About STEM briefs
The purpose of this blog is to provide brief updates on topics in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math, with links to high quality, freely accessible sources that can provide the full story.
Sometimes the briefs will be updates about ongoing issues, just providing the most recent developments on the topic (e.g. Atmospheric CO2 and Global mean temperatures). Others will be notices about authoritative summaries on a topic that were just released (e.g. reports from The National Academies).
I will avoid sensationalism that keeps you coming back for more updates, and will instead try to provide a chunk of information that lets you walk away with a better understanding of the world. I do not intend to include 'breaking news', especially before findings have been replicated or when the implications are largely speculative. However, if a recent announcement immediately fits into a well understood body of theory (e.g. detection of gravitational waves), I may point to a story describing the significance. I'll stay away from politicized hyperbole and 'inside baseball' about scientific institutions, but will include reviews that describe how scientific institutions operate.
The briefs are meant to keep you up to date on developments in STEM since you took high school science class 20 years ago.