Surprising Science — April 15, 2010

Solar Power

Using instruments in space and on the ground, Scientists have developed the most complete picture yet of how large solar eruptions affect the Earth.

bigthinkeditor

Using instruments in space and on the ground, Scientists have developed the most complete picture yet of how large solar eruptions affect the Earth. These eruptions, known as Coronal mass ejections (CMEs), can lead to displays of the northern and southern lights on Earth, but also can cause power outages on the ground, interference with communications and damage to Earth-orbiting satellites, as well as being a possible health risk to space-walking astronauts.

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.

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7 min

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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

Culture & Religion

Drinking With Dickens

If Christopher Hitchens were to spend “a long and arduous evening in the alehouses and outer purlieus” of 19th Century London, he’d want to be doing it in the company of Charles Dickens.