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South Africa has a tight regime for scientists wanting to “overwinter” in Antarctica. The 13-month assignment to an isolated research base on the top of a cliff edge is, as the environment ministry drily put it, “testing”. Average annual temperatures are -16C but drop much lower during the winter darkness. All applicants are subjected to psychometric analysis “to ensure they are able to cope with the isolation, and can work and live with others in the confined space of the bases”, said the Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment. “Only candidates who do not have any negative outcomes from all the background evaluations will be considered.” But can humans ever fully prepare for long-duration remote scientific experiments? The crisis currently facing the overwintering crew at the Sanae IV station,…

Remember “Sharpiegate”? Back in September 2019, then-President Trump appeared to alter the path of Hurricane Dorian—at least on paper, with a marker. Craig McLean, who had been at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration for nearly 40 years, was the acting chief scientist and head of NOAA Research. Objecting to the controversy contributed to his demotion. He explains what he anticipates for Trump’s second term. DORIAN WAS A nasty hurricane. It took lives in the Caribbean and the Bahamas and was making a move toward the Florida Panhandle. Days out, there was a small chance of tropical storm–force winds in Alabama. The National Weather Service forecasted, correctly, that the storm was going to make a hard right turn and certainly not impact the people of Alabama. But Trump tweets something…

“The more melt, the more stakes you have to collect. I don’t think I could have carried any more stakes. Nearly a third. That’s the amount of ice lost from New Zealand’s glaciers since 2000. Almost 300. That’s the number of individual glaciers that have vanished forever since we started monitoring them regularly about half a century ago. According to a recent global assessment, New Zealand ranks third after the European Alps and the Caucasus, in Eastern Europe, in the proportion of glacial ice lost to rising temperatures. And the glaciers that remain are now melting at an accelerating pace. In early March, I witnessed the changing icescapes of the Southern Alps first hand when I joined glaciologists on their annual snowline survey. Each year, the team flies across the…

WE NEED TO TALK about death. Brits have long been diffident about mortality. Our coffins are not carried aloft in crowded streets. Our women don’t ululate. Our chaps don’t fire Kalashnikovs skywards. And open caskets are strictly for the morbid and superstitious Irish. We are similarly reluctant to confront the ephemeral nature of our businesses. I am referring here to our large corporations. (Most small business founders I know are in a constant existential battle against their creditors and the HMRC.) For some time, our mega-cap companies have been following strategies seemingly conjured by Hindu holy men. Capital markets days typically lead off with slides that resemble the great cycle of life. Instead of facing the awkward fact that their core business is in inexorable — though profitable — decline,…

KUNITSU-GAMI: PATH OF THE GODDESS Capcom’s masterpiece now playable on PC Game Pass Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess was one of 2024’s best but, ultimately, underrated games, with its maker Capcom left surprised by its low sales compared to its high quality and breakthrough innovations, the latter for which the game was nominated at the Game Awards 2024 for Best Sim/Strategy Game. But, in good news for PC gamers around the world, Kunitsu-Gami: Path of the Goddess is now playable on PC Game Pass, and if you haven’t yet given this little gem some attention, then I feel now is the time, as this is a very high-quality Japanese game that all gamers should play at least once in their life. The game, which is produced by Capcom’s Biohazard/Resident Evil…

Picture a sun-soaked stretch of Arizona desert, where a sprawling plant hums with the pulse of tomorrow’s tech, silicon wafers gleaming under the watchful eyes of engineers. Nvidia’s chief, Jensen Huang, let slip a blockbuster vision to the Financial Times, unveiling plans to pour hundreds of billions into U.S.-made silicon over the next four years. For tech buffs, gamers, and industry watchers, it’s a tale of a titan doubling down on American soil, betting big on a future where artificial intelligence drives everything from chatbots to self-steering autos. This isn’t a quiet pivot. Huang pegged Nvidia’s total electronics spending at half a trillion dollars through 2028, with a hefty chunk—potentially $250 billion to $300 billion—flowing to stateside plants. It’s a seismic shift for a company that’s leaned hard on Taiwan’s…