If graduation numbers are so important that they will give degrees to dead people,then don’t work there. LGBT scientists in academe now are highly vulnerable to the phenomena of adjunctification. A…

The Fossil Birds of the Jehol Biota have caused an international stir amongst palaeontologists. The Jehol outcrops of northeastern China has unearthed some of the most important Mesozoic bird…

Here are a few of the things I have been watching , while living a somewhat less active life due to current conditions. In the south of England, this summer has been quite hot, and fig trees (mostly…

Trump did not know science neither does his opposition.  Mask work, social distancing works, copious rapid testing works but no one or two or all of these things are a ironclad guarantee one…

What is math and is math real?   Math is the language of physics right down to figuring out what one hand full of fingers plus another hand full of fingers is.  Right down to a duck…

Mainstream “news” has a problem. Reporters for more traditional big name organizations no longer need to present actual proof of anything they report.  The reason mainstream reporters do this is…

Sound levels in water often appear to be much higher than in air. It is, however, misleading to compare them directly. This has consequences for understanding important issues in ecology, in…

Standard English exist because not everyone in the world who uses English is a native speaker of English.  According to a group of English writing instructors it is racist to expect that in…

What are the best computing devices for online classes?  As an adjunct professor here is my opinion on what makes for a good computer for online courses, and a few suggestions of which computers…

Unification of General Relativity with Quantum Field Theory is the greatest mystery of physics, the holy grail of theoretical physics, and also a graveyard of theories. Everyone who has chosen has…

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo for quite a while.  While I have not read it I did watch a very long presentation by DiAngelo on the book which has to be the next best thing.  She is a…

Flat earthers are a thing in 2020.  Here is a simple do at home proof it is round given a large enough area of apparently flat land. Take a tripod like one would use for a camera and mount a…

It is not a secret that I love chess, and that whenever I have the chance to play some online blitz -in the absence of better competitions or tournaments- I plunge happily into it. However, my…

Hello! Years and years have gone by without a blog. For reasons I do not understand, I appear to have lost my ability to include an image, even URLs do not work for me on this site. FIXED,…

Peace Officers should mostly replace police officers, but a police force of some kind is needed. Police would only be called in once a situation has proven, after a sustained non violent effort by…

Travelling by YouTube during the Lockdown During the lockdown, and not even able to take a bus to the centre of town, I have perforce been getting about more by YouTube.  Here are three of my “…

For the past 11 years I have blogged for Science2.0 (formerly Scientific Blogging), and I have considered this site my true personal web page, too - the articles I have published here for over a…

Defund the police or even abolish the police is a politically ignorant statement especially because when asked they who say it describe extensive reforms.  Those words mean no money, and no…

Black people are no angels but when we are not being angelic, we still should have rights.  All people should have the same rights when under the power of law enforcement that they do when they…

When a SpaceX crewed Dragon launches atop a Falcon 9 carrying the first astronauts launched from American soil by the United States, they will be making history, setting NASA on a trajectory for the…