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NASA's Administrator on 'Drunken Astronauts'

One final note on last week's story of astronauts and alcohol...and a reflection of the position in which NASA says it finds itself. You'll recall that when an outside panel, led by Col. Richard Bachmann of the U.S. Air Force...

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July 30, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (8)

Quest for Power

Stephen Ansolabehere, a political scientist at MIT, has done a survey of Americans' attitudes toward different sources of energy, and reports that oil has an image problem. "Americans now strongly wish to reduce the use of oil, and they view...

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July 25, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (9)

Rain and Climate

It's been raining, unusually hard, in several parts of the world--England, China, India, and parts of the U.S.--and, quite by coincidence, there is a paper coming in this Thursday's edition of the journal Nature, reporting that, "for the first time,...

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July 23, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (46)

The Sands of Mars

Mars has never been easy on the robots we have the temerity to send there. The temperatures occasionally rise above zero, but mostly it's frigid. The atmosphere, mostly carbon dioxide, is one percent as thick as ours. And the dust--there...

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July 20, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (2)

The "Hard Truths" About Oil

This may come as a surprise: some of America's biggest oil producers are calling for--take a deep breath now--oil conservation. "The world is not running out of energy resources," says a report chaired by executives of some of the world's...

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July 18, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (15)

Nuclear Power, Caught in an Earthquake

The earthquakes in Japan Monday were far away, but they sent shivers down more than a few spines here in the U.S. Among other things, there was the picture (click to enlarge) of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear plant, with smoke coming...

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July 17, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (8)

After The Storm

Late today the chairs of two House subcommittees let it be known that they're getting into the mess over the ouster of Bill Proenza, the head of the National Hurricane Center. According to their joint press release, "the U.S. House...

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July 13, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (13)

And Now, the Lawsuits

You knew this would happen. Andrew Speaker, the TB patient who flew to Europe and back after being told he was ill, is being sued in Canadian court for $1.3 million by eight passengers who were on the same flight...

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July 12, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (38)

Secrets of the Chinese Navy

The Chinese Jin-class submarine, spotted on Google Earth near the Chinese city of Dalian by Hans Kristensen of the Federation of American Scientists, continues to intrigue. Thanks to all who weighed in. One person, who gave his name as Steven...

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July 9, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (16)

The Jin-Class Submarine

The U.S., constantly wary of Chinese military might, knew China was developing a new submarine that could carry nuclear missiles. It was called JIN-class, or Type 094. Now an image of it, according to Hans M. Kristensen of the Federation...

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July 5, 2007 | Permalink | User Comments (69)