How do things move? At first glance this may not seem to be a problem. We tend to take motion for granted. But a long-standing mystery lies behind it. Now new answers are becoming clear, with cutting-edge insights into the nature of space and time and matter. Philosophy and physics have long studied motion (aka […]
What is time? This is the central mystery of physics. One might think that physics would give a clear answer. Not so. Although most physics is about change, it has lost touch with time. Indeed physics now cloaks time in myths. Let’s see what we can find behind them. British physicist Edward Anderson says: ‘The […]
Good news for India and for science: welcome to a new sophisticated telescope called Astrosat. The India Space Research Organization (ISRO) designed and built it. Launched a month ago on India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, it is now in its 400-mile high orbit over the equator. Astrosat has new […]
We can find fundamental physics while meditating in unlikely places. My wife’s father had a fishing camp on a small island in a lake. He died when she was young. His remains lie in a village cemetery by a sandy track amid boreal forest. It is a lovely place. We visit it from time to […]
Here’s a great DNA-detective story. It involves gene surgery in plants that will soon be saving lives. And it has a surprise ending. Many people owe their lives to the humble Himalayan mayapple. Its leaves contain a substance (podophyllotoxin) that inhibits cell growth. Would be great for stopping cancer but it is too toxic. However, […]
Strategy—as I use the term—is all about survival in a situation. So much of what we know of it relates to war. But the world has many other life-and-death situations. Seeing them through the eyes of those who choose to live can cast new light on complex questions. Recent news gives us an example: Why […]
Last year I wrote of visiting the Nikola Tesla Museum. This year we went again and found good news. Let’s set the scene. Nikola Tesla, for those who may have been raised on a restricted diet of Thomas Edison, is the Serbian inventor who really did bring light to the world with major innovations. George […]
Strategy (in its strict sense) is about survival in a situation. I have studied it for forty years. The Syrian situation seems to center on Bashar al-Assad’s survival. Now Russian President Vladimir Putin—also a survivor—is making a move. The news says Russia is flying planes and tanks and troops into Latakia, a port city in […]
This week we venture into mathematical philosophy to shine a light on some long-standing mind benders that maybe we can now resolve. And they turn out to be profoundly practical. Does infinity exist or is it a figment of imagination? Are numbers a property of the universe that we discover or are they ideas we […]