explanation

Libraries and long walks

An unnecessary problem

Scientists sometimes set themselves problems just to learn.

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Alternate methods

The answer or the process?

When there’s more than one way to get there, you have to choose.  This can be confusing or useful.

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A village in space

Interstellar genetics

A recent paper contemplates a very long voyage.

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How big is your village?

History gets more distant

An unexpected genetic revolution started about 1850.

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Thermodynamics is unfair

Cooling is hard

Why did air conditioning appear so long after fire?

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Photography: the hard part

Keeping track

It’s still the same task, digital or film.  And it is still not done well, sometimes at all, by most photographers.

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A cup of suns

The fixed stars, part III

Seeing the forest instead of the trees

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Saving the phenomena

Fixed stars, part II

The Middle Ages were a hotbed of astronomical controversy in Europe.

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A near miss

Fixed stars, part I

A star is coming very close to the Sun very soon, as distance and time go in astronomy.

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The discard pile

It didn’t work out

What is the use of scientific theories that aren’t right?

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