hear.

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