Mark Twain supposedly wrote, "Everybody talks about the weather, but nobody does anything about it." That got a laugh from readers in 1897—not only could nobody influence the sun and rain, but nobody could even imagine how to try. You might as well shake your fist at the law of gravity. But what was a joke a hundred years ago is sounding more and more scary these days, because the weather might be changing, and it might be our fault. And if it's our fault, then it's our responsibility to fix it. I'm talking about the various phenomena we lump...

The reign of dinosaurs ended about 65 million years ago. The search for the cause of this extinction has brought together a diverse array of scientists -- astronomers, chemists, ecologists, physicists, evolutionary biologists, oceanographers and geologists. The Milwaukee Public Museum is playing a central role in this research. Hundreds of hypotheses have been proposed to explain the extinction of dinosaurs including: competition from the mammals, diseases, and even allergies to the newly evolved flowering plants. But these kinds of explanations could not explain all events associated with the extinction. More importantly, because the extinction happened to both land and sea...

The Earth is made of rock, from the tallest mountains to the floor of the deepest ocean. Thousands of different types of rocks and minerals have been found on Earth. Most rocks at the Earth's surface are formed from only eight elements (oxygen, silicon, aluminum, iron, magnesium, calcium, potassium, and sodium), but these elements are combined in a number of ways to make rocks that are very different. Rocks are continually changing. Wind and water wear them down and carry bits of rock away; the tiny particles accumulate in a lake or ocean and harden into rock again. The oldest...

In this detailed view from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope, the so-called Cat's Eye Nebula looks like the penetrating eye of the disembodied sorcerer Sauron from the film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings." The nebula, formally cataloged NGC 6543, is every bit as inscrutable as the J.R.R. Tolkien phantom character. Though the Cat's Eye Nebula was one of the first planetary nebulae to be discovered, it is one of the most complex such nebulae seen in space.

Friedrich Nietzsche was a German philosopher of the late 19th century who challenged the foundations of traditional morality and Christianity. He believed in life, creativity, health, and the realities of the world we live in, rather than those situated in a world beyond. Central to Nietzsche's philosophy is the idea of "life-affirmation," which involves an honest questioning of all doctrines which drain life's energies, however socially prevalent those views might be. Often referred to as one of the first "existentialist" philosophers, Nietzsche has inspired leading figures in all walks of cultural life, including dancers, poets, novelists, painters, psychologists, philosophers, sociologists...

Covering a wide range of distinct political, economic, and cultural trends, the term “globalization” has quickly become one of the most fashionable buzzwords of contemporary political and academic debate. In popular discourse, globalization often functions as little more than a synonym for one or more of the following phenomena: the pursuit of classical liberal (or “free market”) policies in the world economy (“economic liberalization”), the growing dominance of western (or even American) forms of political, economic, and cultural life (“westernization” or “Americanization”), the proliferation of new information technologies (the “Internet Revolution”), as well as the notion that humanity stands at...

The remains of a tiny and hitherto unknown species of human that lived as recently as 13,000 years ago have been discovered on an Indonesian island. The discovery has been heralded as the most important palaeoanthropological find for 50 years, and has radically altered the accepted picture of human evolution. The skull and bones of one adult female, and fragments from up to six other specimens, were found in the Liang Bua limestone caves on Flores Island, which lies at...

Portrait and figure painting were Katy Kianush's first love. This has provided her with an endless and challenging source of study. The faces and figures are created in a fresh way, using expressions, colours and compositions that she feels will suit the subjects. She believes that a successful portrait is created from empathy and understanding by the artist for his or her subject. The "face" plays an important part in communicating with the viewer, leading to speculation about the subject's...

In the same way that a Wall Street banker would never show up at work sporting beads and sandals, it would be unthinkable for members of an indigenous community in Bolivia to wear the distinctive dress of another community. Folk art is quintessentially local art, an expression of not only a specific cultural outlook, but even of the land itself in the form of the materials and tools available to artisans. And so, stepping into the new IDB Cultural Center...

When the largest exhibition ever of works by Gilbert Stuart (1755–1828) opens this month at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, visitors will gain vivid insight into the preeminent portrait artist of the founding fathers and mothers and also into the remarkable individuals who were his subjects. “Stuart’s relation with his sitters is the focus of this exhibition because that relationship was critical to the outcome of the work,” says Carrie Rebora Barratt, curator of American paintings and sculpture at the...