As a society we tend to fuss about creativity and its role in society.  While there is little doubt that creativity and innovation are immensely important in many endeavors, it is still an open…

If you've ever wondered just what it looks like to go fishing for Humboldt squid, here's one view--a video by Philip Friedman, shot off Long Beach: Of course, it's a bit different fishing for…

Who says mathematics papers can't be practical?  Noah T. Jafferis, Howard A. Stone, and James C. Sturm of Princeton took a theoretical shot at a flying hoverboard and made it work - except it is…

Whether we wish it so or not, whether we comprehend how it can do so, the world spins on. Time doesn't stop. Things don't grind to a halt, and everything keeps moving, sometimes without even pausing…

Wow, those folks in Stockholm do pay attention to this blog. With a delay of a year (ok, you are forgiven, graphene is cute stuff after all), one half of the ten million kronor goes to SAUL…

October's Circus of the Spineless is up at Wanderin' Weeta's blog! Go read the horrific tale of the emerald cockroach wasp, admire the metallic teeth of the chiton, and much much more! Of course,…

Relativity is by itself a very cross-disciplinary subject. Not only from the point view of Physics, Mathematics, Astrophysics, Philosophy... but also from that of Ethics, History and other Social…

X-ray is a form of electromagnetic wave with wavelength in range of 0.01~10 nm and energies in range of 0.12~120 keV, almost the same range for the core-level electron binding energy (0.1~100 keV).[1…

This is a pretty crazy story! Japanese planes spotted a fishing vessel engaged in illegal drift net fishing off the coast of Alaska, and the US Coast Guard boarded it. The offending vessel was not…

Just a link you cannot miss: http://www.fnal.gov/pub/tevatron/milestones/interactive-timeline.html

After the election of Barack Obama in 2008, I had a few isolated concerns about his true science colors; he had issued creepy vaccine-autism statements, his transition team was stuffed with people…

Not yet official, but safe enough to be announced here: prof. Fernando Ferroni is the new INFN president. The charge will need to be confirmed by the Minister of Instruction and Research, Mariastella…

Today I get a free pass on my blog, because an article I wrote about giant squid came out at Miller-McCune.com. Conservation efforts often rally around charismatic species like the African elephant…

A few months ago, the news of a tool-using fish was spread (for more information about it, as well as about tool-use in other animals and the definition of tool-use, check this post). Now, a closely…

"It is not the strongest of the species that survives, not the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." — attributed to Charles Darwin. There is general agreement that the…

My attention has been drawn to this, by Anthony Watts: Video analysis and scene replication suggests that Al Gore’s Climate Reality Project fabricated their Climate 101 video “Simple Experiment” I…

14 space agencies walk into a bar... Okay, no joke.  The ISECG Initiative (I added 'Initiative' because it sounds more sci-fi) is an attempt to basically let individuals at different science…

On the way to work this morning, I noticed people pointing out the train window and smiling. From middle-aged suits to angst-ridden hipsters, faces changed from jaded to serene - there was a rainbow…

The shortlist for the Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books was recently announced. (http://royalsociety.org/news/Royal-Society-Winton-Prize-for-Science-Book...) 6 books have been chosen for…

Nature abhors a magnetic monopole, although she adores gravitational and electric monopoles. The homogeneous Maxwell equations are the ones that need no currents, known as the no magnetic monopoles…