‘Origins: Cosmos, Earth and Mankind’ is a classic work in the Big History movement. Discover how it outlines the evolution of the Universe and its meaning for our lives together. I went to an enormous high school. We had over 1,800 students. It was a small town then, but kids were bused into our central school from all over the county for their secondary education. The teachers didn’t know one another, let alone the students. In that atmosphere, I could…

The “copper culture” lived near the Great Lakes and was among the world’s first peoples to forge metals. Discover why their culture moved on and how its discovery debunks racial stereotypes. When I was in Grade 4, we learned a song from our music teacher. It went like this: “Where…

Lifeless matter could only have evolved into self-replicating molecules by growing more complex. Discover how destruction might make this counterintuitive process conceivable Lemon, the yellow beagle I had as a small boy, wasn’t feeling well. It turned out that he had worms. I asked my dad how dogs get worms. …

The Big Bang Afterglow is known as the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB). Discover how combining CMB data with galactic observations is unlocking the secret of galaxy formation. I’ve run into counterfeit currency a couple of times. In one case, when I was a travelling consultant, I came home from Nashville…

Lost in Math is Sabine Hossenfelder’s book challenging physicists’ preference for elegant theories over experimental results. Discover how this can lead to dead end research that misleads the public. I have mixed feelings about YouTube. The good news about the video site is that anybody can start a TV channel there. The bad news is that anybody can start a TV channel there. There’s a tremendous amount of misinformation on the world’s largest video sharing platform. That’s true all…

Subjective memories are those vivid, emotional impressions we relive when recalling a past experience. Find out how they affect our decision-making and why they may not be in our best interest. “We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it and stop…

Air pollution has a cooling effect on the atmosphere, while greenhouse gases cause global warming. Find out why both emission types must be cut in combination to preserve our environment. I get drawn into arguments more often than I probably should. Climate deniers, in particular, tend to raise my ire. …

The Universe’s expansion rate, the Hubble constant, is vital to understanding the Cosmos’ origin and fate. Find out how the latest technique for measuring the Hubble constant sheds new light on the past and future. I was a travelling consultant for about twenty years, and I spent a significant part…

The Canon is a playful book aimed at teaching adults basic science. Find out why the author felt readers needed this book and how it makes science fun again. My relationship with science has always been complicated. I’m a lifelong learner, and I’ve always been too curious for my own good. When it comes to math, which is the hard sciences’ backbone, it’s been a bit of a roller coaster ride. I won the gold medal for business studies…