Author Archives: admin

Dissing Miss Universe Nicaragua’s dictator goes after Miss Universe Pageant participants are the latest victims of Daniel Ortega’s authoritarian regime Few people would perceive a 23-year-old bikini and ball-gown model as a political menace. Yet the crowning of Sheynnis Palacios, a … Continue reading →

Why do Nvidia’s chips dominate the AI market? The firm has three big advantages image: Philip Cheung/the new york times/redux/eyevine Feb 27th 2024 ECONOMIST  No other firm has benefited from the boom in artificial intelligence (ai) as much as Nvidia. Since … Continue reading →

This Inca girl was frozen for 500 years. She just got a new face. The mummified remains of the Ice Maiden of Ampato—a child sacrifice victim—were stunningly preserved. Now, archaeology and science have restored her gaze. The 14-year-old Ice Maiden … Continue reading →

What really caused the collapse of the Maya civilization? Power struggles? Drought? Overpopulation? Whatever happened to the Maya remains a mystery—with clues hidden in the jungle. TEMPLE IN TIKAL Above the thick tree roots of the Petén jungle rises Temple … Continue reading →

Life Cycle of a Star All stars form in nebulae, which are huge clouds of gas and dust. Though they shine for many thousands, and even millions of years, stars do not last forever. The changes that occur in a star over time … Continue reading →

SOUTH PACIFIC – SUMMARY Two options: 1. Independent. My trip route (Dec 8-Jan 10): Brisbane, Solomon Islands, Vanuatu, Fiji, Tuvalu, Tonga, Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati, Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Honolulu. 2. Young Pioneers Tours Least Visited Countries Tour. December 15th, 2023-January 13th, … Continue reading →

Fiji is a Melanesian country about one-third of the way from New Zealand to Hawaii and consists of an archipelago of 332 islands, a handful of which make up most of the land area, and approximately 110 of which are inhabited. Fiji straddles the … Continue reading →

It is the colours of a sunset that inspire Joseph Anderson, an astronomer at the European Southern Observatory (eso) in the high Atacama desert, in northern Chile. “They start off very blue and turquoise. And gradually, as it gets more purple, … Continue reading →

At last, a convincing explanation for America’s drug-death crisis There is a more plausible cause than despair It is hard to overstate the impact of America’s fentanyl epidemic. The synthetic opioid and its close chemical relatives were involved in about 70% … Continue reading →

Dimming the sun Solar geoengineering is becoming a respectable idea One way to fix an accidentally altered climate is to alter it again deliberately What a difference a decade makes. That, roughly, is how often the Open Science Conference, run by … Continue reading →