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Dan Simmer

Allostatic Load, a Measure of Cumulative Physiological Stress, Impairs Brain Structure but Not Amyloid Accumulation in Older Adults: An Exploratory Study

Allostatic load (AL) is a composite score of progressive physiological dysregulations in response to longterm exposure to everyday stress. Despite growing interest, limited research has focused on links with cerebral and cognitive aspects o

Under Pressure: Deep-Sea Elasmobranchs Experience High Mortality and Stress in a Crustacean Trawling Fishery

Crustacean bottom trawling in southern Portugal is a an economic and culturally important fishing activity but may result in considerable bycatch of deep-sea elasmobranchs (DSE). Due to DSE life-history strategies, at-vessel mortality (AVM)

In the Shadow of Mount Nyiro

Navigating northwards from the town of Isiolo within The Rift Valley of Central Kenya, some of our East African partners and myself quickly found ourselves off the tarmac and using dirt roads traversing from village to village, which are fe

The Wheels Are Falling off Alberta’s Gas-Powered AI Data Centre Proposal

Northern Alberta’s Wonder Valley development seems somewhat less wonderful lately. Celebrity investor Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary recently hyped the $70 billion AI data center proposal to be powered by “200 trillion cubic feet of sweet na

The Banks We Deserve: Excerpt

Ed note: This excerpt is taken from From The Banks We Deserve by Oscar Perry Abello. Copyright © 2025 Oscar Perry Abello. Reproduced by permission of Island Press, Washington, D.C. The Banks We Deserve: Reclaiming Community Banking for a Ju

A look at the human toll of the construction of the Panama Canal : Code Switch

Author Cristina Henriquez next to the cover of her new novel, The Great Divide Brian McConkey/Ecco hide caption Author Cristina Henriquez next to the cover of

Vance's comments about European peacekeeping plan for Ukraine draw ire abroad

Vice President Vance speaks during a meeting with President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office on Feb. 28. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

Some academic actuaries say we are not overestimating climate and biodiversity risks

Ed Note: This piece previously appeared on interest.co.nz. It is published here with the permission of the author. Some actuaries at the University of Exeter in the UK have partnered with a group of earth scientists to examine what they ter

(Some of) The Central Questions of Our Time

(Recorded February 25th, 2025) Description The period of relative peace and stability we’ve known – enabled by the energy surplus of the Carbon Pulse and the ecological stability of the Holocene – is slipping away. AI is turbocharging the

No matter what Elon Musk thinks, government cannot and should not be run like a business

There is a so-called U. S government “efficiency” drive currently underway delegated by President Donald Trump to unelected billionaire Elon Musk. Whether Musk has the authority to do what he is doing has become a matter for federal courts (for example, see here and here).

Electricity is more dangerous than you think

Alternating current or AC electric fields are invisible, physical fields of electromagnetic radiation that are present if there is electricity available. The electricity doesn’t have to be used, just available to be used. In the following, Dr.

Just Plant Trees? It’s Not So Simple

With the many converging crises, we are looking for a quick fix to our problems. Too much carbon dioxide in the air? Plant more trees. I hear that constantly. Yes, of course we need the trees. But planting trees is no longer the solution to the enormous level of emissions in our air.

The view from Greenland: 'We don't want to be Americans' : Consider This from NPR

Naaja Nathanielsen poses for a portrait in her office in Nuuk, Greenland on Feb. 20, 2025. Grace Widyatmadja/NPR hide caption President Trump's calls for the U.S.

The Gauntlet. Where is Thrutopia?

COP27 at Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt, 2022. Sean Kidney steps onto’ stage and prepares to deliver his opening remarks. He is the CEO and co-founder of the Climate Bonds Initiative, a climate finance NGO dedicated to turning bond markets and other financial sectors ‘green’.