Reading List of the Day 12-17-2010 Edition

there are some scientists who say we’re naturally born runners as well, that our bodies evolved to run. Now, anthropologist Dan Lieberman, one of the proponents of the “human runner” school, concludes that we do it better without shoes.

if these problems are surmounted (and it seems like they could be), this could put a serious dent in our CO2 emissions. And the U.S. has a 1,000 year supply of thorium. [See also the comments.]

Eric Berger of the Houston Chronicle has a really important article out about how, basically, the good guys lost a major battle in the climate war over the past few months. Some combination of the weather, ClimateGate, the relative failure of Copenhagen, and now, the decreasing likelihood of the U.S. Senate passing cap and trade have shifted a mood of climate optimism–which I certainly felt about a year ago–to one of deep despair.

Scientists have found evidence of some of the original coloration of a dinosaur that lived about 125 million years ago, showing that it had rings of orange-brown bristly feathers around its tail.