Richard Brill is a retired professor of science at Honolulu Community College. His column runs on the first and third Fridays of the month.
Earth is the water planet, but perhaps it is equally appropriate to call Earth the water cloud planet. Although liquid water is a distinctive feature of planet Earth, water clouds are even more so. Read more
Feeling tired today? Most of us grow more weary as the day goes on and as the years pass. We say we are out of energy or getting low on energy, which is a fact. Read more
Equilibrium is a state of balance of opposing actions that is central in virtually everything that happens, from basic physics to dance and the arts, economics and social ideologies. Read more
Before the development of magnetic resonance imaging, X-rays were the only way to image inside the body. But X-rays are too energetic and show hard structures such as bones while they penetrate connective tissue and organs that show only as ghostly images. Read more
There are two ways that a substance can respond to an electric field. Read more
A beach seems constant from day to day, yet it is an ever-changing river of sand. On a geologic time scale the life of a beach is like a fruit fly in our human time. Read more
Searching for water on Mars and looking for other distant planets that may be Earth-like recalls that it is not only water, but also carbon that is necessary for life. Read more
Today’s chemical measurements are 1,000 times more sensitive than in the 1970s. Analyses at the parts per billion range — about one drop in a swimming pool — are commonplace. Read more
Folk wisdom has recognized the role of empty calories in weight gain and obesity for years, but there has not been much public discussion about the addictive qualities of sugar. Read more
Stay in touch with top news, as it happens, conveniently in your email inbox. It's FREE!
Just in case you might miss it, take note that the summer solstice will occur on Wednesday at 4:57 a.m. as the sun reaches its northernmost point of 23.26 degrees latitude in its annual journey through the sky. Read more
Zero, nothing, zilch, nada? The number zero is a misunderstood enigma. Its place in our number system is relatively recent, appearing much later than the Arabic numerals we use to display number digits. Read more
Behold the ubiquitous gecko climbing a vertical wall in the blink of an eye or scurrying across the ceiling in gravity- defying dashes. Read more
Glass is one of our most common and often overlooked technologies because it is so common, but that has not always been the case. Glassmaking technology has a history longer than history itself. Read more
Where is ET? After nearly 50 years of searching for intelligent signals from space, astronomers have yet to receive a single verifiable signal of intelligent origin. Read more
The rare earths are a relatively abundant group of 17 elements that are so chemically similar that 15 of them occupy a single row and column in the periodic table. Read more
We are immersed in a dense sea of electromagnetism, or EM. Read more
Got to have that morning rush, whether it is from coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks, energy drinks or some other form of caffeine? Read more
What is the universe made of? This is one of the burning questions confronting today’s astrophysicists and cosmologists. Read more
The polar vortex is a permanent low- pressure system that surrounds the geographical north and south poles. “Vortex” refers to the circulation around the poles. The term also describes smaller vortices that occur within lobes of the primary vortex. Read more
Most people have now heard of the atmospheric river called the “Pineapple Express” and the heavy rain and snowfall it caused in California. Read more
Science has recently revealed new insights into the human body. A vast information network like the internet exists inside. Formerly, scientists thought the brain ruled all body systems and that the other organs merely obeyed its commands. Read more
