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James Gaines

I was born in San Antonio to a line of writers and eccentrics and grew up in a cabin in the woods. I'm interested in natural history, the history of exploration, and what happens when things start to go weird. Here I am on Twitter.

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This man may have saved the world from nuclear war. His story is a heart-pumper.

Even if you don't know who Petrov was, he might be the reason you're alive today.

Images in order via Stanislav Petrov/Wikimedia Commons and Image via Pixabay.

Soviet soldier makes a decision that may have saved all life on the planet.

This article originally appeared on 09.20.17

And even if you don't know who Petrov was, he might be the reason you're alive today.

In the 1980s, Petrov was a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Union's Air Defense Forces. He was in charge of watching the computers at one of the Soviety Union's nuclear early warning centers. If the Americans wanted to start a nuclear war, Petrov would be one of the first to know.

At this time, the United States and the Soviet Union were embroiled in the Cold War. Each had stockpiled tens of thousands of nuclear weapons and a nuclear war, though horrific, often seemed imminent.

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Science

How a little monkey's very hard day could teach us why we get jealous.

When they looked at the jilted monkey's brain, two areas in particular lit up.

Image via Pixabay and Photo by Jeff Kubina/Wikimedia Commons/Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic.

The human game of love is a battle won and lost by more than just us.

This article originally appeared on 10.19.17

The monkey had a busy morning, but it was finally time to go home.

He was a small creature, about the size of a rabbit, with a long prehensile tail and dusky red fur. Earlier that day, scientists had scooped him up from his cage and taken him away to get a shot. But now that was done, and just like for many of us, heading home meant that he'd finally get to rest and hang out with his mate.

This time, though, his scientist colleagues weren’t done with him. In fact, our monkey was being set up for an incredible betrayal.

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Pop Culture

Hear paralyzed musicians deliver a performance with only their brainwaves.

This string quartet makes beautiful music — with their minds.

Image created from Burst and Pixabay photos

Merging science and paralyzed musicians to make music.

This article originally appeared on 10.25.16

Imagine seeing a string quartet play beautiful music.

Strings are pretty much my favorite kind of instrument; it's hard for me to listen to a cello or violin and not feel something. And when you get four musicians all playing together? Beautiful.

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James Gaines

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Imagine you're working at a school and one of the kids is starting to act up. What do you do?

But Robert W. Coleman Elementary School has been doing something different when students act out: offering meditation.

Meditation and mindfulness are pretty interesting, scientifically.

Back at the school, the Mindful Moment Room isn't the only way Robert W. Coleman Elementary has been encouraging its kids.

The program also helps mentor and tutor the kids, as well as teach them about the environment.

Oh, and by the way, the schools are seeing a tangible benefit from this program, too.

What if I told you someone did find a way to "categorize" your love style but with actual real science?

What if I told you someone did find a way to "categorize" your love style but with actual real science?

1. The Conflicted, but Passionate

2. The Partner-Focused

3. The Social Butterflies

4. The Dramatic

So what's best? Well, here's where this article differs from a lot of those Internet quizzes. Because the answer is that there isn't a "best" kind of relationship.

Wait, you're not going to tell me how to find the perfect, golden, eternally-happy relationship?! Why even study this then?

Our world is changing every day.

NASA satellites continually monitor the Earth, snapping photos and sending information to researchers on the ground.

1. In May 2016, NASA's satellites picked up the devastating 2016 Fort McMurray wildfire.

2. The satellites also captured how landscapes eventually recover from fires, like in Yellowstone.

3. They saw drought shrink Utah's Great Salt Lake over the last 30 years ...

4. And they showed the Mississippi pouring over its banks in March 2016.

5. In West Virginia, surface mining reshaped mountaintops.

6. In Washington state, the Oso mudslide changed the Earth back in 2014.

7. In Louisiana, sediment carried by water created new land.

8. The images show Hurricane Isaac touching down in Louisiana.

9. And warming temperatures shrink Alaska's Columbia Glacier.

10. Meanwhile, our cities grew and expanded, like this image of San Antonio, Texas, shows.

The world — and our country — is constantly changing, and we play a part in that.

Even if you don't know who Petrov was, he might be the reason you're alive today.

And even if you don't know who Petrov was, he might be the reason you're alive today.

Suddenly, in the early morning of Sept. 26, 1983, a siren started to scream. If Petrov's computer was to be believed, the Americans had just attacked the Soviet Union.

It was Petrov's job, his duty, to alert his superiors — but something seemed off.

He picked up the phone and, though he couldn't know for sure, told his superiors it was a false alarm. His level-headed thinking may have saved millions of lives.

If you want to hear Petrov describe the incident in his own words, check out this interview with Petrov from the BBC.

"I do not intend to be quiet about it."

These days, the name Albert Einstein is basically a synonym for “genius.”

But there’s a different reason Einstein was amazing that many people might not realize: He was also a fervent civil rights activist.

When they looked at the jilted monkey's brain, two areas in particular lit up.

The monkey had a busy morning, but it was finally time to go home.

When they looked at the jilted monkey's brain, two areas in particular lit up.

Put together, these areas of the brain appear to show us what Victorian novels, romantic comedies, and reality TV shows have long suspected: Jealousy is intimately tied to monogamy.

So that tail-lashing, lip-smacking monkey might just help us understand ourselves.

This string quartet makes beautiful music — with their minds.

Imagine seeing a string quartet play beautiful music.

The musicians in this quartet all had severe motor impairments, which can affect a person's ability to move.

First, researchers put stretchy, cap-like devices that can read brainwaves on the musician's heads.

Check out their brilliant performance here:

Brain-computer interfaces have gotten us this far and are taking us further still.