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.
Robot monkeys
16 October 2003
Monkey see, monkey do
Monkeys can be made to move robot arms with their thoughts.
The chase for artificial intelligence
9 October 2003
Agents of creation
A report from the first International Workshop on Complex Agent-Based Dynamic Networks, in Oxford, England; the latest in computer modelling of complex systems.
Talking about ourselves
2 October 2003
This headline is (half) false
A new way to analyse self-referential and contradictory statements.
Exploring Jupiter
18 September 2003
Magnifico!
The life and death of Galileo, America’s Jupiter probe.
Mobile telephony
11 September 2003
The victor divides the calls
A war over mobile phones in Iraq.
Business News
tags: Iraq, The Economist
Secrets
4 September 2003
Uncrackable beams of light
Quantum cryptography–hailed by theoreticians as the ultimate of uncrackable codesis finally going commercial.
Nanotechnology
4 September 2003
More light than heat
A new sort of nanoglass would allow offices to stay bright but remain cool.
Technology
tags: The Economist
Phrenology (but actually real)
4 September 2003
Shapely skulls
Geometry sheds new light on the first Americans
Infection!
28 August 2003
Re: That movie
The latest computer scourges, and their consequences–the significance and future of SoBig.F and the Blaster.
Wacky aeroplanes
7 August 2003
Wings of desire
New technology may change how people fly–a report from the Experimental Aircraft Association’s annual fly-in in Oshkosh, Wisconsin.
Plus, ultralight aircraft in Oshkosh; their increasing usefullness.
Technology
tags: EAA, oshkosh, The Economist
The nature of science
7 August 2003
The myth of structure
A review of a book by Steve Fuller about a historic debate between Karl Popper and Thomas Kuhn about the nature of science.
Dwelling above
3 July 2003
Suspended animation
Unmanned craft loitering in the stratosphere may soon supplant satellites.
Plus a box on a stealthy drone that flies like an aeroplane and takes off like a helicopter. >>>
Technology
tags: The Economist, UAVs
Modern office
19 June 2003
Uncrossed wires
A better way to teleconference.
Technology
tags: The Economist
Can video games do good?
29 May 2003
Shoot ’em up
Playing action games improves visual skills.
Technology
tags: The Economist, video games