Some of this is just too much: (from The Guardian): Most of all, though, Aquinas would have been entranced by the idea of genes. If ever there were an Aristotle-friendly idea this is it. Genes…

How can you not love toothpaste for dinner?

State "laboratories of democracy" at work: In recognition of the fact that New York State currently permits compensation for oocyte donation for reproductive purposes for expenses and for time,…

After weeks of painful struggling against all evidence, I think I will finally have to accept the fact that Italians actually approve their Prime Minister's behavior and libertine sex habits: the…

The Asian longhorned beetle (Anoplophora glabripennis) with their distinct white and black coloring are natives of China, but these hardwood tree killers have been around New…

The Database of Useful Biological Numbers - great stuff, although before using any hard-to-measure number, be sure to know how the measurement was done before you trust the result. Check these out:…

Clinical scientists at the Hotchkiss Brain Institute are starting the first pilot study looking at the delivery of insulin via the nasal passageway as a potential new treatment for diabetic…

Augusto Minzolini (right), director of the TG1 news program of Rai 1, the most followed public italian TV channel, is under siege in Italy, accused of hiding the news of the embarassing story of…

The Evocative Power Of LanguageMost philosophical studies of how language functions have focused on semantics - how language conveys meaning.  In ordinary speech, language is not confined to the…

One of the pleasures of working at Reading University is being able to walk across to our Agriculture Department at lunchtime and join the table talk.  Today, they were discussing the following…

When you turn the resources of modern science to the problem of killing people, you realize how vulnerable they really are. - Physicist I.I. Rabi, quoted in Richard Rhodes, The Making of the Atomic…

A Science Of Human Language - Part #5 This article is a continuation and expansion of the theory of mental models, introduced in part #4. Part #1 of this series outlines the need for an inclusive…

From bench to bedside - who is the catalyst? Academics? Pharma? Everybody? Nobody? From this recent spate of articles on progesterone and brain trauma, it's tough to say. I was waiting in the doctor…

If you live outside Italy, you read newspapers more often than Italians do. Thus, you probably are more informed about the recent scandal emerging on the private life of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's…

Spanning 40 degrees of latitude, some 4,800 kilometres (2,980 mi), the Rocky Mountains run the length of North America from the Liard Plain in the north to the Rio Grande in New Mexico. The…

A new journal is out - Genome Biology and Evolution. To my surprise, it actually looks quite good, with high-quality pieces. I generally don't see many new journals I like, but this one fills a…

All men are liable to error; and most men are, in many points, by passion or interest, under temptation to it. - Locke, Essay Concerning Human Understanding Book IV, Ch. 20, sec. 17

Most conspiracy theories wouldn't gain much traction without unhinged academics: "The most destructive people linked to conspiracy theories and denialism are those with academic appointments - and…