Tag: Science

Academic Freedom Relegated to the Dustbin of History

Commentary The High Court Of Australia has now unanimously rendered its judgment in the Peter Ridd case. The facts of the Ridd case are well known. James Cook University sacked Peter Ridd, a physics professor, in 2018 for criticising his colleagues’ research on the preservation of the Great Barrier Reef. Professor Ridd went public with…


As Shatner Heads Toward the Stars, Visions of Space Collide

“Risk is our business,” James T. Kirk once said. “That’s what this starship is all about. That’s why we’re aboard her.” More than a half-century later, the performer who breathed life into the fabled Enterprise captain is, at age 90, making that kind of risk his own business and heading toward the stars under dramatically…


Big Picture, Big Data: Swiss Unveil VR Software of Universe

LAUSANNE, Switzerland—The final frontier has rarely seemed closer than this—at least virtually. Researchers at one of Switzerland’s top universities are releasing open-source beta software on Tuesday that allows for virtual visits through the cosmos including up to the International Space Station, past the Moon, Saturn or exoplanets, over galaxies, and well beyond. The program—called Virtual…


UN Biodiversity Conference Begins in China

Part One of the United Nations’ Biodiversity Conference is taking place this week in the city of Kunming in the country identified as the world’s largest polluter, the People’s Republic of China. Coming shortly before the United Nations’ scheduled Climate Change conference, the meeting takes place at a time when extinction rates among animals are…


Make Hydrogen in Summer to Power Britain in Winter, Networks Say

The UK could store enough power in underground reservoirs during the summer to get it through winter in the future, according to a report which backs hydrogen technology. The Energy Networks Association said that by using the spare electricity generated by wind and solar farms during the summer to create hydrogen, the UK can meet…


William Shatner’s Blue Origin Space Mission Delayed

By Entrepreneur Staff The launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard NS-18 vessel, which will be carrying actor William Shatner, was delayed one day due to weather. It was slated to depart Earth on Tuesday. Forecasted winds pushed the launch up to Wednesday at 8:30 a.m. In a Sunday press release, Blue Origin said, “As part…


Hearth Site in Utah Desert Reveals Human Tobacco Use 12,300 Years Ago

WASHINGTON—Scientists have unearthed evidence of a milestone in human culture—the earliest-known use of tobacco—in the remnants of a hearth built by early inhabitants of North America’s interior about 12,300 years ago in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert. Researchers discovered four charred seeds of a wild tobacco plant within the hearth contents, along with stone tools…


Energy From Bogs: Estonian Scientists Use Peat to Make Batteries

TARTU, Estonia—Peat, plentiful in bogs in northern Europe, could be used to make sodium-ion batteries cheaply for use in electric vehicles, scientists at an Estonian university say. Sodium-ion batteries, which do not contain relatively costly lithium, cobalt, or nickel, are one of the new technologies that battery makers are looking at as they seek alternatives…


Israeli Archaeologists Discover Ancient Winemaking Complex

YAVNE, Israel—Israeli archaeologists on Monday said they have unearthed a massive ancient winemaking complex dating back some 1,500 years. The complex, discovered in the central town of Yavne, includes five wine presses, warehouses, kilns for producing clay storage vessels, and tens of thousands of fragments and jars, they said. Israel’s Antiquities Authority said the discovery…


3 US-based Economists Awarded Nobel Prize for Research on Jobs

The 2021 Nobel Prize in economic sciences was awarded on Monday to three economists who managed to pioneer research that brought new insights into the labor market. Joshua Angrist, an American economist who works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Guido Imbens, a Dutch-born economist who works at Stanford University, jointly received half of the…