From flooding in Florida to digging into the evolution of dogs, this week’s reading contains plenty of big issues, so you may not really need the magnifying glass—although the glass of beer (or is it cola?) may still be welcome!
- The Siege of Miami, The New Yorker, December 21 and 28, 2015 — A report from the field on current flooding problems due to the combination of high tides and sea level rise, from the author of The Sixth Extinction.
- Noah’s Ark Rises in Kentucky, Dinosaurs and All, Newsweek, January 16, 2016 — The story that enraged Ken Ham! Bill Nye gets the last word: “it might not be so bad if the ark park goes the way of the Titanic.”
- Cancer and Climate Change, The New York Times, January 16, 2016 — A moving op-ed by a climate scientist considering his final days, his devotion to his work, and his thoughts on our future in a warming world.
- The Big Search to Find Out Where Dogs Come From, The New York Times, January 19, 2016 — James Gorman reports on the ambitious new project to make sense of the evolution of dogs, from their domestication fifteen thousand years ago.
- American Homes Are Filled with Bugs, The Atlantic, January 19, 2016 — If you don’t share “an inordinate fondness for beetles,” don’t read Ed Yong’s report on new research on the arthropod diversity of your home.
- When We’re Sixty Four (Thousand), Telliamed Revisited, January 21, 2016 — The E. coli of Richard Lenski’s long-term experimental evolution project channel the Beatles in their serenade to their researchers.
- Why Big Blizzards in Winter Don’t Disprove Global Warming, ThinkProgress, January 22, 2016 — With input from Michael Mann and Kevin Trenberth, Joe Romm explains that climate change and “snowmageddons” go hand in hand.
