Surprising Science — March 10, 2014

ALMA’s Astonishing Discoveries

On Sunday, 60 Minutes featured a fascinating segment on ALMA, a $13 billion radio telescope in the Antofagasta Region of Chile that allows scientists to study the origins of our universe.

Nineteen different countries are represented in this Herculean enterprise–the most ambitious astronomical project on earth. ALMA can see colors that humans can’t, and it takes researchers farther back in space and time than previously imagined.

Watch this video about this incredible international effort and ALMA’s mind-blowing potential:

Image credit: ALMA Press Room

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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