More than a 100 groups of mammals have been found in the early Miocene (37 – 20 mya) John Day Formation that underlies the Mascall near Kimberly, north central Oregon. I'm planning a field trip this…

Rarely does a scientific hypothesis - at least, not a useful or an interesting one - admit of a straightforward up-or-down, yes-or-no verdict. Valuable hypotheses survive the test of time in…

The "new" section of experimental physics papers in the arxiv today features a preprint by the CDF collaboration, titled "First Observation of Vector Boson Pairs in a Hadronic Final State at the…

Which of the following Latin American countries has the highest murder rate? a. Nicaraguab. Mexicoc. Venezuelad. Jamaica If you answered "Mexico", you made a very reasonable choice. In the past year…

The Buzzword Blog #2 : What is a Buzzword? A buzzword is a word with a vague meaning, and which is commonly used in speech or writing to express a vague idea.  The buzzword category includes…

The first batch of newly designed Scientific Blogging logo stuff arrived today.   What do we have?   For biology writers, an excellent 'Lysis To Kill' logo.   For generally awesome…

If the history of science shows us anything, it is that we get nowhere by labeling our ignorance 'God'.    - Jerry Coyne, Nature, Sep. 19, 1996

The Buzzword Blog #1 Invent your own ism! Sometimes the natural grammar of the English language can permit an excessive freedom in the coinage of new words and terms.  For example, there is a…

"Berlusconi in his life had about twenty wives, two of whom were his" Roberto Benigni

The Moving Finger WritesI cannot agree that much of what is, these days, called poetry, is in fact poetry.I base that assessment on a simple rule: If it isn't memorable, it isn't poetry, q.e.d. …

Finally, there is this possibility: after I tell you something, you just can't believe it. You can't accept it. You don't like it. A little screen comes down and you don't listen anymore. I'm going…

Creationism Axed - Again !The stone axe from 400,000 years ago which has been described as "the most important stone tool in the establishment of the geological antiquity of humankind" was mislaid…

Brian Greene on science as the ultimate adventure: Science is about immersing ourselves in piercing uncertainty while struggling with the deepest of mysteries. It is the ultimate adventure. Against…

A post-doc is extremely low on the totem pole of authority.  The ranking goes roughly: Principal Investigators and Branch Heads, Staff Scientists, Secretaries, Soft-Money Scientists, Technical…

Digging Beneath the Surface of Grammar How does language work? This article describes my own theoretical approach to the problem of how language works.  I speculate that language is the means by…

Some of the only theories that deal with black holes and stars is that sometimes stars can create black holes by implosion.  This theory states that black holes have more to do with stars than…

The displacement of the idea that facts and evidence matter by the idea that everything boils down to subjective interests and perspectives is - second only to American political campaigns…

A Journey to the Centre of the Universe There has been debate for millenia amongst philosophers as to where the centre of the universe lies. There is a possibility that I may have found it. …

http://www.coelumstream.com/ is broadcasting live images of galaxies, to be compared with reference images in search for supernovaes. A commentary is provided in Italian and English. Join NOW! Below…

This morning the Planck 09 conference started at the Auditorium Altinate (see picture, right) in Padova. For a week, theorists and experimentalists will discuss hot topics in a variety of fields,…