At Cosmic Variance, find out how the once active physicist Frank Tipler now registers high on John Baez's crackpot index: In science, we tend to valorize (to the point of fetishizing) a certain kind…

As a science site, we can continually be baffled that both the left and the right can find something to be critical about.   Some on the right are critical of stem cell research or climate…

In an article in the International Journal of Astrobiology, P. McCafferty discusses the possibility of a red, blood-like life form living inside meteors. This conclusion raises the possibility that…

One suggestion would be to gain more understanding of life processes. For that, we design science experiments in situ, in vitro, in vivo, and/or in modeling. There are facilities…

Is a recent PNAS paper a knock against evolution? Does it support a "the concept of a preexistent design, with front-loaded genetic programs"? Nonsense. PZ explains why. Go read this if you're at all…

Previously I wrote about "the Science Bubble".  Since then, there has been good news, and bad.The good news is that apparently Speaker Pelosi has been recorded as noting that Science will be…

Two years ago, I had t-shirts made up for my evolution course that depicted Darwin's notebook sketch of a simple tree diagram capped by the words "I think". In total, we generated about $500 for…

I am a living, breathing, trudging onward authority on the quest for wellness. I'm not an athlete, my body is imperfect, and sometimes I choose unhealthy indulgence. Yet, no one has worked harder to…

We are all familiar with  Sunspot contrails  that appear on the Sun's surface. A   diligent search of solar images will  "infrequently"  reveal   twin lines of…

December SUV and light truck sales are expected to exceed car sales for the first time since early in '08. Production of the Prius hybrid has been halted due to plunging sales, which were down 48% in…

In my experience, scientists are much too dismissive; most of them have a hard time fully appreciating other people’s work. This dismissiveness follows a kind of power law: a few of them spend a…

What is life is a valid question to some because they would simply like to make some.  Yet others, although they don't know what it is, search for life in…

If you haven't already, you should read this interesting guest post at Olivia Judson's blog: Many of the best-known scientists of our day are men and women exceptionally talented in herding the…

The economic crisis may actually help science. Cross your fingers - part of the stimulus package is tagged for expansion of the NSF, NIH and other entities. From Science online: House Democratic…

Along with a 223-page instruction manual, the NIH offers gems like this to help clear up the confusion: # What part of the application/award number is the IC and serial number?NIH's grant application…

A  sure sign of  a flawed model,  is  an expanding  raft  of  unresolved  anomalies.  So drawing upon earlier dissertions,  one could assume, that…

Bay Area comedian Brian Malow has entertained both science-literate and lay audiences for more than a decade with science-centric stand-up humor in his show, "Rational comedy for an irrational…

The entire Universe is full of jetting Black Toroidal Objects.   A Jetting   Black  Toroidal Object is in effect a  type of   Gravitationally Open Black Hole. …

In the good old days, when I lived in Florida, if you had a completely ridiculous idea but convinced someone else who had some authority, you could get it implemented.   There being no Internet,…

Let's remember that scientists like fun and get ready for dates by studying for them. Well, I mean dates like the Inauguration Day, the first in the history of ScientificBlogging.com, January 20,…