Beware the Orwellian Trap
In which I sidle up to the edge and take a peek down the climate conspiracy rabbit hole. (2800 words)
Gaia shrugged
Our experience of the weather is true, but our knowledge of the climate is objective. Why is that distinction so important? (1900 words)
How much can we afford to forget, if we train machines to remember?
Without food we starve, without energy we huddle in the cold. And it is through widespread loss of memory that civilisations are at risk of falling into a looming dark age. (1400 words)
We need new stories of the 21st-century university.
For many, our dreaming spires have turned into the stuff of nightmares. Where have things gone wrong? (1400 words)
Can we create a climate for hope? Try a reboot
How can we sail against the climate headwinds currently blowing out of Washington? It can help to remind ourselves there are always countercurrents beneath the surface. (1200 words)
The weightlessness of knowledge
Does the citizen scientist have a long term future? It depends on the future of both the citizen and the scientist. (4000 words)
Bubble, bubble, is oil in trouble? The carbon bubble, Part 1
The stuff in the ground only has value today if investors believe it will be burned tomorrow. What happens if those beliefs start to change? (2500 words)
Bubble, bubble, is oil in trouble? The carbon bubble, Part 2
The technological train of energy market disruption has left the station. How fast will it pick up speed? (3200 words)
Bubble, bubble, is oil in trouble? The carbon bubble, Part 3
How big might the bubble be, and who gets hurt if it pops? The trillion pound gorilla. (2200 words)
The children of Apollo
Rockets are dreams made into fuel and fire. And if we forget to dream, or if we only dream other dreams, we will lose the sky. (2200 words)
A return volley
Science fiction — at its best — is always about what it means to be human. (2100 words)
In praise of astonishment
Does our love of the new and strange, both in literature and science, flow from the same wellspring? On the restorative power of surprise. (900 words)
