Green energy technologies like wind, solar and biomass presently constitute only 3.6% of fuel used to generate electricity in the U.S.   Energy expert Vaclav Smil calculates that achieving Al…

The disaster at the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima, Japan, is still unfolding. It is still not ensured that the reactors will stay under the partial control achieved. The media keep…

On today's online version of the highest-diffusion newspaper in Italy, Il Corriere Della Sera (a bit too right-winged for me, but still an important source) stands a piece signed by none less than…

"To live, to err, to fall, to triumph, to recreate life out of life." -James Joyce Craig Venter is brilliant. Brilliant enough, you might say, to enter the ranks of literary gods. So brilliant, he…

WARNING: This blog contains both ADULT language AND THERMODYNAMICS. If you are under 18 or do not like any laws that involve chaos, please leave by clicking on an ad to support this site. Time and…

"Despite reports of concern from caregivers and some studies, there are limited data on  population-based estimates and predictors of risk for wandering associated with ASD/DD." --ICD-9-CM…

Is deeply reported journalism going the way of the fax machine?  Is the Web Apple says is our future, on tiny screens and mobile devices, all wrong for long-form, edited, fact-and-spell-checked…

Is deeply reported journalism going the way of the fax machine?  Is the Web Apple says is our future, on tiny screens and mobile devices, all wrong for long-form, edited, fact-and-spell-checked…

Across the world, fewer people are buying the "I have a glandular disorder" excuse for obesity. As the average waistline increases but the numbers of obese people skew that result, society is getting…

It has been a while since I last wrote about results from the DZERO collaboration, and I am happy to be given a chance to do so by my casual Monday morning browsing of the most recent Arxiv preprints…

Is biology too important to be left in the hands of experts?   Maybe. Americans like stories about underdogs who start as outsiders but then become the very core of what being 'inside' means.…

Future firefighters may use electricity instead of water to control flames, according to results of a discovery that could underpin a new genre of fire-fighting devices, including 'sprinkler'…

You may have heard of a new car with lots of problems referred to as a 'lemon' but not all fruits are bad when it comes to automobiles.  Scientists in Brazil have developed a more effective way…

Ginseng and saffron are sexual performance boosters, according to a new scientific review of natural aphrodisiacs, but while the more obscure Spanish fly and Bufo toad are purported to be sexually…

Scientists are buisy writing for magazines with impact factor and H factor value who cares for river Yamuna? This was news item that drains will stop flowing in Yamuna in Delhi area in next 4 years…

There's a paper out in ProcSoc B about aggressive mimicary, a very devious way to hunt by pretending to be prey or a mate, and then gobbling the hapless critter that comes to investigate. Here are…

University of Utah scientists have used invisible infrared light to make rat heart cells contract.  Sounds interesting but not revolutionary, right?   But they also used infrared light to…

Imagine, if you will, a Borg cube from Star Trek humming along through space, part of a fleet of such cubes, each with millions of drones participating in a spatially non-localized brain of billions…

President Obama is often portrayed as an "anti-war" candidate, now and during the 2008 election.  He is clearly no such thing, as his willingness to take unilateral action against the leader of…

President Obama is often portrayed as an "anti-war" candidate, now and during the 2008 election.  He is clearly no such thing, as his willingness to take unilateral action against the leader of…