Skimming by Earth as close as 11 million miles on October 20, the apparently young Hartley 2 comet will be nearly visible to the unaided eye. With binoculars, it will appear even better as a fuzzy,…

Chad Orzel at Scienceblogs.com has a fun article on "Goodnight Moon" and a bunny that says good night to a lot of stuff and tackles the question everyone has - how long does it take to say goodnight…

Chad Orzel at Scienceblogs.com has a fun article on "Goodnight Moon" and a bunny that says good night to a lot of stuff and tackles the question everyone has - how long does it take to say goodnight…

In the 'You shouldn't mix alcohol and goat sacrifice' department, we have this news from Associated Press/NPR;  a 10-day Navratri festival that honors Durga, the Mother Goddess in the Hindu…

In the 'You shouldn't mix alcohol and goat sacrifice' department, we have this news from Associated Press/NPR;  a 10-day Navratri festival that honors Durga, the Mother Goddess in the Hindu…

To get a basic understanding of nuclear reactions, a high school level knowledge of a few basic concepts will suffice. In this regard, I'll start with a short recap of some concepts that will be used…

Arthur Clarke's Childhood's End was my main pick for 1953 in our survey of post-apocalyptic sci-fi, but John Wyndham's Kraken Wakes is another great apocalypse novel from the same year. (It was…

One of the most cuddly early animals might have been a pack-hunting cannibal.    Those cute critters of the early Earth may have been roving packs of cannibals, according to new evidence on…

One of the most cuddly early animals might have been a pack-hunting cannibal.    Those cute critters of the early Earth may have been roving packs of cannibals, according to new evidence on…

In dioecious species you have males and females, and males do not directly produce offspring. The increase of the population is constrained by the number of females in such lineages (male gametes are…

In dioecious species you have males and females, and males do not directly produce offspring. The increase of the population is constrained by the number of females in such lineages (male gametes are…

America is a 'melting pot', it used to be said - everyone adds their own stuff but it's part of the same dish.   In the 1970s, partly due to elitism and partly due to idealism, that began to…

America is a 'melting pot', it used to be said - everyone adds their own stuff but it's part of the same dish.   In the 1970s, partly due to elitism and partly due to idealism, that began to…

Hi all, I'm giving an invited talk at the AGU this year and would looooove to hook up with other Science2.0-ers.  Anyone else going to be there, or in San Fran, Dec 13-17?  I'll be there on…

I guess there is a new anime called Squid Girl? I guess Squid Girl's goal is to "subdue the human race and prevent them from polluting the ocean"? I can't decide whether or not this sounds like…

Happiness is defined in east and west in different manner. Amassing huge amount of wealth by rulers in east was considered to make them happy while saints of eastern philosophy derived their…

During the recession, a number of people have begun to value work less (unless finances force them to value work much, much more) -  time away from family, less leisure time and fewer self…

If you like to read science studies you are most likely to get them through one of two avenues; the long-standing business model has been that a print journal gets the study and does the work…

People will pay more for an iPhone, or any product, if it is owned by someone the consumer has 'positive' envy of, such as a friend or celebrity they like, according to a new study in the Journal of…

Alcohol is among the most commonly abused substances and men are almost twice as likely as women to develop alcoholism but there have been no clear reasons for this difference.  A new study in…