Space is an extremely hostile environment. You knew that, though no one wants to think about exploding instantly as their blood boils without an atmosphere (or it does not - like how airplanes fly,…

Change is a heartless bitch at times and a welcome friend at others--guess it depends on what the change is and whether you saw it coming and welcomed it. Part of being a teacher is accepting a…

Carl Wieman, Nobel Laureate, Science Education advocate and general shining light of reason in the Obama administration is stepping down as associate director for science at the White House Office of…

Carl Wieman, Nobel Laureate, Science Education advocate and general shining light of reason in the Obama administration is stepping down as associate director for science at the White House Office of…

Honduras is now a permanent shark sanctuary so any shark fins found are illegal - the International Union for Conservation of Nature says that 30 percent of all shark populations around the world are…

The remains of newborn twin girls have been found in the archaeological site of Sant Miquel d'Olèrdola in Catalonia and it is expected that they belong to two girls between 38 and 40 weeks of…

"The decay widths have higher-order perturbative QCD corrections, and these are particularly important for the  decay which dominates over a wide range of (light) Higgs masses. The main effect…

When I started writing this blog, I wasn't sure about its direction, so I began by presenting something that I was curious about and hoped that others would find it interesting, while attempting to…

If you think about it rationally, sex may be fun but it's too much work and, from a reproduction standpoint,  the payoff is uncertain. Scientists have speculated for a long time on why all…

Conservatives and more taxes are kind of an oxymoron in the same sentence but pretend for a minute that more taxes are going to happen.   Because they are.  Do you want a bad one or a…

Conservatives and more taxes are kind of an oxymoron in the same sentence but pretend for a minute that more taxes are going to happen.   Because they are.  Do you want a bad one or a…

Hey, if the California Air Resources Board can create an entire cap and trade industry just by inventing emissions 340% higher than any actual evidence, it can go the other way.  Science is all…

Hey, if the California Air Resources Board can create an entire cap and trade industry just by inventing emissions 340% higher than any actual evidence, it can go the other way.  Science is all…

So, I find that my students get a lot of their "news" and certainly their "entertainment" from YouTube, for better or worse. Today one student pointed me to this video from Russia Today: http://…

I have set out to write about "Naturality" for this column three times since the beginning of 2012 and each time I have abandoned the article.  It's a complex topic that easily gets away from me…

REALITY AND RELATIVITY Before we begin, let's put one thing on the record. Albert was not wrong; it's just that we have a much more detailed, precise understanding of what he was saying.…

The fair trade movement  is in its seventh decade but has an internal problem.  Fair trade, as a concept, sought originally to make sure small people got a fair deal - a Mennonite visiting…

Conservatives give more money to charity, studies show. This makes some sense; liberals believe in sharing wealth already and advocate policies reflecting that while conservatives advocate smaller…

The word 'lunacy' is derived from the longheld belief that people act a little crazier during a full moon.  We know the moon - Luna - effects us, its gravitational pull creates ocean tides and…

Sorry economists, you don't do science, no matter how much envy you have.  Nor you, mathematicians, and social psychologists surveying undergraduates are disqualified too.  In order to be a…