In recent months, some in Congress have been waging a whole-scale war against the Environmental Protection Agency. By now it has reached comical dimensions, with three separate bills aimed at preventing a so-called EPA “dust rule” that has never even existed. The spectacle would indeed be funny, if it wasn’t deadly serious. Republicans in Congress […] … learn more→

In 1989 I was the head soccer coach at DePaul University. It was a remarkably good learning experience even though my salary came out to exactly $11.51 per day ($4200 divided by 365 days) for recruiting, scheduling, coaching, driving the team bus and countless one-on-one meetings with the players. In truth, I would have paid […] … learn more→

Energy is essential to our mobile, connected, productive lifestyle, and the world\’s economic recovery and growth depend on it. But producing and consuming energy has also become the fundamental force behind some of our most pressing global issues, including economic competitiveness, security and the health of the planet\’s environment. Duke University is launching an interdisciplinary, […] … learn more→

From Enron in the United States to Satyam in India, there are plenty of examples of corporate managers lying about their companies’ earnings and ultimately hurting themselves and the businesses they work for. Why do they do it? A limited capacity to see the whole picture – known as “bounded rationality” — combined with a […] … learn more→

Preschool children who hear their parents describe the size and shape of objects and then use those words themselves perform better on tests of their spatial skills, researchers at the University of Chicago have found. The study is the first to show that learning to use a wide range of spatial words predicts children’s later […] … learn more→

Pollution is making Arabian Sea cyclones more intense, according to a multi-institutional study that included scientists at UCSD’s Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Traditionally, prevailing wind shear patterns prohibit cyclones in the Arabian Sea from becoming major storms. A paper appearing in the Nov. 3 issue of the journal Nature, however, suggests the weakening of the […] … learn more→

An early snowstorm put us all in the dark… and it will happen again! … learn more→

A tribute to Christchurch, New Zealand’s lost chimneys and a celebration of those that have survived the forces of nature has been compiled by UC historian Professor Geoff Rice. In his latest book All Fall Down: Christchurch’s Lost Chimneys, published this month by Canterbury University Press, Professor Rice looks at the chimneys that have adorned […] … learn more→

Using a new technology known as optically stimulated luminescence (OSL), a team of Belgian scientists and Professor John Coleman Darnell of Yale have determined that Egyptian petroglyphs found at the east bank of the Nile are about 15,000 years old, making them the oldest rock art in Egypt and possibly the earliest known graphic record […] … learn more→

Older people who give up driving report positive life impacts and say it’s not all doom and gloom, according to new research by PhD student Sarah Walker from The Australian National University. The study looked at the lived experiences of nearly 40 volunteers above retirement age who had ceased driving. Ms Walker said previous research […] … learn more→