In a Long Now talk on dark matter and dark energy, theoretical astrophysicist Priyamvada Natarajan said that “we simultaneously know quite a lot, and not a lot” about the key ingredients of our universe. What we do know is that dark energy makes up about&. . .   Read More

Peter Brannen, writing in The Atlantic, details why a popular claim being made on social media isn’t true—not to downplay the impact of the fires, but to educate audiences on how the various systems of our planet interact   Read More

Earlier this month, a study appeared in Science that found that a global reforestation effort could capture 205 gigatons of CO2 over the next 40-100 years—two thirds of all the CO2 humans have generated since the industrial revolution:

The restoration of trees remains among the most effective strategies for climate change mitigation. We. . .   Read More

Primatologist Elizabeth Lonsdorf shares the story of Jane Goodall and Dian Fossey, two of the three ‘Trimates’ who revolutionized the field of primatology with their studies of gorillas and chimpanzees.

From the Conversation at The Interval, “Growing Up Ape: The Long-term Science of Studying Our Closest Living Relatives” by. . .   Read More

Earlier this year, The New York Times published a profile of philosopher Bruno Latour on the occasion of the publication of his new book, Down to Earth. “He spent decades deconstructing the ways that scientists claim their authority,” Ava Kofman writes. “Can his ideas help them regain that authority today?”

What journalists, scientists and other. . .   Read More

The rings of centuries-old trees are offering scientists a more complete picture of climate change and the role of humans in causing it. . .   Read More

Former Seminar speaker Stephen Pyne was recently interviewed for a piece in New York Magazine about what it means to build permanent structures in California—a state that was always meant to continually burn and shake. 

So quickly, according to the fire historian Stephen Pyne, we forget the threat is even real. “We think. . .   Read More

Geologists have verified that the legend of a great flood passed down orally by the Pacific Northwest’s Klallam people for 2,700 years is not a myth, but a warning. A new study has found that as many as five tsunamis hit an ancient Klallam village in present-day Washington state.

The evidence comes. . .   Read More

Past Interval speaker Geoff Manaugh has written a feature for the May issue of WIRED about the Walker Lane in the Eastern Sierra, “an emerging fault system along the Nevada border [that] is shaking up the tech industry’s latest frontier—and only a small group of scientists is paying attention.”

Figure 1. Mt. Washington in the Snake Range, NV, with bristlecone pines. Photo: Connie Millar

About 15 years ago, my work unexpectedly collided with mountain climate science research when the nonprofit organization I work for, The Long Now Foundation, acquired Mt. Washington in eastern Nevada (Fig. 1). Not the whole mountain, but important parts of. . .   Read More