Today I received the news release that the first joint meeting of the European Planetary Science Congress and the Division for Planetary Sciences (EPSC-DPS) of the American Astronomical Society 2011…

Arctic Ice July 2011 - Update Are we headed for another 2007 style crash ? In my Arctic Ice March 2011 - Update #1,  I gave these figures for September minimum - an extent below 4 million km2 is…

Finally, someone outside science has caught on to this 'organic food is better' nonsense.   It isn't nutritionally any different, it isn't structurally any different, it is just marketing - they…

Finally, someone outside science has caught on to this 'organic food is better' nonsense.   It isn't nutritionally any different, it isn't structurally any different, it is just marketing - they…

Astronomers have discovered the largest and farthest reservoir of water ever detected in the universe in a quasar called APM 08279+5255 - enough water to fill Earth's oceans more than 100 trillion…

As I wrote in Like Freedom? Thank A Scientist - How Science Made America Possible, during the meetings of the the Continental Congress during independence discussions, Thomas Jefferson noted the…

The Scientific Method     While I was working hard on my translation of the memoire of the illustrious Ignaz Venetz, I found that the need to indulge in some hermeneutic and other…

Antonio Carusone, describing himself as "a little obsessed with finding vintage design materials", has a look at NASA Graphic designs, circa 1970s.  Specifically, he hunted up this 1976 NASA…

An orgy of new results has started. Let me just show a few of them concerning Higgs searches in CMS - I am on vacation after all, and I have little time left to comment these interesting new papers…

Evolutionary psychology is a field that examines human psychological traits through evolutionary glasses. Most human psychological traits are considered adaptations, the functional products of…

I really want a bumper sticker that says that, with this picture: Obviously the news CotS is up! Go check it out at the Artful Amoeba--it is seriously awesome. HONK.

Impressive. If you had been seeking for top quarks in 4-inverse-picobarns datasets since 1992 as I have, and then rejoiced at the 7-event signal from which CDF extracted in 1994 mass and cross…

A study that set out to reveal the genetic factors that help people live to ages 100 and older (see Identified: Genetic signatures of exceptional longevity in humans) has been retracted.  The…

A study that set out to reveal the genetic factors that help people live to ages 100 and older (see Identified: Genetic signatures of exceptional longevity in humans) has been retracted.  The…

The Wiedemann-Franz Law, named after German physicists Gustav Wiedemann and Rudolf Franz, is a ratio of the thermal to electrical conductivities of metals.   In 1853, the two studied the thermal…

Life's Fall How many years can a mountain exist,before it is washed to the sea? As a rock tumbles from its perchatop a cliff into the water below,impelled by gravitational acceleration, it is…

The great thing about being a scientist is that you have more adventures than anyone else!  Today I took along the kids from the Lone Star Adventure Camp on a bug hike at the Trinity River…

One aspect of journalism that has led to a sense of entitlement among the public, and certainly those who have dissenting opinions, is the idea of 'balance' in media coverage.   That is, showing…

The Redemption of Gus Grissom The 50th anniversary of Alan Shepard's flight, the first American in space, was something of a big deal in pop culture.  The 50th anniversary of John Glenn orbiting…

Most previous neural networks consisted out of a physically connected network of neural cells. But can a soup of interacting molecules also show brain-like behavior? Apparently, it can. Researchers…