Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

By Nina Chestney LONDON (Reuters) - The world is close to reaching tipping points that will make it irreversibly hotter, making this decade critical in efforts to contain global warming, scientists warned on Monday. Scientific estimates differ but the world's temperature looks set to rise by six degrees Celsius by 2100 if greenhouse gas emissions are allowed to rise uncontrollably. As emissions grow, scientists say the world is close to reaching thresholds beyond which the effects on the global climate will be irreversible, such as the melting of polar ice sheets and loss of rainforests

When George Zimmerman saw Trayvon Martin walking down the street in Sanford, Florida, he quickly assumed that the Black, hoodie-clad teenager was carrying a weapon. He then pulled out his gun and fatally shot the young student, whose hands were gripping nothing more than a bag of Skittles. [More]

In the United States, 2011 was a year when weather seemed to ping-pong between extremes. [More]

Charles R.

Charles R. Knight (1874 – 1953) is best known for his arresting paintings of dinosaurs and other long-vanished beasts

Water, water, everywhere. But will we always have enough to drink? Wash away our waste?

Dressings for your dish. | Photo by Michael Rosenstein, CC. Click on image for license and information.

You may not know his name, but chances are that you have seen his work.

A rhino poached for its horn in Zimbabwe. Credit: Anti-poaching Unit, Zimbabwe Reeking of infection, the elephant stumbled into the Tanzanian camp where Thomas Appleby works as a safari manager. Its back legs festered with gangrene radiating from the open, pungent wounds that the animal had evidently endured for at least two long weeks

A heartbreaking, out-of-the-gate failure of Russia’s sample return mission early this year created a wide circle of disappointment. For Russia, it was supposed to be a "cavalry charge" toward a hyperambitious goal that would have redeemed a quarter-century of interplanetary impotence but instead became a cosmic humiliation when the craft died shortly after liftoff. For planetary science, it meant that the composition of the Martian moon Phobos remains speculative and its origins still undetermined

A heartbreaking, out-of-the-gate failure of Russia’s sample return mission early this year created a wide circle of disappointment. For Russia, it was supposed to be a "cavalry charge" toward a hyperambitious goal that would have redeemed a quarter-century of interplanetary impotence but instead became a cosmic humiliation when the craft died shortly after liftoff. For planetary science, it meant that the composition of the Martian moon Phobos remains speculative and its origins still undetermined

By Ron Cowen of Nature magazine A chemical analysis of lunar rocks may force scientists to revise the leading theory for the Moon's formation: that the satellite was born when a Mars-sized body smacked into the infant Earth some 4.5 billion years ago. If that were the case, the Moon ought to bear the chemical signature of both Earth and its proposed 'second' parent.

You can almost hear the law of unintended consequences at work among the flora and fauna of northwestern New Mexico. [More]

What are the structural differences in the brain between animals that are self-aware (humans, apes) and other vertebrates? [More]

On Tuesday, March 19 th , Alan Jacobs posted a technology article for The Atlantic titled Jobs of the Future: A Skeptic’s Response . In the article, he voices his doubts that a skillset promoted by the internet and social networking would usher in a new wave of future employment: Where are these jobs that will require such rapid “searching, browsing, assessing quality, and synthesizing the vast quantities of information”?