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Comments on Some Comments on the National Ignition Facility
We live in a dauntingly complex world. Progress in the world of science is relevant to all of us, yet it is extremely difficult, although certainly not impossible, for the intelligent layperson to...
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Of Smug Germans and Sinful Australians: Global Warming Update
No doubt the outcome of the Nazi unpleasantness resulted in attitude adjustment in Germany on a rather large scale. Clearly, however, it didn’t teach the Germans humility. At a time when a secular...
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Nuclear Power and the Anti-Science Ideology of the “Progressive” Left
The ideological Left is fond of accusing the Right of being “anti-science.” The evidence often comes in the form of Exhibit A (climate denialism) and Exhibit B (Darwin denialism). True, these...
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Nuclear Update: Molten Salt, Rugby Balls, and the Advanced Hydrodynamic Facility
I hear at 7th or 8th hand that the folks at DOE have been seriously scratching their heads about the possibility of building a demonstration molten salt reactor. They come in various flavors, but the...
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Fusion Power Update: Hoping for a Shortcut
Think of a pile of bowling balls in a deep well. They don’t fly out because the force of gravity holds them in. If you roll an extra bowling ball to the edge of the well and let it drop in, energy is...
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Another Fusion White Elephant Sighted in Germany
According to an article that just appeared in Science magazine, scientists in Germany have completed building a stellarator by the name of Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X), and are seeking regulatory permission...
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Of Solar Energy and Amateurish Agitprop at Fox News
Reading the “news” can be a painful experience in our time. Most of it consists of a blend of sensationalism, human interest stories, accounts of the lives of various vapid celebrities, and attempts...
View ArticleWhither Nuclear Power? A Few Comments on Thorium and the End of the “Nuclear...
About a decade ago there was much talk of a “nuclear renaissance” amid concerns about greenhouse gas emissions and the increasing cost of fossil fuel alternatives. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission...
View ArticleFisking a Fusion Fata Morgana
Why is it that popular science articles about fusion energy are always so cringe-worthy? Is scientific illiteracy a prerequisite for writing them? Take the latest one to hit the streets, for example....
View ArticlePolyanna Pinker’s Power Profundities
Recently Steven Pinker, public intellectual and author of a “history” of the Blank Slate debacle that was largely a fairy tale but at least drew attention to the fact that it happened, has been...
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