A physicist argues we shouldn’t try to contact alien life — who knows what the reaction will be (see, for example, Battleship)? And if some astrophysicist or amateur scientist makes contact, what’s to stop them presenting themselves as speaking for the human race?
A journalist argues that we should accept UFOs are real, physical things (as opposed to “real but just a trick of the light”), though not necessarily spaceships.
Here’s a lost of America’s more prominent UFO sightings. And some naval aviators say they see them every day. A fair number of officials in DC are believers, or at least interested enough to push for investigations. But a recent documentary claims the evidence for UFOs is just a government psy-op. A federal report comes to no definite conclusions about UFOs, but does suggest they are physical objects. But both skeptics and believers agree that talking about it openly is a good thing.
Some scientists say the art of creating crop circles is worthy of serious study, but the UFO association makes that hard.
Are conflicts over “trash fish” surrogates for conflicts over Native American rights?
Speaking of right, here’s how race, oyster fishing and pollution intersect.
Argentinian developers turned wetlands into an upscale gated community. The capybara are fighting back.
The power of seaweed to fight global warming.
Dubai promised to plan one million trees. The reality is less impressive.
Is it sustainable farming if nobody can afford the food?
San Francisco International Airport is saving a snake from extinction.
Beavers have returned to Scotland.
I’ve written before about the problems of relying on algorithms to make judgment calls (also see here). The AP says ShotSpotter software, designed to identify and locate gunshots, is another example: not always accurate, the company won’t let anyone analyze its programs and the techs are willing to rewrite reports if police say the gunshot happened somewhere else.
Well, that’s just the best new (he said sarcastically). The first responders of 9/11 may be slipping into dementia at a much accelerated rate due to the chemicals they were exposed to. But until there’s hard confirmation via research, the responders’ health fund won’t cover it.
#SFWApro. Cover by Gene Colan (t) and Curt Swan (b). All rights to images remain with current holders.
