Emily Thomas, The Conversation
Mountains. Whales. The distant stars. All these things exist in space, and so do we. Our bodies take up a certain amount of space. When we walk to work, we are moving through space. But what is space? Is it even an actual, physical entity? In 1717, a battle was waged over this question. Exactly 300 years later, it continues.
Kimberly McCoy, Scientific American
The amount of waste that I have seen generated in a scientific laboratory would make Al Gore cry.On a daily basis, scientists use and then dispose of plastic tubes, gloves and pipette tips, all destined for the landfill. A pilot study conducted by students at McGill University estimated that labs on their campus generate 100 tons of plastic waste and 275 tons of glass every yearand there are more than 300 research universities in the United States alone.
David Benatar, Aeon Magazine
In 2006, I published a book called Better Never to Have Been. I argued that coming into existence is always a serious harm. People should never, under any circumstance, procreate a position called anti-natalism'. In response, readers wrote letters of appreciation, support and, of course, there was outrage. But I also got this message, which is the most wrenching feedback I have received:
Ed Yong, The Atlantic
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) keeps a Most Wanted list for flu viruses. The agency evaluates every potentially dangerous strain, and gives them two scores out of 10one reflecting how likely they are to trigger a pandemic, and another that measures how bad that pandemic would be. At the top of the list, with scores of 6.5 for emergence and 7.5 for impact, is H7N9.
Ethan Siegel, Forbes
Put a human being up in space, away from the gravitational bonds of the surface of the Earth, and they'll experience weightlessness. Although all the masses in the Universe are still pulling on them gravitationally, they pull on whatever spaceship you're in equally, too, and so you float.
