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.
Learning Math From Software Is Like Learning Parenting
Skills From Second Life 29 June 2012
Skills From Second Life 29 June 2012
Math education technology does not promote real understanding.
A follow-up.
[Slate]
clips, Computer Science and Mathematics, Science, Science and Technology, Science Policy and Technological Culture, Technology
tags: Calculators, Conrad Wolfram, constructivism, Education, Evan Weinberg, Graphing Calculators, Math Education, Mathematica, Paul Karafiol, pedagogy, Promethean, Robert Talbert, Science Education, Stephen Wolfram, TIMSS
Why Johnny Can’t Add Without a Calculator
25 June 2012
Technology is doing to math education what industrial agriculture did to food: making it efficient, monotonous, and low-quality.
How and why graphing calculators, educational software, interactive whiteboards and the like undermine actual learning in elementary, middle and high schools.
[Slate]
clips, Computer Science and Mathematics, Physics, Astronomy and Space, Science, Science and Technology, Science Policy and Technological Culture, Technology
tags: Calculators, constructivism, Education, Graphing Calculators, HH Wu, Longfellow Middle School, Math Education, NCTM, pedagogy, Promethean, Science Education, Slate, Smart Board
What Economists Get Wrong About Science and Technology
17 May 2012
The failures of trying to quantify research’s effects on the economy
And why they matter.
[Slate]
The Nucleus of the Digital Age
3 March 2012
A review of George Dyson’s “Turing’s Cathedral”
In pursuit of hydrogen bombs, a math genius and a brilliant tinkerer in Princeton developed the modern computer.
[Wall Street Journal]
The 40-year itch
5 October 2011
How to build a really awesome spaceship, maybe
Would-be space explorers, scientists, and a couple of crackpots gather at DARPA’s 100-Year Starship Symposium to try to get interstellar travel unstuck.
[Slate]
clips, Physics, Astronomy and Space, Science and Technology, Science Policy and Technological Culture, Technology
tags: 100 year straship, DARPA, exotic propulsion, gravity drives, interstellar travel, NASA, nuclear rockets, quantum vacuum fluctuation, Slate, solar sails, space travel, zero point energy
Salvaging space
1 September 2011
Cleaning up low-Earth-orbit debris might lead to new space technologies.
Why problems are sometimes useful to have.
[Slate]
Weapons in space
16 August 2011
The future (and past) of weapons in space–the vulnerabilities of satellites and the difficulty of banning weapons
An in-depth report, for purchase or subscribers.
[CQ Global Researcher]
The playstation and the warfighter
2 December 2004
Playing to win
Can video games help train soldiers?
Technology
tags: army, The Economist, video games
Super-super-sonic Flight
27 March 2004
Speed demon
The first flight of a scramjet–at Mach 7.
Technology
tags: aerospace, scramjets, The Economist
A finely drawn map
13 March 2004
Why speed isn’t everything
The next generation of microchip design
Technology
tags: microchips, The Economist
Solid-state light
6 March 2004
Seeing c
How to freeze light on a computer chip.
Technology
tags: light, The Economist
After the fingerprint
4 December 2003
Prepare to be scanned
Biometrics: High-tech security systems that rely on detailed measurements of the human body, known as biometrics, are taking off. But should they be?
And, an accompanying leader (editorial), written with Tom Standage.
Technology
tags: biometrics, The Economist