Giant Squid Duet

Giant Squid Duet

A couple of dead giant squid have turned up--almost exactly on opposite sides of the globe! Surely this is some kind of portent? Architeuthis #1 was spotted off the coast of Tenerife, in the Canary…
The Dude Sapolsky On Behavioral Biology

The Dude Sapolsky On Behavioral Biology

You ever wondered why it is that we share only 50% of our genes with a sibling but 98% with chimpanzees? Humans are a freak of nature. We are in between a so called ‘tournament species’ and a ‘pair-…
9/11 And The Death Of The Ego

9/11 And The Death Of The Ego

Why would Mohamed Atta graciously let a car rental agent know the check oil light was on in the car he returned and then help crash a plane full of people and fuel into the World Trade Center on Sept…
How Many Species?

How Many Species?

How many organisms live on this little planet of ours? A pretty straight-forward question. The answer, however, is much more enigmatic. Estimates range from a careful 3 million to a huge 100 million…
Australian Space Radio

Australian Space Radio

FutureTense is a radio program in Australia that I had absolutely never heard of until they decided to interview me.  It's time to remedy this for that handful of you out there that, similarly,…
Engineering Microbes To Kill Pseudomonas

Engineering Microbes To Kill Pseudomonas

Pseudomonas aeruginosa (see figure 1) is a human pathogen that colonizes the respiratory and gastrointestinal tract, where it can cause life-threatening infections in patients with a compromised…
The Say Of The Week

The Say Of The Week

"In a world of string theory, I can be the Pope [...]. I just need to modify dilatonic Einstein-Gauss-Bonnet theory with low-energy heterotic string theory and it's all quite easy." H. Campbell
How Webometrics Become a Liability in Webometry

How Webometrics Become a Liability in Webometry

Webometrics faces many challenges, not the least of which is a dearth of tools capable of measuring the Web with any degree of accuracy.  Most academic and professional Webometrics analysts…
Steven Weinberg and I

Steven Weinberg and I

I don't like Steven Weinberg.Good, I have said it. I will provide a brief biographical sketch and a short list of his lengthy accomplishments. I read one of his science outreach books, "Dreams of a…