The reactor is being developed by Lockheed’s Skunk Works research and development team, responsible for among other things the SR-71 Blackbird (the fastest non-rocket plane ever built), the F-117 stealth bomber, and the F-22 that replaced it.

Last year the Singapore Sports Hub opened for business featuring the world’s largest free-standing dome, with a roof that can be opened or closed depending on the weather. While not hemispherical, with a diameter of 310 meters—1,017 feet—it can certainly cover your 1,000-foot neighborhood.

The report that really wound everyone up on this issue was released in 1999 by the Institute of Medicine, titled To Err Is Human. It relied in part on a study of 30,000 records from New York hospitals in 1984,

If the choice is between sustainable environmental practices and survival, you know what’s going to win. In other words, this seemingly obscure question is a parable for our times.

The U.S. incarceration rate bears no close relation to the crime rate. For the past quarter century, the U.S. crime and imprisonment rates have headed in opposite directions.

It won’t surprise you to learn our knowledge of how to pronounce Egyptian hieroglyphics begins with the Rosetta Stone.

Increasing cannabinoid levels have in fact been found to reduce tumor growth in mice in several different trials, by both inducing cancer-cell death and preventing proliferation, in almost all types of cancer cell tested.

No supernova candidates are within striking distance of us now. However, as the stars wheel through the cosmos over astronomical time, some may come within range.

Candidates who show well in the early going, even if they trailed in polls and/or fundraising before the primaries started, tend to become even more appealing to voters going forward, and also attract more money.

Cpnsiderably less potent than the single most effective antitheft measure, namely a tracking device on your car that lets the cops (or you) determine its whereabouts if bad guys abscond with it. Effectiveness: 77 percent.

With global warming well under way, icebergs should be breaking free and floating past our coasts any day now—and corralling one or two giant frozen chunks of fresh water certainly sounds easier than reducing excess consumption.