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How do you build a mirror for one of the world's biggest telescopes?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
image20 tons of Ohara E6 borosilicate glass being loaded onto the mold of one of the GMT's mirrors.Ray Bertram, Steward Observatory, CC BY-ND

When astronomers point their telescopes up at the sky to see distant supernovae or quasars, they’re collecting light that’s traveled millions or even billions of light-years through space. Even huge...

Read more: How do you build a mirror for one of the world's biggest telescopes?

Four quotes from the sixth GOP presidential debate, explained by experts

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageTrump and Cruz during the GOP debate, round 6. North Charleston, South Carolina January 14, 2016. REUTERS/Randall Hill

Editor’s note: Seven candidates took part in Thursday’s mainstage presidential debate in North Charleston, South Carolina – the sixth debate between the GOP candidates. Donald Trump, Texas Senator Ted Cruz, Ben...

Read more: Four quotes from the sixth GOP presidential debate, explained by experts

To cut emissions faster, U.S. should ditch tax credit-based subsidies for renewable energy

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageA solar array goes up in New York. Is this the best place to locate solar, given the relatively clean New York state grid? Lucas Braun, CC BY-SA

Congress last month extended valuable tax credits to producers of electricity from wind turbines and solar photovoltaic panels, a move that came as a relief to an industry that has experienced rapid growth...

Read more: To cut emissions faster, U.S. should ditch tax credit-based subsidies for renewable energy

Under the spell of a generator's thrum, a Faulkner masterpiece was born

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageIn order to support his young family, William Faulkner took a job shoveling coal at a power plant on Ole Miss's campus.Mussklprozz/Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA

A few hundred feet south of the University of Mississippi’s famed Grove – site of bucolic commencement ceremonies and college football’s most unique tailgating experience...

Read more: Under the spell of a generator's thrum, a Faulkner masterpiece was born

Race and racism after Obama: where do we go from here?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageObama leads the way across the Edmund Pettus Bridge in Selma, Alabama, March 7, 2015. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

Last night marked the final time President Obama will address the nation as its commander-in-chief, an event signaling the beginning of the end of the “Obama era.“ Now may be as good a time as any to reflect on what we were...

Read more: Race and racism after Obama: where do we go from here?

Are Powerball drawings and 'Quick Pick' numbers really random?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageHow hard is it to build a random number generator?Philip Sears/Reuters

The math behind all the discussion of tonight’s Powerball drawing assumes true randomness – equal likelihood for each number to be chosen, both in the drawing itself and, crucially, in the process of assigning “Quick Picks” to ticket buyers who...

Read more: Are Powerball drawings and 'Quick Pick' numbers really random?

Attack on unions shows why we need a new social contract governing work

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageFDR's New Deal helped end Depression-era lines like this one.FDR monument via www.shutterstock.com

The U.S. Supreme Court heard a case this week that may deal a significant blow to labor unions and shows why it’s vital, to my mind, to come up with a new social contract governing work.

The case involves 10 California teachers who argue they...

Read more: Attack on unions shows why we need a new social contract governing work

If being too clean makes us sick, why isn't getting dirty the solution?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageWash up.Riccardo Meneghini/Flickr, CC BY-NC-ND

Today rates of allergic, autoimmune and other inflammatory diseases are rising dramatically in Western societies. If that weren’t bad enough, we are beginning to understand that many psychiatric disorders, including depression, migraine headaches and anxiety disorders, are associated with...

Read more: If being too clean makes us sick, why isn't getting dirty the solution?

In a driverless future, what happens to today's drivers?

  • Written by The Conversation Contributor
imageAre today's drivers yesterday's horses?Winton Motor Carriage Company

Self-driving cars are becoming a very real technology. The latest Tesla car has an autopilot feature. The CEO of Uber has stated that he will buy every self-driving car Tesla can produce for a year (about 500,000). The Google self-driving car occasionally overtakes me as I cycle...

Read more: In a driverless future, what happens to today's drivers?

More Articles ...

  1. Obama's final State of the Union: scholars react
  2. Odds are $1.5 billion Powerball winner will end up bankrupt
  3. What Marco Rubio's heels say about fashion – and height – in American politics
  4. Thinking innovatively about the risks of tech innovation
  5. Can businesses succeed in a world of corruption (without paying bribes)?
  6. What is the right response to North Korea's fourth nuclear test?
  7. Are plugs for pizza a breach of journalistic ethics?
  8. Can schools punish students for off-campus, online speech?
  9. Explainer: Why can't anyone tell me how much this surgery will cost?
  10. Could online 'slacktivists' actually help Making a Murderer's Steven Avery?
  11. That's what zhe said: mx-ing up the language of gender
  12. Congress' bipartisan Christmas gifts will lead to ballooning deficits
  13. Federal control of western land: two perspectives
  14. What makes a 'smart gun' smart?
  15. US–Saudi relations and the search for leverage
  16. The twisted roots of U.S. land policy in the West
  17. Can we curb the opioid abuse epidemic by rethinking chronic pain?
  18. What Pantone's colors of 2016 mean for the future of design
  19. How the homeless population is changing: it's older and sicker
  20. The Paris Agreement: the first _local_ global environmental pact
  21. Can 10,000-character tweets boost Twitter's flatlining user growth?
  22. Hong Kong copyright battle tests U.S. candidates' commitments to free speech
  23. Quest to find bitcoin's founder highlights currency's biggest threat: the taxman
  24. Far more microplastics floating in oceans than thought
  25. It's too late for a two-state solution in Israel-Palestine
  26. Playing 'serious games,' adults learn to solve thorny real-world problems
  27. A small Norwegian city might hold the answer to beating the winter blues
  28. Malheur occupation in Oregon: whose land is it really?
  29. Affordable Care Act's push to consolidate health care to curb costs may backfire
  30. How 3D printing threatens our patent system
  31. At UC San Diego, retired professors are mentoring first-generation college students
  32. Why isn't learning about public health a larger part of becoming a doctor?
  33. Obama's executive order on guns is mostly political theater
  34. More Mexicans are leaving the US than coming across the border
  35. The secret to all great art forgeries
  36. Why stories matter for children’s learning
  37. As El Niño rains arrive, Los Angeles shunts precious water to sea
  38. Can pharmacists help fill the growing primary care gap?
  39. How dangerous people get their guns
  40. Pleasure is good: How French children acquire a taste for life
  41. What North America can expect from El Niño
  42. Outlook for 2016: middle-class woes, hopeful on wages, the fear factor
  43. Five things you should know about the Iowa caucuses
  44. Was 2015 such a terrible year? And what will 2016 look like?
  45. 2015, the year that was: education
  46. 2015, the year that was: politics and society
  47. 2015, the year that was: environment and energy
  48. 2015, the year that was: economics and business
  49. 2015, the year that was: arts and culture
  50. 2015, the year the was: health and medicine