One of the most engaging things about a landscape is how it changes after dark.  I haven't been at TRAC very often after sundown, but last night I was in an Amphibian Watch training program and…

The last wild Arabian Oryx (Oryx leukoryx), an antelope species found only on the Arabian peninsula, (see figure 1) was shot in 1972, causing the species to be labled 'Extinct in the wild' by the…

Springer has commissioned an edited volume about the singularity hypothesis and related questions, intelligence explosion, acceleration, transhumanism, and whole brain emulation. “The book examines…

Georges Metanomski posted this as a comment to my Quantum Crackpot Counter Challenge but it is a bit long.  After discussing this with George and with several people in support of this, I…

This week's friday fossil is Cheirotherium (or Isocheirotherium, whichever you want). Every year, thousands of geology students descend on the tiny Isle of Arran in the inner Hebrides. Its unique in…

Artists, man! They'll cut a square of sod out of your front yard, stick it on the wall, and call it a masterpiece. No, but actually this is quite cool: Film is said to be a dying medium, and…

I have just come in from Third Thursday at Trinity River Audubon Center.  The anticipated speaker canceled and there were families there who wanted a program, so I did the "Turtle Talk" and then…

For climate scientists to make positive inroads in policy regarding a problem we know is only going to get worse - pollution and climate change - they need to police the actions of a few in their…

One of the most exciting things about working with kids on science is that suddenly you have a dozen curious and eager eyes, much sharper than yours and much closer to the ground, who are alert to…

A while back I mentioned a project that was keeping me away from the blog . . . well, it's done now! I was hired by the director of Hopkins Marine Station, where I did my PhD, to write their annual…

It's difficult to know what you are thinking -- or what is happening in your own brain -- as you loose consciousness. There are many instances where this loss might happen, including getting…

For discussion we’ll take an EPR pair as two spin 1/2 particles anti-correlated in a singlet state at the source. ·       How does an EPR pair maintain…

The LHC has been running very well in the last few weeks, and I can announce, with some anticipation, that the 1-inverse-femtobarn line will be crossed in the next few days. Check it out in the…

I got counter snarked. At the end of my blogs, I include what I call a snarky puzzle. If you can follow along with the technical parts of my blogs, a snarky puzzle is  suppose to be a playful…

The topic of Dante came up recently here in a comment stream following an article on parsley.  So I am taking this opportunity to share with you two of my favourite bits. First, from Canto XVI…

Usually, you have to be insanely, insanely lucky to name a species. Not only that, after the ages spent finding and researching your animal, you then have the laborious process of getting your new…

The British have their Copley medals, the French the CNRS Gold medals, the Germans have Leibniz awards, and the Dutch... they have their Spinoza prizes. Each year three to four Spinoza laureates…

At the beginning of the year I mentioned this European cephalopod conference, where they were going to talk about new laws regulating the use of squids, octopuses, etc. in experiments. Sadly, I…

Science can't catch a break this week.   A site devoted to ridiculing Democrats is faux outraged that the NIH funded $3.6 million to study the menstruation cycles of rhesus monkeys on any number…

While shopping earlier today, I came across these:   Many of you will, I expect, have heard of the recent E.Coli outbreak in Germany.  Today, we learn from BBC news German tests link bean…