The universe is a big place. Our little Milky Way galaxy is estimated to have more than 100,000 stars just like our Sun. There are believed to be more 2 trillion galaxies in the universe. It makes the mathematic odds of another planet with life like Earth pretty likely, but the odds of finding it
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In spite of widespread efforts to curb them, U.S. greenhouse gas emissions continue to grow. The Federal government has set a reduction goal to 50% of the 2005 levels by 2030. To achieve that goal, the U.S. will need to average a 5% annual reduction between now and then. Why does it matter in Minot?
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“We’re capable of destroying in minutes what it took mother nature eons to create.” In Minot, our loss of habitat is most acutely observed in the loss of our natural river channel and the stench of the — though natural — not flowing dead loops. What can be done about it? Nothing will come fast,
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Minot’s had no shortage of landfill news over the past few years. Most recently, plans where advanced for a 20-25 year expansion on property adjacent to our existing site. And part of the challenge for communities with landfills are the extraordinary environmental protections that govern management and operation of these sites. If a California court
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The National Flood Insurance Program is set to expire on May 31st. It’s the latest deadline in a long series of short-term extensions, but the clamor to overhaul the system is growing. Catch up with the full political picture in this article from Scientific American.
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If you’re familiar with the farming industry you know it’s a technology and data driven industry. Investment in higher yield is built into the cost of growing food — around here, but the American model is not the rule in other parts of the world. When it comes to farming practices, and particularly the use
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Many residents in Minot want to see citywide recycling, but before we invest big in the facilities and equipment, perhaps we should ask — what problem is it we’re trying to solve? One answer we’d expect to hear is we need to reduce the amount of plastic entering the environment. If that’s the case, then Matt
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How old is old? Depending on how youthful our spirit is, we’d all probably answer that question differently. But biologically speaking, there may be fewer to limits the upper reaches than we might assume. Scientific American has the article the sparks the debate on living forever — and not just figuratively.
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A huge contributor to the opioid epidemic is the over-prescription of pain medication. In other words, a big percentage of those addicted get their start at the doctor’s office. And that fact is driving a number of research-based pain reduction techniques and technologies. The idea: if we have alternative pain treatment methods, we don’t have to
Read & Share sourced from: Scientific American
In a follow-up to a brief story last week on the sharing economy and new technology changing the nature of bike-share programs, there’s this example of the technology in action in our nation’s capital. Check out the full article on Scientific American
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The number of changes taking place in our culture and society are expansive and extraordinary. They’re not all good; they’re not all bad, either. But denying they’re happening would be a mistake. One change that’s certain to reshape our communities and our culture — the shift away from a citizenship who identify their religion as a
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With Minot’s recycling program recently delayed, it may be prudent to consider policy changes that hasten our arrival in the land of environmental stewardship. At least, that’s the perspective presented by Ayana Johnson writing commentary — though not specifically about Minot — at Scientific American.
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We all gotta eat, the world’s population keeps on growing. And we don’t seem to be growing a lot of new land, so we’re going to have to feed the growing population with the food production areas already in use. And toward that end, precision farming is a concept that has a high ceiling. Companies
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When it comes to mosquitoes, we either know the person or we assume we are the person that gets bit more often than everyone else. It’s a phenomenon that we know little about — at least scientifically, but one research study is setting out to change that using a hundred sets of twins and a
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In a part of the world where farming is our bedrock industry, it’s important that we’re doing it in a manner that’s both efficient and sustainable. And the anecdotal evidence discovered by one researcher who traveled the world’s farms — including some in North and South Dakota — suggests there are some commonly held myths
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If you take a minute to read the mission and guiding principles behind The Minot Voice, you’ll notice the protecting the environment gets a special call-out. This guest blog on Scientific American provides some valuable commentary on a couple ideas intended to quantify the future economic impacts through a current market mechanism.
Read & Share sourced from: Scientific American