Guest Thinkers — September 1, 2010

Welcome to Etna Week!

Welcome to Etna Week on Eruptions – everything you ever wanted to know about the Italian volcano, with guest blogger Dr. Boris Behncke.

Erik Klemetti

Italy’s Mt. Etna erupting in November 2006.

Well, I am currently off in the wilderness, but that doesn’t mean that things aren’t still hopping here at Eruptions. We are lucky to have Dr. Boris Behncke of the INGV Catania as that blogger and he brings us a three-part series on Mt. Etna on the island of Silicy. That means this week is Etna Week here on Eruptions, so for all of you chomping at the bit for more information on the Italian volcano, you are going to get it (and then some).

modern-day satellites who can watch that same summit from space.

I think you’re all going to love this series, so I’ll thank Boris now for his great work. Enjoy!

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

Guest Thinkers

Etna Week (Part 2) – The current dynamics and activity of Etna

Etna Week continues with Part 2 of guest blogger Dr. Boris Behncke’s look at Mt. Etna, including the unstable flanks, its eruptive behavior over the last 400 years and changes at the summit.