WELCOME
Thanks for coming to visit my website. I write about science, technology, foreign affairs, and other subjects.
Follow me on Twitter: @kkakaesDrones and Aerial Observation
I edited and wrote part of a short book published by New America in July 2015 and freely available online, about how drones are being used in new ways around the world. It's meant to be useful to people who want to fly drones.The Pioneer Detectives
I published a short book with The Millions.
It's the story of the Pioneer Anomaly, a long-standing mystery. The book is short and fun—the length of a novella—but also, in the words of Amazon's reviewer, "powerful and sad". If you've got any curiosity about how NASA works behind the scenes or why scientists believe what they do, I think you'll enjoy the book.
It is available on Amazon as a Kindle Single and also on Apple's iBooks.Drone Wars
I wrote a chapter on the long history of drone technology going back to the early 20th century in this edited Cambridge University Press volume.
Mexico and the United States
19 June 2008
A wary friendship
Amid bad temper and wounded pride, Mexico and the United States inch towards compromise on a plan to boost the fight against drug crime
Drug violence in Mexico
15 May 2008
Can the army out-gun the drug lords?
Four top police officers, and more than a hundred people, are killed over the course of a single week in drug-related shootings
Mexican banks
1 May 2008
Riding high
Mexico’s fast-growing banks appear unusually unaffected by the financial crisis north of the border
A tale of two Mexicos
24 April 2008
North and south
Why can’t its stagnant southern states catch up with the rest of Mexico?
The Race to find the World’s Biggest Underwater Caves
15 April 2008
In the April 2008 issue of Discover magazine, I wrote a story about two explorers, one British and one German, who are among the world’s leading cave divers, and of how they found the connection between Sac Actun and Nohoch Nah Chich, in the Yucatan peninsula, finding what was at the time the world’s biggest underwater cave.
Mexico’s energy reform
10 April 2008
Regeneration
Felipe Calderón sends a modest plan to Congress, which girds for battle
The Return of AMLO
19 March 2008
The resurrection
The return of a former opponent adds to the president’s troubles
Mexico and human rights
14 February 2008
Big, expensive and weirdly spineless
A much-needed human-rights watchdog continues to disappoint
Mexico’s battle with drug gangs
31 January 2008
Marching as to war
Drug gangs ratchet up the violence in Mexico as judicial reform begins
Mexico and NAFTA
24 January 2008
Tariffs and tortillas
Trade is not to blame for the poverty of Mexican farmers
Pemex
19 December 2007
Running just to stand still
How to reform the flawed behemoth that is the world’s sixth-biggest oil producer
Higher education in Mexico
6 December 2007
A doctor takes charge
Big university, big scientific ambitions