Common Science

This is the third in my series of columns about how I expect life in Chapelboro to be different in 2050 as a result of reduced energy and resource availability.  If you want to start at the beginning check out “Life on Two...

A business trip to Dubai this week has disrupted by Chapelboro 2050 series.  I anticipated that Dubai would make great fodder for a Common Science blog illustrating the ephemeral nature of our illusion of constant growth and...

If you have been reading my blogs you will know that I expect a reduction in the amount of available energy per person to be the dominant factor in world events in coming decades. As energy becomes scarcer and, therefore, more...

In my final column of 2011, “A Year From Now You Will Wish You Had Started Today”, I summarized a number of significant and troubling trends in our energy and food supplies which I believe will dominate global events over the...

When I started this blog in the spring I had several goals. I wanted to provide the scientific background to local, national, and world events in an engaging way. I wanted to promote discussion of science and technology issues...

Last week in “The Secret Life of Vegetable Oil” I reviewed biodiesel both from a technical and a food-versus-fuel perspective.   This week I tackle the other major biofuel, ethanol.    Ethanol production is quite simple. Find...

In last week’s blog, Biodiesel Basics, I covered the following key items:   Essentially all plants and animals store energy by making a class of molecules called     triglycerides, more commonly known as fats and oils. Vegetable...

Some of my readers may be aware that in addition to writing Common Science for www.chapelboro.com, I have occasionally been filling in for D.G. Martin on Who’s Talking. If you are not familiar with Who’s Talking, it’s on AM 1360...

I am posting from St. Louis, Missouri this where we are visiting family for Thanksgiving. My nephew here is in his senior year in high school and is trying to decide where to go for college. He’s a good student and is trying to...

In my very first Common Science blog on chapelboro.com I told you that had perhaps the best high school chemistry teacher ever, Mrs. Ciolkosz. In this week’s blog I am going to share with you something she taught me. But, first...