You’re driving, and you come to an intersection. Do you turn left, right, or continue ahead? If you know your destination, the decision usually isn’t hard, but sometimes you get new information, like a roadblock up ahead, or a strong storm coming at you from the left,...
“You don’t know what you don’t know.” That simple sentence implies a lot. Most of the gaps in our knowledge are in areas where we don’t think we have gaps in our knowledge, because we never heard the right information. Modern news media in particular plays on...
Have you ever read a book and found a typo? A professional book which was edited and reviewed still had an error in it. Or something going through an automated assembly line fails — the process works thousands of times in a row, but then you get a dud. Even highly...
Six Americans trapped in Iran in 1979 were in hiding. A CIA master of disguise, Tony Mendez, was sent to extricate them. Discovery would mean painful death for Tony and the Americans. Tony created a fake film company, gave the Americans Canadian passports, disguised...
Gambling —it’s never a good idea, yet each year people flock to Las Vegas to do just that. Why is it a bad idea? Because in each game played there, the “House” has the odds tilted in its favor, so that eventually and on average, the players lose money. There is no way...
We all have beliefs. We believe we will wake up tomorrow, even though most of us have no idea how that can happen or how sleep works. We go to bed fearlessly, confident of awakening tomorrow. We have faith in the ability of pilots to fly planes, and we believe that if...
A fad is something that becomes popular quickly, but then often fades away. But some fads stick around because they have lasting value. Something that gains popularity quickly may or may not have value, but if it does, it continues to be popular, and eventually...
The scientific process is excellent at gathering data. But the interpretation of that data is left up to people, who can make mistakes, especially if operating from a biased mindset. Just because a study is carefully done by top notch researchers, don’t expect that...
Who are we? What are we? There are two main views in the world that attempt to answer the questions. The first is that there was a “Big Bang” or undirected natural forces came together to eventually develop higher and higher levels of complexity, organization, and...
Dr. Nemec answers the important question: “if I have tested positive for COVID and I am on the THI program what should I do to help myself? Should I add more supplementation?”...
According to the Pew Research Center, a nationwide polling firm, only 20% of U.S. adults say they trust the government to “do the right thing”, but when it comes to their trust as to how well the government “ensures good food and medicine”, 62% trust the...
When we look at other laws in our world, we can see how we are affected. Take the second law of thermodynamics, which means everything in this world is becoming more disordered, not ordered. That is why we age, and everything that is alive eventually breaks down and...
In this world there are certain physical laws that we all live by. The law of gravity is one of them. If we step off a building, that law is evident as we fall to the ground. But there is another law that can supersede that law: the law of aerodynamics and jet...
Velcro — what would we do without it? We can attach and detach fabric with it as often as we wish, yet it can hold together quite firmly. Like so many inventions, Velcro was an imitation of nature. An engineer and inventor named George de Mestral one day noticed how...
Most likely you are familiar with virtual videoconferences, such as Zoom meetings, where you get together with other people via computers and smartphones — except you are not really together at all. Instead, your camera records your image and voice and then converts...
The Monarch Butterfly normally lives about a month, with one amazing exception: the fourth generation Monarch migrates, and this generation can live up to eight months. They migrate up to 3,000 miles, mostly to Mexico and California, where they overwinter, then begin...
Look closely at a well-tended farm, where you can see row after row of healthy crops growing. If the soil is fertile and weather conditions have been good, you see that almost every plant is strong and healthy. The farmer did not go and pull weak plants — those rows...
Sensors —we see them everywhere. “Check engine”, “low battery”, a home alarm system — these all start with sensors, which send signals to some sort of intelligent device that figures out what the sensors are telling it and decides what action to take. Car sensors...
If you are overweight, the last thing you want is to be reminded of why you should lose weight. No one who has extra pounds enjoys them. You are reminded when you try to exercise or just move about during your day, when you look in the mirror, or when you look at...
In October of 2003, General Stanley McChrystal took command of the U.S. Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC). He took command when JSOC was battling Al-Qaeda in Iraq — and losing. Even with elite military forces under his new command, Al-Qaeda just kept getting...
