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This Colorado community fought to save its darkness—and all that relies on it...
ON HARDSCRABBLE PASS in south-central Colorado, bighorn sheep, patches of ice, and blown-over snow regularly threaten drivers on February days. But once they come out the other side and dive down into...
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There is no Planet B
Since 1992, astronomers have discovered nearly 5,000 exoplanets and estimate that our galaxy alone has billions and billions (and billions) more. Given those stats, it’s nice to imagine that...
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What new insights about our first nuclear test reveal about the future of war
Films of the first atomic bomb detonation—a 1945 test called Trinity—are silent. Their quiet is unnatural, eerie. But in that hush, which you can not-hear on YouTube, it’s easy to imagine the sound...
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This former stunt double wants to kick on-set concussions to the curb
IT HAD BEEN a good day for Leslie McMichael, who was pretending to be Jessica Alba, who was pretending to be a superhuman. McMichael was Alba’s stunt double on the set of the TV series Dark Angel, an...
View ArticleHow a US intelligence program created a team of ‘Superforecasters’
In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. AROUND 2011, when Warren Hatch’s job was moving money around on...
View ArticleHow a video game could help us better understand nuclear war
In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. YOU COULD PLAY Elden Ring, or maybe you’d rather try out God of...
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These 3D printed engines can power space-bound rockets—or hypersonic weapons
In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. ON THE COLORADO PLAINS just below the Rocky Mountains, near the...
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A DIY-rocket club’s risky dream of launching a human to the edge of space
GROWING UP in a small Danish town, Carsten Olsen didn’t have much access to information about space. Until the internet came along. Once connected, Olsen started frequenting discussion forums, where...
View ArticleAn enormous radio telescope may soon be a powerful tool for planetary defense
In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. A HIGH VALLEY in the mountains of West Virginia is home to one...
View ArticleHow corporations helped fuel the big business of spying
In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. YOU MAY NOT HAVE HEARD of the National Reconnaissance Office,...
View ArticleDARPA wants to modernize how first responders do triage during disasters
In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. IF A BUILDING COLLAPSES or a bomb goes off, there are often...
View ArticleCan we find hackers by the clues they leave in their code?
In Overmatched, we take a close look at the science and technology at the heart of the defense industry—the world of soldiers and spies. THE YEAR WAS 1998. The computers were blocky, the jeans were...
View ArticleLooking for Dark Matter Under A Mountain
A mile beneath Italy’s Gran Sasso mountain lies the DarkSide-50 detector. The three-story cylinder was built to search for our universe’s most mysterious substance: dark matter. “We know it exists in...
View ArticleHow We’ll Fly From Los Angeles To Tokyo In 30 Minutes
The Wright brothers aren’t the only siblings to push the limits of flight: In 1986, pilot Dick Rutan flew nonstop around the world, spending nine days in the air on a single tank of gas. He made the...
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This microscope could look for life on Jupiter’s moon
Earth, far off now, looks like an unpopulated set of continents surrounded by empty ocean. You’d never know that all kinds of life—from staph to elephants to humans—move all over its surface. I just...
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Scientists are making progress with better plastic-eating bacteria
Molecular biologist Christopher Johnson was schmoozing at a party not long ago, talking with another guest about his research, as scientists often do. Johnson works on breaking down plastics, which...
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These volunteers are filling in missing pieces of the world map, and helping...
The snow hasn’t started yet this October evening in Boulder, Colorado, but the sharp wind and low clouds around Backcountry Pizza & Tap House foretell an early winter storm. Just before 6 p.m.,...
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In all likelihood, someday the sun will knock out the grid
Let’s talk about the weather. John Kuehn Shortly after sunset on June 18, 2013, a woman drove her minivan onto Brighton Street in Belmont, Massachusetts. Her GPS told her to turn right. But the...
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There is no Planet B
Since 1992, astronomers have discovered nearly 5,000 exoplanets and estimate that our galaxy alone has billions and billions (and billions) more. Given those stats, it’s nice to imagine that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
What new insights about our first nuclear test reveal about the future of war
Films of the first atomic bomb detonation—a 1945 test called Trinity—are silent. Their quiet is unnatural, eerie. But in that hush, which you can not-hear on YouTube, it’s easy to imagine the sound...
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