Perspectives
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Earth Hasn’t Been this Hot for More than 100,000 Years
Becca Stanek
October 4, 2016
A new discussion paper by former senior NASA climate scientist James Hansen and 11 other experts published in the Earth System Dynamics journal reveals the steady rise of Earth’s temperatures over the past 45 years means the planet is now as warm as it was during the interglacial Eemian period, which ended more than 115,000 years ago. Back then, Earth’s sea levels were 20-30 feet higher than they are today and there was “much less ice,” The Guardian reported.
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Church Has More Martyrs Today Than in First Centuries, Says Pope Francis
Leonardo Blair
December 27, 2016
In remarks Monday to thousands of pilgrims who had gathered in St. Peter’s Square, Vatican City, to mark the Feast of Saint Stephen, the Church’s first martyr, Francis called on Christians to remember those who died for their Christian faith through history.
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Vulnerability Is the Internet’s Original Sin
Fred Kaplan
October 25, 2016
On the day (perhaps not long from now) when the entire internet crashes, no one will be able to say that we didn’t see it coming. The denial-of-service attack on the morning of Oct. 21--which shut down Twitter, Spotify, Netflix, and a dozen other websites--offers a preview, in miniature and against relatively trivial targets, of how the day of doom might unfold.
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Chemical Weapons Dumped in the Ocean Could Threaten Waters Worldwide
Andrew Curry
November 11, 2016
Just before 10:10 on a warm summer night in 1917, German soldiers loaded a new type of armament into their artillery and began bombarding enemy lines near Ypres in Belgium. The shells, each emblazoned with a bright yellow cross, made a strange sound as their contents partly vaporized and showered an oily liquid over the Allied trenches.
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Putting a Computer in Your brain is No Longer Science Fiction
Elizabeth Dwoskin
August 15, 2016
Like many in Silicon Valley, technology entrepreneur Bryan Johnson sees a future in which intelligent machines can do things like drive cars on their own and anticipate our needs before we ask.
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Billy Graham: ‘The Days of Noah’ Are Returning to Earth
Katherine Weber
June 1, 2016
The Rev. Billy Graham warns in a message in the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association’s Decision magazine that God’s judgment is due to return to Earth.