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Nick Goldschmidt has been lucky so far. A wildfire has burned more than 8,000 acres just north of his vineyards in Geyserville, California, but so far his vines are OK. So is his house in Healdsburg, roughly midway between Geyserville and a 36,000-acre fire that destroyed more than 2,800 homes in Santa Rosa. But now, […]

Inside a red-bricked building on the north side of Washington DC, internist Shantanu Nundy rushes from one examining room to the next, trying to see all 30 patients on his schedule. Most days, five of them will need to follow up with some kind of specialist. And odds are they never will. Year-long waits, hundred-mile […]

This story originally appeared on New Republic and is part of the Climate Desk collaboration. A young, fit US soldier is marching in a Middle Eastern desert, under a blazing summer sun. He’s wearing insulated clothing and lugging more than 100 pounds of gear, and thus sweating profusely as his body attempts to regulate the heat. But it’s 108 […]

As I understand it, the whole point of cooking a turkey is to take it at some temperature and then increase it to a higher temperature. Sure, maybe there's something about family togetherness in there, but really, Thanksgiving is all about thermal transfer. The USDA recommends a minimum internal temperature of 165°F (74°C). I guess […]

It's almost always the last topic in the first semester of introductory physics—angular momentum. Best for last, or something? I've used this concept to describe everything from fidget spinners to standing double back flips to the movement of strange interstellar asteroids. But really, what the heck is angular momentum? Let me start with the following […]

On Monday night, residents of the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Westwood, Los Feliz, Silver Lake, and parts of the San Fernando Valley experienced a mild earthquake—a magnitude 3.6. Most people slept through the temblor and no damage was reported. But a select group of 150 LA residents got a text alert on their mobile phone […]