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Hurricane in Space

The cloud tops of Hurricane Ike hardly reach that high, but as the storm closes in on the Texas coast, its effects have already been felt 220 miles up. Even NASA knows better than to mess with Ike. Mission control...

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September 11, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (14)

The Psychology of Hadrons

The Large Hadron Collider in the Alps has not destroyed the local universe yet. But whatever it does for physics, it's also become a giant social experiment. Is it dangerous? You can't see the subatomic particles it smashes; you can't...

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September 10, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (92)

Hot Wheels

From 1999 to 2006, Honda made an odd little two-seater hybrid car called the Insight. It got 60 miles a gallon but didn't sell. It was too slow to be a sports car, too small to be a family car,...

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September 10, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (12)

'Nature Is Not a Liberal Plot'

The New York Times has posted an op-ed piece on its Web site that begins this way: "As Republicans prepare to begin a second term in control of Congress, a deep skepticism exists in the electorate about the party's commitment...

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September 8, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (49)

Burn, Baby, Burn

If you run a coal-fired power plant and you (or your government) worry about the carbon dioxide, the holy grail is carbon capture--getting the CO2 before it gets into the atmosphere, and pumping it into the ground or getting rid...

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September 8, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (8)

It's Not Your Imagination: Hurricanes Getting Stronger

In 2005 -- right, by coincidence, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina -- two major research papers came out suggesting that hurricanes were being strengthened by global climate change. There was a great deal of hubbub and debate; some researchers...

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September 3, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (42)