What's more universal in culture than a "thumbs up"? To our brains, whether we seem to have a cultural familiarity or not, it isn't familiar at all, says new research in Human Brain Mapping.…

No, the following does not belong into the humor section, because I know of people who made a career with the method described below. This is serious! This is another article in my series on the…

It's election season and the biggest schism in American culture come November voting won't be abortion or global warming, it will be the size and role of the U.S. government in the last two years.…

Scientists have altered cardiac muscle cells to make them controllable with light and showed an ability to cause conditions such as arrhythmia in genetically modified mice, which opens up new…

Everything is LEGOs these days.  My kid has played some game that is LEGOs but is based on all three Star Wars movies.    25 years ago LEGOs were almost out of business, today they are…

Everything is LEGOs these days.  My kid has played some game that is LEGOs but is based on all three Star Wars movies.    25 years ago LEGOs were almost out of business, today they are…

New research challenges the controversial theory that an ancient comet impact devastated the Clovis people, one of the earliest known cultures to inhabit North America. The comet theory first emerged…

New research challenges the controversial theory that an ancient comet impact devastated the Clovis people, one of the earliest known cultures to inhabit North America. The comet theory first emerged…

Genetically modified organisms have existed for thousands of years but more recently an anti-science contingent has been concerned, perhaps with reason, about their impact on the environment. But…

Genetically modified organisms have existed for thousands of years but more recently an anti-science contingent has been concerned, perhaps with reason, about their impact on the environment. But…

Over at Cosmic Variance Sean Carroll is fighting an interesting battle. In a series of recent blogs that started under the title "The Laws Underlying The Physics of Everyday Life Are Completely…

I saw a cool program on the Church of Scientology a few days ago, and I meant to post this review here but forgot until just now when a Google Ad unit linking to their site appeared on the sidebar…

Humboldt squid have gotten so much press off the west coast of the Americas that pretty much any big squid found in these waters is immediately labeled a Humboldt. For example, a Mr. Anderson and his…

Geoffrey Lean, the hard-pressed environmental correspondent of the Telegraph, has comein for some stick again.  He publishedRubbish saves birds, a major study finds And this was typical of…

During a meeting a senior person said he does not need extension any more as he has been asked to publish in a journal with a high impact factor This statement is not from any real situation but…

Like many of history's greatest minds, narcissists spend a great deal of time deep in thought - but for narcissists it is thought about themselves. Neuroscientists recently found a correlation…

When you drink a soda, you may not think it has much in common with horseradish or peppers, but your body does.  New research from USC says the carbon dioxide in fizzy drinks triggers the same…

Despite vast great differences between the atmospheres of Venus and Earth, it turns out very similar mechanisms produce lightning on the two planets. The rates of discharge, the intensity and the…

In the next three days, I'll out the work mostly of Elizabeth Loftus, who describes how and when our memories misfire—in cool and interesting ways—ways, you can use to create the realities you want…

First rule of being a university dean; you don't use grad students as slaves.    Instead, you wait until they get a Ph.D. and then pay them slave wages and call them post-doctoral fellows.…