Common Science Archives - Page 6 of 25

Woolly Mammoths and the Voyage of the U.S.S. Jeannette: Part I

Posted by Jeff Danner | Feb 8, 2015 | Common Science

If you read my columns, you will have noticed that I enjoy embracing my inner nerd. In that spirit, let me share with you that my favorite author is Hampton Sides, who writes history books. Mr. Sides recently published a new...

The Missouri River Aqueduct is a Bad Idea

Posted by Jeff Danner | Feb 1, 2015 | Common Science

In the spring of 2012, I wrote a five-part series on water (Part I, II, III, IV, V). Part IV, When the Well Runs Dry, discussed human society’s dependence on the unsustainable extraction of water from underground aquifers, with...

The Origin Of Water On Earth

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jan 25, 2015 | Common Science

From the 1960s through the 1980s, my Aunt Shirley was a third grade teacher in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania. After she retired, she gave me a copy of one of the science text books that she had used. In the section about water...

The Polar Vortex and Quantum Physics

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jan 18, 2015 | Common Science

January of 2014 brought record-setting cold temperatures to Chapel Hill, NC, and the words “polar vortex” dominated the local lexicon for several weeks. Given that we are likely to experience these dramatic cold...

Electric Cars Are Not Actually Emissions-Free

Posted by Jeff Danner | Jan 11, 2015 | Common Science

Over the holidays I did a fair bit of driving, including the abject drudgery of navigating Route 95 between Richmond and Washington, D.C. in both directions. At one point, it took two hours to advance just 40 miles. All of this...

Common Science Comprehensive Index

Posted by Jeff Danner | Dec 21, 2014 | Common Science

April 2015 will be the fourth anniversary for Common Science®. In each of the past three Decembers I have published a hyper-linked index for the columns from that year. This year I decided to do something different. Below is an...

Results of my 2014 Predictions

Posted by Jeff Danner | Dec 14, 2014 | Common Science

In January, I made predictions for what I expected would be important science stories during 2014, five positive ones and four negative. Now it is time to see how well I did. Below I review my predictions, tell you what did or...

Fracking: A Raleigh-Riyadh Connection

Posted by Jeff Danner | Dec 7, 2014 | Common Science

As you may have noticed at the pump recently, gasoline prices have fallen by 35% over the last few months, from just below $4.00 per gallon down to around $2.60, a five-year low. During this same time period, the price of...

An Engineer On A Diet: Part II

Posted by Jeff Danner | Nov 30, 2014 | Common Science

Last week in Part I, I reviewed the energy balance for the human body and explained how it controls whether or not we lose weight while dieting. This week, I’ll share with you some my observations on how this energy balance...

An Engineer on a Diet: Part I

Posted by Jeff Danner | Nov 23, 2014 | Common Science

Dieting is big business in the United States. If you include the $21 billion spent on diet sodas, the weight loss industry takes in over $65 billion dollars a year. A commonly cited statistic is that at any particular moment,...

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