Blog 145. The Backyard Fence

In those neighborhoods where single-family houses still exist, back yards are usually fenced. So are some front yards. Why is this? What motivates us to put up fences when a once-popular western song was Don’t Fence Me In? Continue reading

Blog 143. Blaming the consequences of climate

We experience events, not the global situation, but the world seems simpler if we can trace each event to a cause. However, within a complex system, an event cannot be ascribed to a unique “cause.” Birds flock and fish school and the stock market tumbles due to the many interactions among the participating individuals. Continue reading

Blog 122. What’s driving us crazy?

I hear folks complain that the overload of information and change is driving us crazy. A phone call used to be a rare interruption. Now, even robo calls “reach out and touch someone.” Continue reading

Blog 113. Information, misinformation and survival

Scientific news magazines now feature articles that reach out, not only to scientists, but to the educated public.  The journal Physics Today, once of interest only to physicists, now has a section entitled People and History.  How come? Continue reading

Blog 112. A frosty morning for the New Year

Here’s a photo of a frosty holiday morning in California.  The frost illustrates the physics that determines the global climate.  And climate is but one of the current worries of scientific associations, who worry about a frosty government. Continue reading

Blog 109. Is clean coal clean?

The concept of “clean coal” has been newsworthy for a decade or more.  In 2009, Senators John Kerry (D-MS) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC) co-authored an op-ed in the New York Times, promoting renewable energy, nuclear energy, and “clean coal.”  Presidential candidate Trump touted “clean coal” during a debate.  Can coal, the dirtiest of fossil fuels, ever be made clean?  That’s seems as likely as senators of opposing parties learning to talk to each other again. Continue reading