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 mi…
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 mi…
Cultural historian Jacques Barzun once described science as "the glorious entertainment." There could be no better example than black holes.
The United States accounts for 4 percent of world population but 25 percent of covid-19 deaths. Although individual Americans pay twice what individual Europea…
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 e…
In facing today's spread of coronavirus, lessons must be learned from the past.
Religious fundamentalism draws Mideast away from democratic reforms
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…
Everything is connected, which provides challenges in 2020 but also some hope.
Arkansas problem is too many cars, not too few roads
Preparation is key if U.S., world is to contain outbreaks of deadly new viruses.
The United States needs to cool its heels and re-enter discussions for a nuclear agreement with Iran.
Columnist Art Hobson discusses Nobel Prize-winning work ofastrophysicist James Peebles.
Columnist Art Hobson says climate change, nuclear weapons threaten the future, but there's hope if humans can find the will for needed change.
Columnist Art Hobson addresses the discoveries that led to the Nobel Prize for two astronomers.
Columnist Art Hobson reflects on a new book of history and the importance of knowing where the nation has come from.
Columnist Art Hobson says President Trump's rejection of a nuclear deal with Iran makes the world a more dangerous place.
The science of nuclear bombs is fascinating, but what they can do to the world is frightening.
War tensions build daily in the Persian Gulf. President Trump's historic and disastrous decision to violate the Obama-era nuclear deal negotiated by Iran, Euro…
Between Iran and North Korea, nuclear weapons have been in the news these past few weeks. Civilization faces at least two existential threats, nuclear war and …
It's hard to believe we're back again at the brink of disaster. Weren't Vietnam, Iraq, Libya and Syria (just to mention a few) sufficient to teach us a lesson?
America is on the verge of another big military mistake. We should have learned better from our disastrous attacks on Vietnam, Iraq and Libya. Why must America…
Those who value women's rights had best pay attention to recent state and national developments. The anti-choice movement is engaged in a dangerous campaign to…
On April 11, this newspaper published a photo of an object never before seen by humans: a black hole.
We're privileged to live amid the magnificent Ozark Mountains while enjoying the best in sophisticated arts and entertainment. I've always loved music, and pro…
My last two columns argued that ice is melting everywhere, especially at the poles, due to global warming. The West Antarctic Ice Sheet may break up soon, rais…
Three weeks ago I suggested the West Antarctic ice sheet will probably melt soon, as it did during the previous interglacial period 125,000 years ago, raising …
For perspective, let's begin with some recent geological history. Due to changes in Earth's orbital behavior around the sun, there have been many glacial perio…
I'm no fan of President Trump, but it's irrational to automatically oppose everything he does. Many will disagree, but he recently did two things right by anno…
Steven Pinker's new book "Enlightenment Now: The case for reason, science, humanism, and progress" paints an optimistic picture of global improvement since the…
Why do Canadians seem to resolve difficult issues more rationally and peacefully than Americans? Perhaps it's an outgrowth of our origin in violent revolution …
In 2015, the New York Times published an op-ed urging President Obama to bomb Iran's nuclear facilities and provide "vigoroU.S. American support for ... regime…
By early August, 85 large fires burned in California and northern California was declared a national disaster.
How about that? After Chairman Kim Jong Un agreed with President Trump to "work toward denuclearization," and Trump's tweet expressing "confidence that Kim ...…
Whether one considers the Iran nuclear deal, North Korea's H-bomb, Russia's arsenal or America's military establishment, it's clear we all need to know somethi…
Northwest Arkansas needs mass transit
Humankind received stunning good news on May 28 when Ireland voted to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion. The vote had been expected to be close, but th…
It would be hard to top the recklessness of George W. Bush's 2003 attack on Iraq, but President Trump has managed it by withdrawing from the Iranian nuclear ag…
NASA's latest planet-hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite or TESS, rocketed into space on April 18. It will be two months before the refrigerator-…
As readers probably know, I'm an academic type who does a lot of complaining about developments that seem to me to be unhealthy for the planet and its inhabita…
A March 4 headline read "'In God We Trust' signs going up in schools." New Arkansas legislation requires public schools to display such posters whenever someon…
The Trump administration recently released a National Defense Strategy that tries to justify a new massive military buildup throughout the world. While continu…
Unbending ideology is the enemy of democracy. We see this in nations doomed to terrorism by rigid religious beliefs. We see it in the authoritarian government …
Quantum physics -- the study of matter and energy at the microscopic level -- delights me, and I've gotten more involved with it since retirement provided more…
Since coming here in 1964. I've been happy to be a Fayetteville citizen, but I'm happier still since scanning the city's new Energy Action Plan.
"Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Arkansas has annual highway "needs" totaling about $900 million, but only about $450 million available in highway allocations. The state Highway Commission hop…
I'm no expert on gun violence, but events have surely shown we'd better pay attention to it. The Las Vegas massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U…
America and North Korea are entangled in a perilous game. The U.S., which could have prevented this impasse, needs a rational foreign policy based on current r…
Please allow me to introduce you to one of nature's strangest objects: the neutrino.
In my previous column, I argued that, given his aim of maintaining absolute power, Kim Jong Un's nuclear weapons are actually a rational response to America's …