Algorithms Supercharged Gerrymandering. We Should Use Them to Fix it.
Today, the Supreme Court will hear oral arguments for Gill v. Whitford, in which the state of Wisconsin will argue that congressional redistricting practices are not subject to judicial oversight. At the core of this hearing is whether partisan gerrymandering—a tactic used by political parties to redraw congressional voting districts so that the voting power within those […]
5 Years Cruising the World, They Still Living the Dream.
5 Years ago, Brian Trautman dropped the mooring lines of his boat Delos, and left the business World in Seattle behind him. He and his crew planned an epic trip across the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand but when they finally got there, they weren’t ready to stop…Asia was beckoning. Asia at Sea talked to […]
How Humans Will Respond to Immortality: An Interview with Philosopher John Fischer.
Five million dollars is a hefty grant for any academic to receive, let alone a philosopher. And yet that’s exactly what UC Riverside philosophy professor John Martin Fischer received last year for a project that will involve dozens of scientists, philosophers, and theologians from around the world to examine a subject that is probably unknowable: […]
Meet Aubrey de Grey, the Researcher Who Wants to Cure Old Age.
Aubrey de Grey has been called many things. “Transhumanist” is one of them, but one he dislikes. “Immortalist” is the tag used to describe him and his colleague Bill Andrews in a documentary shown at South by Southwest this March, though de Grey rolls his eyes when someone drops the word “immortality.” The British gerontologist […]
I Skyped Jacques Cousteau's Grandson on the Bottom of the Ocean.
On June 1, a team of six splashed down 63 feet beneath the ocean surface to shack up in Aquarius, the world’s only underwater lab, located off the coast of Florida. They’ll be down there for 31 days, surfacing only on July 2. “Mission 31” will mark the longest stretch spent in the ocean base, […]
Haunted by His Brother, He Revolutionized Physics.
The postcard contained only two words: “Hurry up.” John Archibald Wheeler, a 33-year-old physicist, was in Hanford, Wash., working on the nuclear reactor that was feeding plutonium to Los Alamos, when he received the postcard from his younger brother, Joe. It was late summer, 1944. Joe was fighting on the front lines of World War […]
The Arctic Seed Vault puts apocalyptic talk of climate change in perspective.
Since 2007, the Svalbard Global Seed Vault has maintained a repository of the world’s agricultural heritage. A series of tunnels bored into the side of a mountain, this vault is climate-controlled, secure against tectonic activity or sea-level rise, and designed to hold up to 4.5 million different seed varieties for centuries to come. Built 900km […]
Floating Utopias for the Age of Rising Seas.
A two mile-thick ice sheet in Antarctica is collapsing, which all but guarantees at least 10 feet of global sea level rise. That’s grim news for the 44 percent of the world’s population living in coastal areas, who now face the dire prospect of preparing for the coming tides. Developing the necessary engineering solutions, as […]
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