Sir Archibald Henry Bodkin, KCB (1862–1957) was our British Director of Public Prosecutions from 1920 to 1930.  He particularly took a stand against the publication of what he saw as ‘obscene’…

The basics of how a muscle generates power are this: Filaments of myosin tugging on filaments of actin shorten, or contract, the muscle. Since the 1950s physiologists have had a formula – the length-…

I love the movies.  I love science.  I spent many formative years watching Joe Bob Briggs, Commander USA, the goofballs at Mystery Science Theatre 3000, and similar people who introduced…

Who says the hard sciences lack female representation? When it comes to murder using the awesome power of science, there is no gender disparity.  Tianle Li, 44, a Bristol-Myers Squibb…

Who says the hard sciences lack female representation? When it comes to murder using the awesome power of science, there is no gender disparity.  Tianle Li, 44, a Bristol-Myers Squibb…

Sexual reproduction is costly. For starters, only half of the population can bear offspring so the other half has to work hard to make sure they're included in the future gene pool. Yet there is a…

There was a period of time when hunters were the greatest conservationists.  Think President Teddy Roosevelt, who evangelized national parks and setting aside wilderness for the public. Later,…

It was once believed that crazy ladies acquired a lot of cats. Then it was discovered that a lot of cats instead created crazy ladies; cat poop is laden with an infectious parasite known as…

Next-generation hydrogels can form synthetic scaffolds to support the formation of replacement tissues and organs in the emerging area of regenerative medicine. Embedding peptides into the hydrogels…

Tropical climates that allow for year-round farming have a tremendous economic advantage, even in the developing world but corn and soybean farmers in Mato Grosso, Brazil have a developed world…

As I was reading the comment section to “Our Anthropomorphic  Bias” I was struck by the persistence shown by Sascha Vongehr in referring to humans as robots in 4 of the 5 comments he made in a…

Our prehistoric close cousins, the Neandertals, were more similar than science used to think in a variety of ways. And according to a new paper, they had something resembling modern speech and…

Masao Yoshida, 58, former boss of the Fukushima nuclear plant, "died of oesophagal cancer at 11:32am today at a Tokyo hospital," said a spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the…

Masao Yoshida, 58, former boss of the Fukushima nuclear plant, "died of oesophagal cancer at 11:32am today at a Tokyo hospital," said a spokesman for plant operator Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO), the…

As Egypt fights over new leadership, Israeli archaeologists have found evidence of an ancient ruler in northern Israel.  At a site in Tel Hazor National Park, north of the Sea of Galilee,…

Wildfires and their witch's brew of carbon-containing particles significantly degrade air quality, damage human and wildlife health, and interact with sunlight to affect climate. Measurements taken…

Thanks to a Facebook friend, I got to give a look today at a very interesting pair of graphs. The first one shows the number of researchers per million inhabitants divided by country, in a world map…

By now everyone is familiar with some of the more controversial topics in policy discussions featuring scientific topics, so that GMO foods or climate change are readily recognized as "hot button"…

One day, perhaps, brave astronauts will set forth to colonize the planet Mars. However human colonies can't be sterilized in the way a rover can be, so they may conflict with the desires of…

When the members of a choir sing their heart beats are synchronized, according to a study from the Sahlgrenska Academy at University of Gothenburg. The pulse of performing choir members tend to…