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.
Looking for planets around distant stars
23 September 2004
In search of the Earth Mark II
Terrestrial exoplanets will likely be found soon.
Anatomy of a search engine
16 September 2004
How Google works
A brief history of the world’s most revolutionary search engine. Plus, an interview with me about that brief history.
Extreme Weather
16 September 2004
Shelter from the storm
What hurricane scientists study when they study hurricanes
Science
tags: hurricanes, meteorology, The Economist
Johnny Cash
16 September 2004
Ring of Firesales
A review of a new book about Johnny Cash’s Folsom prison concert
Book Reviews
tags: The Economist
Medical Testing
9 September 2004
Sounds of silence
Drug companies may soon be forced to report the results of all clinical trials.
Nicholson Baker
2 September 2004
Room with a point of view
A review of Checkpoint, Nicholson Baker’s new novel.
Book Reviews
tags: The Economist
Telescopes in orbit
28 August 2004
X-ray specs
A retrospective on NASA’s Great Observatories, Compton, and Spitzer.
Understanding gravity
21 August 2004
An invisible hand
A gravitational mystery affecting pendulums and satellites–could General Relativity be wrong?
The Shipping Boom
22 July 2004
On the crest of a wave?
Things have been so good in the bulk-shipping market that it is hard to believe they can stay that way
with Iain Carson
Business News
tags: The Economist
In defense (reluctantly) of Michael Moore
8 July 2004
Sinned against
A review of a book which is a big fast stupid attack on Michael Moore.
Life of a mountaineer
24 June 2004
Ulrich Inderbinen
The oldest mountain guide around.
Obituaries
tags: The Economist
Quantum oddities
17 June 2004
In the twinkling of an ion
Two groups have succeeded in teleporting quantum states.