Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

Thanks a million!

Eruptions had hit the million mark. Thanks to everyone!

A brief, non-volcano-related note, but sometime between 12:30 and 1 PM EDT today, Eruptions will pass 1,000,000 page views since joining ScienceBlogs in March of 2009. I wanted to thank everyone who has made the blog such a fun thing to do and who pick up on reporting the events when I’m swamped. You’ve made it into a community of volcanophiles unto itself.

Now, back to the volcanoes!

a computer generated image of a human brain.

Thinking

The great free will debate featuring Michio Kaku and Steven Pinker

Who — or what — really controls your mind?

Building destroyed by the Halifax Explosion. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C.

The Past

The largest accidental explosion of all time

More than a century ago, Halifax suffered an accidental blast one-fifth the size of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima.

a collage of photos of a man with a hat and a book.

High Culture

6 great books with wildly unreliable narrators

Dive into the twisted truths and concealed realities told by literature’s most unreliable narrators.

a group of five matches on a pink background.

The Well

Signs you’re burned out — and how to bounce back

If you don’t feel better after the weekend, the “burnout paradox” could explain why.

▸

7 min

—

with

Laurie Santos

Starts With A Bang

The trick to instantly identifying JWST images

If you can identify a foreground star, the spike patterns are a dead giveaway as to whether it’s a JWST image or any other observatory.

Up Next

Guest Thinkers

Threat of Icelandic ash closes airspace over Europe

The eruption we’ve been following for weeks in Iceland has now begun to disrupt life in Europe, as the ash from the new explosive phase has closed airspace over much of northern Europe.