Guest Thinkers

“There is no room in the universe of Hawking or most other scientists for the activist God of the Bible.” Philosopher Julian Baggini charts the evolution of Western religion’s deity.

The benefits of keeping plants in living spaces have long been documented, both in science and in popular wisdom. But plants were not designed to handle, let alone counter, many […]

Associated Press’ standards editor Tom Kent says the war in Iraq is not over. Jim Romenesko posted a memo Kent distributed to AP staffers this week, instructing them not to […]

Not exactly volcanic, but… Not many details yet, but the USGS Earthquake list shows a M7.2 earthquake ~25-30 km from Christchurch, New Zealand. I’ll post more details as I find […]

THE Dean of Columbia’s School of Journalism recently bemoaned the lack of public broadcasting in the United States, and went on to argue that America needed its own version of […]

Activity at Sinabung continues to be a cause for concern as the volcano experienced another set of explosions overnight. Surono, head of the Indonesian Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation […]

“Culinary Luddism has come to involve more than just taste; it has also presented itself as a moral and political crusade—and it is here that I begin to back off,” says one historian.

“Colombia is no longer the most dangerous country in the Americas.” Government grants for would-be drug farmers and an increased provincial presence have stabilized many areas.

“Politicians don’t know the difference between a server and a waiter,” declared Andew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum, at Hybrid Reality’s recent salon on the emerging revolution in […]

It’s a good year to die. Right now—for the first time in 94 years—there’s no estate tax. So if something should happen to you, your beneficiaries won’t have to pay […]

It has come to a pretty pass indeed, when we have to rely on the New York Times to report a British political and media scandal, while much of the […]

An information-saturated society is going to notice plenty of weird correlations, like the Blade Runner curse or the unfortunate fate of American presidents elected in years that ended in a […]

Another oil rig has blown up in the Gulf of Mexico. The Vermilion 380 is owned by Mariner Energy which was recently purchased by by Apache Energy, according to Think […]

Eruptions reader Raving brought a change in the alert status another Indonesian volcano to our attention. This time, Seulawah Agam on Aceh has been raised to the lowest Alert Status (from […]

A shiny new report of the week’s volcanic activity, brought to us by the Smithsonian, USGS and the Global Volcanism Program … and of course, Sally Kuhn Sennert. Some highlights […]

Does politics today revolve around the dynamics of cable news?  What might be the future of traditional network news and how should we prepare students for careers in journalism, media, […]

The prosecution of Roger Clemens for perjury is wasteful and hypocritical, says Steve Chapman at The Chicago Tribune. The Justice Department should have higher priorities.

 “Impossible, you say?” one of the early pages asks rhetorically in Art of McSweeney’s, a study of the art of the quirky periodical McSweeney’s Quarterly. “Nothing is impossible when you […]

Keith Olbermann helped MSNBC craft a model that allowed the network to adhere to one ideological segment of viewers over another, creating the incentive to brand themselves in terms of ideology rather than news.

Everyone in jail claims to be innocent, but attorney and law professor Barry Scheck has proven that many of these convicted criminals may actually be telling the truth. Scheck is […]

The Montessori method is easily the best-known system of self-directed learning in formal education. Now, Montessorium is putting the 100-year-old educational tradition at the fingertips of today’s children with two […]

Props to my colleague Lindsay Beyerstein for this great catch yesterday: Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle’s campaign received a donation from someone who listed her employer as “husband” and her […]

If the current activity around the world wasn’t enough, I just found a report that Nevado del Huila in Colombia had an ash-producing explosive eruption today. The Colombian government is […]

As ballot papers for Labour’s leadership land on doorsteps this week, those charged with electing the next Leader of the Opposition, namely party members, MPs and affiliated trades unionists have […]

Now that I have dispensed with the pleasantries, we can get back to volcanoes! The volcano that many of you have been following is still Sinabung in Indonesia. After a […]

Welcome to the next iteration of Eruptions! For everyone who has never seen Eruptions before, I thought I’d start off with a little introduction. My name is Dr. Erik Klemetti, I […]

There are some reports of a possible eruption in the Congo, but the details are scant

The new activity at Indonesia’s Sinabung continues and now over 21,000 people have been evacuated. Meanwhile, Etna continues to rumble away, possibly towards a new eruptive cycle.

Potentially the first eruption in 400 years at Sinabung in Indonesia has prompted the evacuation of thousands on the island of Sumatra.

A quick list of the volcano news to end the week, including Galeras, Etna, Yellowstone and the anniversary of Krakatau.