Smog Covers China

January 3, 2017
Twenty-five cities across northern China are under red pollution alerts, the highest pollution warning in the Chinese system. Due to the thick haze, thousands of flights have been cancelled. Beijing is under a yellow alert, the second highest pollution warning... continued

North Carolina’s Electoral Process Akin to that of a Banana Republic, according to the Electoral Integrity Project

December 31, 2016
  The Electoral Integrity Project has released a scathing report on the state of the democratic process in North Carolina, likening the integrity of the state's electoral process to that of Cuba, Sierra Leone and Indonesia. According to EIP political... continued

The Site of the Legendary Camelot may have been Found

December 30, 2016
A retired expert on Arthurian literature has announced that he may have found the likely location of Camelot, the legendary castle and court that was home to King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table. Former Bangor University English... continued

Harnessing Collective Intelligence with Swarm Intelligence

December 28, 2016
We're all quite familiar with how intelligent an individual can be when compared to the thick-headedness that is often displayed by mob mentality, a phenomenon that can make the collective intelligence of groups appear to be a hopeless throwback to... continued

The World’s Smallest Snowman Wishes You Season’s Greetings

December 25, 2016
A researcher at Western University's Nanofabrication Facility in Ontario, Canada, has built the world's smallest snowman, measuring an extremely petite 3 microns tall. To put this in perspective, a human hair will typically be 50-75 microns (or micrometers) thick. The... continued

NOAA gives the North a Failing Grade in their Arctic Report Card

December 24, 2016
The National Atmospheric and Oceanic Administration has released its annual Arctic Report Card, assessing the state of the climate above 60º north, and region's grades are not good: higher temperatures, lower snow and ice cover, and alarming biological activity marred... continued

Déjà vu at the North Pole: Arctic Winter Rises Above Freezing Again

December 23, 2016
In what seems to be an encore to last winter's disturbing display, temperatures in the Arctic have once again risen above the freezing mark. According to The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, the average temperature for the Arctic winter is -40ºF... continued

Brazilian Megaliths Upend Modern Beliefs about the Amazon’s Indigenous Cultures

December 22, 2016
A circle of ancient megaliths that has been discovered in the jungle of the Amazon has been challenging the long-held assumption by archaeologists that the inhabitants there were simply tribes of hunter-gatherers. The granite stones, first uncovered in the 1990s,... continued

The Existence of Life on Earth may Depend on Quantum Processes

December 21, 2016
Despite the insistence of some physicists that quantum effects only affect things on an extremely small scale, new theories continue to be put forward that the smallest known processes may be responsible for some very, very big phenomena, ranging from... continued

Climate Watch Update: The Polar Vortex is Back and Extreme Winter Storms are Possible

December 20, 2016
The hottest November ever recorded in the arctic by far took place in 2016. The result of this is that the cold air that normally hangs over the high arctic has been pushed down into the northern half of the... continued