By Dr. Robert Thorson How long is one month? Long enough for mass culture to completely forget about the strongest earthquake to rattle the Eastern U.S. in decades, one felt by more people than any other in U.S. history. It was certainly exciting while it lasted. Millions of Americans heard thunks, rattles, buzzes and clatters. […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson When is a rock not a rock? When you pass through airport security. Then it becomes a potential weapon, one capable of bringing an airplane down. I’m mad. I can think of a better way to combat terrorism than taking mineral specimens away from geologists traveling to their conferences. I suggest […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Some will think I’m a heartless scientist. But I know a good opportunity for addressing a lingering environmental issue when I see one. When I saw my first images of the I-35W bridge collapse between the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, my thoughts went immediately to the human tragedy […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Seismologists are hearing a new snap, crackle and pop from terra firma. Fracking? Geothermal drilling? Coal gas? They are changing the planet in ways we’re not used to thinking about. Having changed Earth’s atmosphere by injecting carbon through tailpipes and smokestacks, we’re now changing Earth’s crust by injecting fluids in deep […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Last week, I suggested getting rid of the U.S. penny. This week, I’m suggesting we get rid of fall. I do not propose to rearrange the tilt of the Earth or its revolution around the sun. Instead, I propose we replace the term “fall” in common speech with the much more […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson ‘I hate science.” In my nearly 30 years of teaching introductory college science courses, not a year has gone by without at least a few of my students making this claim. But disliking science makes about as much sense to me as disliking music. Why should a curious, intelligent young adult […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Last year, my Christmas column suggested putting a lump of coal into your kids’ stockings to signify the increasing rarity of coal, and to celebrate the success of the United Nations climate change conference in Paris. More so than toys or trinkets, this would be a “true gift to the children […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson This crescendo of the political season is an ideal time to present one of my favorite recent articles, “The Mismeasurement of Science” by Peter Lawrence (Current Biology, 2007). It compares with “The Mismeasurement of Leadership,” a paper I might have written had I been a political “scientist” rather than a natural […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Everyone seems to be going green. Schools, towns, corporations, George Bush and even the UConn football program are all going green. But they do so in connotation, rather than denotation, or perhaps by eating lower on the food chain, using bio-fuels or playing on artificial grass. Solar power isn’t green. It’s […]

By Dr. Robert Thorson Urban and regional planners have been wringing their hands over urban sprawl for nearly half a century. Perhaps because I moved here from Alaska, an enormously large place, it strikes me that New England is already sprawled to the max. What I mean is that you can live almost anywhere, grab […]