Los Alamos National Laboratory's top 10 science stories of 2011 include alternative energy research, world record magnetic fields, disease tracking, the study of Mars, climate change, fuel cells,…

http://arxiv.org/abs/1112.5431  Search for Higgs bosons of the minimal supersymmetric standard model in p-pbar collisions at sqrt(s)=1.96 TeV "_We report results from searches for neutral Higgs…

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released a new oversight report, “Wastebook 2011” that highlights over $6.5 billion in examples of some of the most egregious ways our taxpayer dollars were…

U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, M.D. (R-OK) today released a new oversight report, “Wastebook 2011” that highlights over $6.5 billion in examples of some of the most egregious ways our taxpayer dollars were…

At various times in Earth history, single-celled organisms threw their lot in with each other to become larger and multicellular, resulting, for instance, in the riotous diversity of animals. However…

At various times in Earth history, single-celled organisms threw their lot in with each other to become larger and multicellular, resulting, for instance, in the riotous diversity of animals. However…

What is a paltry $195 billion in real cost versus $1 trillion in potential savings? Fans of 'jobs created or saved' fuzzy economics will love a report by the Joint Center For Political and Economic…

Have you ever looked at a histogram with the data displayed as counts per bin in the form of points with error bars, and wondered whether those fluctuations and departures from the underlying…

Have you ever looked at a histogram with the data displayed as counts per bin in the form of points with error bars, and wondered whether those fluctuations and departures from the underlying…

Driving in Circles People often wonder whether the world would be able to do something about its dependence on oil and its effects on the environment. A child asked the following question on Hidden…

Do sperm whales use sonar to stun giant squid? In a word: maybe. I delved quite enthusiastically into the topic last year, and came out tantalized and frustrated by limited evidence. So I was very…

This week presents a rare opportunity to see all the major planets of the solar system in a single night. Just after sunset tonight (Dec. 21) the two brightest planets will be shining, weather…

This week presents a rare opportunity to see all the major planets of the solar system in a single night. Just after sunset tonight (Dec. 21) the two brightest planets will be shining, weather…

As I sit here with a Cesária Évora CD on in the house, I have an update to the car AV system issue, wherein it couldn’t stop playing Bob Dylan. That is, I found out why it’s playing a…

Frankincense is a milky, fragrant resin used in incense and perfumes across the world and is also a key part of the Christmas story but trees are declining so dramatically that production could be…

How old is the water in your drinking glass? What about the ice cubes floating in it? Any answer is bound to make reference to the water cycle (evaporate, rain, repeat). Still, for most practical…

As I have a long train journey and not much to do, I can use it to write about this recent open access paper on Eyjafjallajökull written by a couple of my colleagues in the lab. As it is open access…

Every year since 1990, I have made a holiday card sending it to friends and family (a list of ~ 50). They have always been nerdy. I try and feature something about the physics I figured out in the…

I missed reporting it when it happened at the end of November, but a group of Indian fishermen caught a rather larger squid than they were expecting: This rare squid, caught by the fishermen of King…

In the previous blog post we familiarized ourselves with a most remarkable device. A device resulting from 20th century science: Albert's chest of drawers. This chest, although presented as a…