August 29, 2014

“Pardon The Appearance of Our Lawns”: California’s Massive Drought

It’s not looking good in the Golden State right now:

According to the U.S. Drought Monitor (shown below), the entire state is currently experiencing at least “moderate drought,” with 95% feeling the effects of “severe drought.”

At the beginning of the calendar year, only 27% of Californians lived in an area of “extreme drought,” the second more dire category. That number is up to 82% today.

“Exceptional drought,” the highest register of dryness, afflicts 58% of the state. That percentage was zero on January 1.

So yes, excuse their lawns. They’ve got other things to worry about.

(Click image for higher res)

Photo credit: Kevin Cortopassi / Flickr

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.

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Starts With A Bang

Throwback Thursday: Back-to-school advice for STEM students

What every middle-to-high schooler should know. Image credit: Bayside STEM academy, via Stanford at https://ed.stanford.edu/news/new-design-thinking-curriculum-targets-middle-school-students. “Education is an admirable thing, but it is well to remember from time to time […]