Normalization of deviance, the process of becoming inured to risky actions, is a useful concept that was developed to explain how the Challenger disaster happened.
Earth and Space
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A Barge Full of Garbage Helped to Fuel a Recycling Movement
In the 1980s, rising public awareness about waste was fueled by a bizarre news story about a meandering New York City garbage barge.
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The Moon’s Lasting Pull
Our moon has winked from the heavens as a symbol and anchor, reminding us not only the cycle of life, but also of danger and death. Scientists have brought the moon into sharper focus, and astronauts have left the first footprints there. But will we ever be able to explain its lasting, mesmerizing power of attraction?
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Space Law: The Next Generation
An international treaty laid out the basics of space law in 1967. But without a lot of case history to go on, lawyers today have looked to maritime law and Arctic exploration as they lay the groundwork for how space will be governed.
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Biosphere 2: A Faulty Mars Survival Test Gets a Second Act
NASA isn’t the first organization to experiment with living on Mars – in 1991 eight people sealed themselves inside a giant glass biosphere to practice space living. By the time they emerged two years later, they had “suffocated, starved and went mad.”
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Freeman Dyson
We’ve teamed with PBS’ American Experience to take a look back at Freeman Dyson, who explored whether interplanetary space travel could be made possible by harnessing the power of a nuclear bomb.
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Earthquake Readiness: How the San Franciso 1989 Quake Shook Awareness
The 1989 earthquake that shook San Francisco sent out a wake up call that continues to echo across the country.
