Last week, the Virgin Galactic rocket plane SpaceShipTwo broke apart at more than 50,000 feet and crashed in the Mojave desert. One pilot died. But the other pilot lived. Now the question is: how the fuck did he do that?

There is a new U.N. report on climate change. Its warnings are very, very dire. It is time that the public comes to terms with the choice we face: keep fossil fuels in the ground, or face doom. Oil companies, like it or not, must be forced to change or be killed.

Donating to charity, especially in a time of crisis, can be intimidating. There are so many options. How do you know the organization you choose will use the money effectively? You might pick one with a history, a pedigree, a name you can trust. You might pick the American Red Cross. Fuck that.

Climate change is causing rising oceans and more extreme weather. Even as beachfront development continues, beachfront living is growing ever more perilous. What happens when all the insurance companies decide to stop insuring anything by a beach?

Here you will find an argument that the city of Miami, which is slowly being slowly eaten by the sea, should encourage more development, so it will have the tax base necessary to pay for the construction of defenses to save those developments from the rising seas. That's that Florida logic.

San Francisco has become America's foremost symbol of gentrification, lack of affordable housing, and twentysomethings who inexplicably make ten times more than you ever will. Scientists say the earthquake that will wipe it all away is now "locked and loaded."

Hello. Do you live in an earthquake-prone part of Southern California? Look at the building in which you live and/ or work. Is it made of brick? Goodbye, my friend.

A landslide in Malin, a town in India's Pune district, killed at least ten people and trapped at least 150 more underneath layers of mud up to 15 feet deep.

Hey, what's up, good morning to you. In the news today is sports, weather, and nuclear disaster (potentially).

Two more little earthquakes hit the Los Angeles area this morning. Imagine me saying that in the most ennui-laden voice possible, since it happens all the time now. Does this portend L.A.'s final doom? Maybe.

Seven people are dead after a plane crashed at Hanscom Field in Massachusetts last night as the flight was en route for Atlantic City, NJ. Among the dead is 72-year-old Lewis Katz, the recent co-owner of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

The six climbers on Mount Rainier who had not returned on Friday and were reported missing on Saturday are being reported dead by officials, the Seattle Times has shared. This is considered the worst disaster at the mountain in thirty years.

Carbon emissions are causing global warming. Global warming is a slow motion disaster. The consensus is that we must make drastic changes soon. How? We need a carbon tax. A carbon tax is our only hope. Time for a carbon tax now.

A storm in central Bangladesh caused a loaded ferry to sink in the River Meghna near Munshiganj on Thursday after the ferry's captain reportedly didn't heed passengers' warnings to steer closer to shore. The bodies of 54 passengers have been found, while police fear over 100 bodies are still unaccounted for.

A new study published in Nature finds that for the past three decades, hurricanes and tropical cyclones have been gradually moving away from the equator and towards the poles. Hmm. *Checks current location* Fuck.

Miners are helped by rescue workers and friends from a coal mine on Wednesday in Soma, Turkey, more than 19 hours after an explosion and fire killed at least 238 miners and trapped hundreds more. Energy Minister Taner Yildiz said 787 workers had been in the mine when the blast occurred. Image via Ozgu Ozdemir/Getty.

Unlike the situation aboard, say, a lost plane, the death rate on a sinking ferry varies considerably from disaster to disaster.

A landslide sent at least 10 parked cars tumbling over a 30-foot drop on Baltimore's E. 26th Street Wednesday, and residents of the neighborhood say they saw it coming.

Friends and volunteers help remove Dan Wassom's 1934 Ford on Tuesday from the debris left by Sunday's tornado in Vilonia, Ark. Image via Eric Gay/AP.

It is widely understood within the insurance industry that some forms of insurance are merely polite window dressing; if a $100 billion hurricane hits Florida, for example, homeowners are fucked. Now, investors are increasingly betting on no disasters happening. What could go wrong?