Editorials 2026


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BANE OF THE BINARY

Sumit Chakraborty | February 2026

We live in a digital age where the binary number system of zeroes and ones manages to deal with a mind-boggling array of topics and concepts. A search engine, with the help of those two digits, will provide an answer to just about any topic under the Sun and beyond. In many situations in life, we manage to cozily settle into the narrative provided by the binary: thumbs up, thumbs down. The binary world channelizes the thought process to “if it is not this, then it must be that” (sound like a computer code?)—there is no other, nothing in between. Black or white—not much grey, let alone color.

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December 2025 --The Variscan Orogeny in Europe – Understanding Supercontinent Formation

The Variscan orogen formed between 380 and 300 million years ago through several accretionary and collisional cycles, culminating with the construction of the Pangea supercontinent. This process occurred via sequential opening and closure of oceanic basins, synchronous detachment of Gondwana derived continental ribbons, and their outboard amalgamation onto the Laurussia margin. The Variscan orogen is rather unique compared with other orogenic belts on Earth: its overthickened and dominantly magmatic crust in the central belt, surprisingly minor mantle involvement in the magmatic and geodynamic processes, coherent and pulsed magmatism along the collision suture, and its complex accretionary history. Because its final product, Pangea, is the youngest and best-understood supercontinent on Earth, the Variscan orogeny offers clues for understanding the mechanisms of supercontinent formation.