climate change
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Though we might not turn to stone, an encounter with the basilisk would leave us gasping for air.
An advanced transistor-based intelligence would desire a very different world from one best suited for human flourishing.
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Hell is real, and cyanobacteria were condemned to burn, but they might save us still.
Cyanobacteria turned our planet into a place of fire and ice, causing the first mass extinction. Then they too nearly went extinct. Their descendants were imprisoned in the cells of plants. We burn their old prison cells when we drive down the street. And yet, their lineage might save us still.
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Sex was invented to queer populations.
The biological function of sex is to create diversity — which helps populations endure, even if this is bad for individuals — so we should expect diversity in the expression of sex.
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On a warmer planet, you might feel much colder.
A simple science demonstration with some jam jars, water, and food coloring can help us understand why global warming would make sudden winter storms more common.
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Not even scale trees could save us from ourselves.
Scale trees pulled huge quantities of carbon dioxide out of the air for millions of years … and not even they could control our planet’s climate.
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On the toothy origins of our inner fire.
With one weird trick, morganucodon kept our kind from being killed by saprophytic fungi.
ancestor worship, ancient fossils, biology, blight, chewing, Chicago, climate change, cooking, decline of reptiles, dinosaur, dinosaurs, Emily Monosson, evolution, fall of dinosaurs, Fire, fire myths, first mammal, fossils, fungal epidemics, fungal infections, fungal pandemics, fungi, global warming, inner fire, mass extinction, mastication, metabolism, morganucodon, nature, proto-mammal, protomammal, rise of mammals, saprophytic fungi, science, Steve Brussate, teeth, The Field Museum, The Rise and Reign of the Mammals, tooth, warm blood, warm bloodedness, wildlife
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On the timescales of apocalypse.
The world is not at risk. The world has been through this before. But human civilization has never experienced such change.
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On Nobel laureate Linus Pauling’s contribution to the climate crisis.
When scientists behave unethically, more people distrust science.
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On kink, advertising, and climate change.
To save our planet, we need to buy fewer things; how might we still be happy?
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On ‘The Dawn of Everything’ and the Future.
If farmers lived in miserable societies, how did they conquer the world?
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Frank Brown Cloud 