Politics & Current Affairs — September 22, 2010

Georgia’s Water War

“Are Georgia, Alabama and Florida fighting over water or over growth?” The Economist explains that population growth has put pressure on regional water resources.

bigthinkeditor

“For Americans from the parched western states, the notion of Alabama, Georgia and Florida battling over water must seem as daft as three fat people fighting for a grape at a lavish banquet. Average yearly rainfall in all three states exceeds 40 inches (just over a metre). Georgia and Alabama abound in lakes and rivers. Florida has almost 1,200 miles (1,900km) of coastline. But rapid growth in the region, particularly in and around Atlanta, has put pressure on its water supply. So now the three states are engaged in a protracted battle over water from two big river basins, the Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint (ACF) and Alabama-Coosa-Tallapoosa (ACT), the outcome of which may shape the area’s development for decades.”

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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Culture & Religion

The Illusion of Self

“New case studies focus on rare illusory body perceptions that could answer questions about how we maintain a ‘self’.” Scientific American on how the mind invents the ‘I’.