Stories by Art Hobson

OPINION | ART HOBSON: War with Russia, Ukraine triggered by many avoidable disputes The costs of a year of warfare in Ukraine have been enormous. Casualties (dead and wounded) include 20,000 Ukrainian civilians, 100,000 Ukrainian soldiers, 200,000 Russian soldiers and 13 million Ukra... March 7, 2023

OPINION | ART HOBSON | Fossil fuel industry faces lawsuits over what they knew, hid about climate change I've been involved with global warming since the 1970s when I began developing a new kind of physics course called "Physics and Human Affairs" that is still taught on the University of A... February 14, 2023

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Fusion breakthrough shows real promise for energy, but not soon enough to address climate change It is one o'clock on the morning of Dec. 5, 2022, at the Lawrence-Livermore nuclear weapons laboratory's National Ignition Facility (NIF). A powerful laser housed in a building the size of thr... January 24, 2023

OPINION | ART HOBSON: U.S. policy in eastern Europe pushed Russia into war The war in Ukraine drags on. Russia and Ukraine have each suffered more than 100,000 soldiers wounded and dead well before their time.An estimated 40,000 civilians are dead and 15 million to 30 millio... January 3, 2023

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Populution projections, progressive attitudes and the decline of religion point toward a better future Although there are plenty of global and U.S. threats to worry about these days, three demographic trends offer grounds for long-term optimism.World population tops the list. Overpopulation has long be... December 13, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Experimenting with quantum spookiness leads to the Nobel Prize in physics This year's physics Nobel Prize was awarded for quantum physics experiments investigating "entangled quantum states." These are situations in which a pair of microscopic particles behave... November 22, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Putin’s nuclear threat presents very real dangers to the world Ten days ago, President Vladimir Putin announced that "any means necessary" will be used to defend the Ukrainian Donbas regions that Russia recently annexed. He was clearly referring to nucl... October 11, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Tipping points signal the catestrophic threats of global warming Mother Earth has finally awakened most of us to the reality of global warming. As epic wildfires, unprecedented flooding, record heatwaves and devastating droughts strike around the world, extreme wea... September 20, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: On abortion, the political debate is full of misconceptions One of my favorite magazines, Science News, recently published an article titled "Misconceptions cloud abortion debate." It summarizes four misunderstood issues, presented below. Carl Sagan ... August 30, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Webb telescope boldly looking more powerfully than any device has looked before Following a 30-year effort involving 20,000 people around the globe at a cost of $10 billion, the James Webb Space Telescope is now at work imaging the cosmos. The payoff in understanding our universe... August 9, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: The American love affair with owning automobiles is an overwhelming burden Americans are famous for driving everywhere and, indeed, we have one of the highest per capita vehicle ownership rates in the world. Yet few drivers are aware of the enormous lifetime financial burden... July 19, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Erosion of America’s gun fetish will take a long time and a consistent push for cultural change "Typically American" has taken on a menacing tone in the wake of gun violence since the Columbine High School massacre in 1999. Mass shootings happen every day and seem to be as American as ... June 28, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Nothing but stronger gun controls will rid nation of mass shootings These days, I shudder as I switch on the PBS evening news. It often brings me to tears. The Ukraine tragedy, which could have been avoided by a more judicious American foreign policy, dominated for mo... June 7, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Humans continue irrational march toward more war This is my sixth, and hopefully last, consecutive column about Ukraine. War, in particular the irrational (on both sides) conflict in Ukraine, is the most depressing topic I can think of. Imagine: Hum... May 17, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Why must we make war? Since Russia's immoral and foolish invasion, the world has been all too "interesting." This is my sixth (and hopefully last) consecutive column about Ukraine. I'd rather write about ... April 26, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: U.S. must be willing to examine Russia’s actions through the same lens it considers its own Our president gave away the store last week. He just came right out and stated, "For God's sake, this man cannot remain in power." He was, of course, referring to President Vladimir Puti... April 5, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: As the planet remains on high alert, does it make sense to risk global destruction to preserve Ukraine’s option to join NATO? On Feb. 8, during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron, Russian President Vladimir Putin gave an alarming answer to a reporter's question: If Ukraine joined NATO, and if ... March 15, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Neutrality is a more peace-inducing option than Ukraine’s NATO membership European historian Richard Sakwa has stated that NATO's prime mission is "to manage the risks created by its existence." This applies today in spades.Beginning with NATO's first supr... February 22, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: The United States should support neutrality for Ukraine Americans seem to have no idea of the degree to which fear of attack by the West motivates Russian behavior toward Ukraine.Some relevant history: Hitler attacked the Soviet Union in June 1941. World W... February 1, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: U.S. interests in Europe aren't always aligned with other NATO nations' strategies As I've said before in these pages, U.S. global "leadership" is overly aggressive and militaristic. America cannot run the world.NATO expansion into Eastern Europe poses a threat to Russ... January 11, 2022

OPINION | ART HOBSON: A new era in astronomy Humans have long been fascinated with the sky . Our earliest stories speak of heroes laid to rest amidst the stars. Ancient structures such as Stonehenge were constructed to mark the apparent motions ... December 21, 2021

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Glasgow results reflect need for carbon fee to protect the planet, humanity The recent two-week Glasgow meeting on global warming didn't move the needle significantly, but it did reflect a public alarmed by environmental catastrophes. For example, the fraction of U.S. adu... November 30, 2021

OPINION | ART HOBSON: When it comes to filling a life with joyful experiences, it's good advice to get on a bicycle British writer and historian H. G. Wells once said "Every time I see an adult on a bicycle, I no longer despair for the future of the human race." What with global warming, obesity, traffic congestion... November 9, 2021

OPINION | ART HOBSON: World would benefit from deeper understanding of humans' development Humankind's understanding of who we are has expanded enormously in recent decades, but educational institutions are failing to keep up. This applies in spades to the sciences and to historical studies... October 19, 2021

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Land-based nuclear missiles an unneeded risk to the planet Art Hobson, [email protected] NWADG, 28 September 2021 United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres' report "Our Common Agenda" issues a dire warning: The world is at risk of coming apart over a... September 28, 2021

OPINION | ART HOBSON: The unvaccinated blew it for everyone We were doing so well. After covid rose to grotesque levels last winter, medical science developed vaccines that rescued us. Arkansas, for example, experienced a nine-month rise, peaking in January at... August 17, 2021

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Was Hiroshima bombing just the beginning of the end? On Aug. 6, 1945, a single B-29 dropped one bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, a city of 400,000. Moments later the entire city, three miles across, lay in ruins. On Aug. 9, the United States dropped another bo... July 27, 2021

OPINION | ART HOBSON: Through the bottleneck Now more than ever, and for better or worse, the world is in rapid transition. As the great scientist and naturalist Edward O. Wilson noted in his book "The Future of Life," humanity is currently in a... July 6, 2021

ART HOBSON: Freedom in the modern age A key claim of those on the political right is that over-regulation, bloated government and taxation have robbed us of our freedom -- our ability to pursue life, liberty and happiness as promised by t... June 15, 2021

ART HOBSON: Stop at two If you are, like me, a newspaper addict who wants to keep a finger on the American pulse, you should follow the daily letters to the editor. Reg Edwards of Compton, Arkansas, recently wrote about one ... May 25, 2021

ART HOBSON: Pondering the universe Humans have long gazed at the starry sky, wondering how it works, what it means. We've probably pondered such matters since at least the evolution of the genus Homo, with its enlarged frontal cortex, ... May 4, 2021

ART HOBSON: U.S. can't run the world Like an interminable re-enactment of the Vietnam War, the Afghan war drags on as we continue propping up yet another unsustainable government. Al-Qaeda's 2001 attack was so infuriating that even a ne... April 13, 2021

ART HOBSON: America's wild streak America's weaknesses were sorely exposed during the riot on our U.S. Capitol building. Who are these people? With nods to Pogo, on Jan. 6 we met the enemy and he is us. We're an odd country, full of ... March 23, 2021

ART HOBSON: Hopes, temps rise on Earth The political atmosphere since Jan. 20 has been like a breath of fresh air. A rational fact-based national administration has replaced four years of brainless, emotional rants. The change was urgent ... February 9, 2021

ART HOBSON: Biden must renew Iran deal Tomorrow's inauguration of Joe Biden as President brings partial relief from President Trump's foreign policy confusion. My previous column argued that the Iran nuclear agreement was beneficial to the... January 19, 2021

ART HOBSON: A return to the Iran nuclear deal In July 2015, the Obama Administration signed an agreement limiting Iran's nuclear weapons and ensuring enhanced monitoring in exchange for Iran's relief from sanctions. This followed six years of car... December 29, 2020

ART HOBSON: A push for "Big History" During the past century, science has revealed enormous new realms of history: the universe's 13.8 billion years, Earth's 4.5 billion years, not to mention 5 million years of early human precursors fol... December 8, 2020

ART HOBSON: Black hole knowledge expands Cultural historian Jacques Barzun once described science as "the glorious entertainment." There could be no better example than black holes. In 1916, Albert Einstein published his theory that gravity... November 17, 2020

ART HOBSON: What's up, America? The United States accounts for 4 percent of world population but 25 percent of covid-19 deaths. Although individual Americans pay twice what individual Europeans pay for health care, covid-19 kills us... August 25, 2020

ART HOBSON: Slavery, a partial history It's said that people who don't understand their history are condemned to repeat it. In this spirit, the Black Lives Matter movement prompts me to review the early history of American slavery. It beg... June 23, 2020

ART HOBSON: Covid-19 in perspective In considering the human dimensions of wars, floods, airplanes demolishing tall buildings, plagues and other mass tragedies, one needs benchmarks for perspective. My standard benchmark has long been U... June 2, 2020

ART HOBSON: What happened to the Mideast? The first sentence of Kim Ghattis' book Black Wave, a tragically beautiful post-1979 history of the Middle East, asks "What happened to us?" This haunting question, and the book's sub-title "Saudi Ara... May 12, 2020

ART HOBSON: The greatest show on Earth It's an ironic commentary on the real condition of our supposedly "advanced" nation that fully 38 percent of Americans are "young-Earth creationists" who, even in the face of today's overwhelming coun... April 21, 2020

ART HOBSON: A welcome connection Covid-19 is a perfect example of an oft-noted environmental principal: Everything is connected. All life is related through biological evolution. The planet shapes life through geological change while... March 31, 2020

ART HOBSON: The wrong way forward With congested highways, crumbling pavement, sluggish public transit, lengthy airport queues, a mere 22,000 miles of slow (under 125 mph) passenger rail and no fast trains, U.S. transportation is stuc... March 10, 2020

ART HOBSON: Understanding the new coronavirus The new coronavirus is an environmental issue arising from human disruption of our planet's wildlife. We thoughtlessly proliferate our numbers; blast highways through jungles; eat wild animals; clear ... February 18, 2020

ART HOBSON: Blundering into a new forever war Last June, following the announcement of still more crippling sanctions on Iran, President Trump added fuel to the fire with a few tweets: "Any attack by Iran on anything American will be met with gre... January 28, 2020

ART HOBSON: Exploring the starry sky The 2019 Nobel Prize in physics honored humankind's fascination with the starry sky and our progress in understanding the nature of the universe. Except for sex, the stars might be our longest-standin... January 7, 2020

ART HOBSON: The fate of the Earth A year ago I wrote a column based on Steven Pinker's book "Enlightenment Now: The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress." It's an eye-opening analysis of modern times. The book paints an op... December 17, 2019

ART HOBSON: Scientists discover exoplanets Twenty-four years ago, astronomers Michael Mayor and Didier Queloz started something big. They made science's first discovery of a planet orbiting a typical star outside our solar system. Their search... November 5, 2019