Because I am busy, today you get another picture. This is a baby market squid again, this time stained with methylene blue. Tomorrow (because I will still be busy) you will get to see the arms, which…

Recently, a question kept me wondering: Why aren't there salt water frogs? This is an honest and humble personal question because I have not really done any research on this and primarily because I…

This has recently appeared on Telegraph Blogs, from one of the few sensible authors. Could someone explain why global warming has to be a disaster? Could readers please help with a reasonably concise…

Where can one see the lunar eclipse online or at a viewing party.  Here are a couple of options and how to find out. The best option would be to watch the eclipse online via NASA's live feed…

It is that time of the year, the season, and a good excuse to contribute with something that can be at most only very loosely connected with science. These happenings unfolded around this time of…

An expert is a man who has made all of the mistakes which can be made, in a narrow field. Niels Bohr

In honor of all the hullaballoo about California market squid (hullaballoo which I will soon be adding more to, stay tuned!) here are some pictures I took a few years ago. The subject is a baby…

MOLECULAR MARKERS AND GENOME SEQUENCING IN CROP IMPROVEMENT. Molecular techniques, in particular the applications of molecular markers, have been used to scrutinize DNA sequence variation(s) in…

You haven't seen any new hardcore physics posts entering this blog in recent weeks. Reason is a new role in my professional life, combined with a new science project that I have started in my spare…

A faithful reader of this blog has been asking me for answers to some of the 42 questions which were given at an exam for particle physics researcher wannabes in Italy in 2005. I already provided…

I had a beautiful dream on Thursday night. Having recently graduated, I was cleaning up and moving out of my lab, and in particular, I was deciding what to do with the animals in the aquarium room. I…

An excellent interview-style article created by one of my Facebook colleagues, Sniff Code.A hybridized product of Science and Philosophy. Introduction: Dr. Shapiro believes that it might be time for…

The American chestnut tree (Castanea dentata) was once among the most culturally and economically important trees in the eastern United States but in the last century more than four billion trees…

Google is claiming that it has scanned 10% of the books ever published. Google Ngram Viewer is a tool to see how often the phrases have occurred in the world's books over the years.  Users can…

On his Reference Frame site, contrarian physicist Luboš Motl uses Google to determine the 'reading level' of some science blogs, with, he says, "Basic" being 1 star, "intermediate" 3 stars and "…

Martin Gaskell did not get a job as the director of a new student observatory at the University of Kentucky and says he thinks his religion is behind it. So for all those who say academia is too…

I just returned from Environment and Climate Change Summit held at New Delhi. After 3 days of round table discussion and intensive brainstorming the final result was that every participating nation…

While we’re on the joint subject of cars and security, I should dredge up this item that I’ve had hanging about for a few months. It’s from Ars Technica, and reports that researchers have hacked…

News of the California market squid fishery closure is spreading. "We have had a banner year for market squid this year," said Dale Sweetnam, a Fish and Game marine biologist who oversees the…

It's become so commonplace for large science endeavors to be over budget and long-delayed that both budgets and time frames seem almost meaningless.   The James Webb Space Telescope might as…