California Market Squid: Supplementary Material

California Market Squid: Supplementary Material

A couple of recent articles on the closure of the California market squid fishery focus on the southern (Van Zant in the Long Beach Press-Telegram) and northern (me in the Monterey Weekly) fishing…
Unidentified Squid Boats

Unidentified Squid Boats

Apparently, the New Zealand Air Force just released a bunch of documents pertaining to UFO investigations over the past 50  years. They include a well-known sighting from 1978 in which a cargo…
Is A Ph.D. A Waste Of Time?

Is A Ph.D. A Waste Of Time?

The Economist argues, as they would be expected to argue, given their free market leaning, that due to the glut of Ph.D.s and therefore the poor job market (in academia), it is a waste of time.…
Cancer’s Inconvenient Truths

Cancer’s Inconvenient Truths

Inconvenience #1: Genetics represents 10% of the risk but most of the science In the Prezi above you will notice a statistic that is corroborated by the New England Journal of Medicine: 90% of…
Squid Canaries?

Squid Canaries?

Bummer! A shipment of Uruguayan squid (probably Illex argeninus, the same species of Falkland Islands' fame) has been blocked by the EU due to high cadmium content. Cadmium, like other heavy metals,…
“Is This China’s First Stealth Fighter?"

“Is This China’s First Stealth Fighter?"

...the first hard evidence of the long-rumored Chengdu J-20, China’s first stealth-fighter prototype….. Fantastical Photoshop art is a hallmark of Chinese military-themed websites….. “Rumor has it…
Soldering Hero

Soldering Hero

I was a soldering fiend.  Rosin and tin melted under the heat of my mighty, err, tip.  Yes, I finally got the chance to start soldering some of the Calliope boards-- plus fix the broken…
Winningest Use for Squid Jig

Winningest Use for Squid Jig

Squid are usually caught by means of a normal fishing line and a special hook-and-lure combination called a jig. Jigs are weighted, glow in the dark, and have several circles of upturned hooks on…
WCSJ 2011

WCSJ 2011

Some shameful self-propaganda is in order today... Such posts have usually borne good fruits in the past, so why not! In June 2009 I attended in London the World Conference of Science Journalists. I…
One In A Million Shots...

One In A Million Shots...

Dynamics can be surprising at times, even when applied to well-understood and tested physical systems such as a basketball and a basket. Look what happened to a free shot executed by Kamyl Kawrzydek…
Rumors About An Old Rumor

Rumors About An Old Rumor

Some unforeseen Christmas-vigil blog activity bringing here a few visitors more than average was traced today back to BBC News, who discussed the 2010 science highlights here. The incoming link is…
Science by 8-year-olds

Science by 8-year-olds

I thought I was going into Christmas recess, but then I saw this: Graduate students the world over have got to be feeling like slackers right now: A group of 8- to 10-year-old British schoolchildren…
Global Crisis in Cephalopods?

Global Crisis in Cephalopods?

Fluctuations in the world squid market tells us that A sharp increase in landings of squid or giant squid (Dosidicus gigas) occurred in Chile in the first 10 months of 2010, over 243 per cent more…
Stained Squid, Part II

Stained Squid, Part II

Ahh! Because I was so busy yesterday, I forgot to give you the other half of that baby squid. Here it is! The little blob being held in those tiny, adorable arms is a yolk sac. When they are inside…
Whose Christmas Story?

Whose Christmas Story?

According to a well-known British figure: ... the true meaning of the Christmas story will not be revealed until Easter – or possibly much later. Now who said that?  Answer at the end of this…
8 year olds published in peer-reviewed journal

8 year olds published in peer-reviewed journal

Some detractors believe science is an 'old boys network' resistant to outsiders - if that were true, a group of young boys and girls wouldn't have their first journal publication.  At age eight…
Piers Corbyn: There's a Mini Ice Age Coming

Piers Corbyn: There's a Mini Ice Age Coming

Oh no, not again.  When I was young the buzz was about the coming Ice Age - and it was common sense.  Since 90,000 out of every 100,000 years of human history have been Ice Ages and it's…
The case of the trilobite molecule

The case of the trilobite molecule

Ten years ago the trilobite molecule came into the Physics media, like Physics News, Physical Review focus etc. It reappeared about a year ago, in fact in Nature. I am planning to demonstrate here…