Type 2 dopamine receptors (D2DR)—brain receptors that play a key role in addiction--also play a key role in rats' heightened response to food, according to Scripps Insititute Neuroscientists. The…

"When I was your age, I used to change your diapers," said eighteen month old Sam Taylor to his father. Two years later, Sam correctly picked out his grandfather from a photo of his grammar school…

In a study sure to delight the Lamarckian in you, and not part of our annual April Fool's Day science content, a new study by Royal Holloway, University of London, says Iraqi children born in areas…

Understanding Climate : #4 - Calculating Sunshine The Fire In The Sky Understanding climate science requires a cross-disciplinary approach.  I am trying to explain in this series the most…

More Snow Anyone? We may get a little snow in England in a day or two.  Scotland, being in somewhat cooler climes, may get a little more. Quite apart from the UK Met Office's ability - or lack…

Predictable Barriers Precluding Any Consideration of Transversable Black Holes Through Outer Space #1 of The Three Part Series : Black Holes Through Outer Space By Marshall BarnesAET…

What is Nature’s Worst Design? Francisco Ayala Answers: "The human reproductive system. Twenty percent of pregnancies end in spontaneous abortions and miscarriages in the first two months. In the…

If you happen to travel by air on good sunny day across India and  you are crossing Aravallis and hills of Udaipur and Ajmer and Jaipur  its needless to mention that hills which were once…

Marco Silva (right) is an amateur astronomer since the 1997 Hale-Bopp comet passage. He is also an amateur scientist. His studies can be found in his web site. When I knew of his interesting…

"Francisco J. Ayala, an evolutionary geneticist and molecular biologist who has vigorously opposed the entanglement of science and religion while also calling for mutual respect between the two, has…

CO2 Emissions : More Is The New Less As part of its climate change strategy, the Government set a UK aviation target in January 2009, to reduce UK aviation emissions back to 2005 levels in 2050.…

Toyota's sticky accelerators could be caused by a concerted attack by evil cosmic rays. Toyota has kept quiet about these malicious forces but this puff piece may have unmasked a sinister force that…

On Blogging And Soothsaying The internet is a wonderful means of spreading information, but there is a danger of spreading misinformation.  It probably takes far fewer years of education to read…

Over at Marginal Revolution economist Tyler Cowan has started one of those blog trends, and many other bloggers have followed like a pack of lemmings. So of course I'm going to join in - it's about…

Here's a short sequence of art videos, which made me smile This line is just a space-filler to move the embedded screen down ;-) Noteboek from Evelien Lohbeck on Vimeo. It's by Evelien Lohbeck from…

One of the original things that I've done in terms of reserach, has to do with super massive black holes and how they don't fit into a single reference frame from all points of view. I presented this…

Kim Griest Physics Department 0319 University of California, San DiegoLa Jolla, CA 92093 Offices: 3202 Mayer Hall, 858-534-0924 337 SERF, 858-534-8914 Griest/Fuller Lab: 4217…

In Adventures in Ethics and Science, Janet Stemwedel asks some questions about peer review — its purpose and its effect — prompted by strong online criticism of a peer-reviewed paper that was…

It's Earth Hour - Let's Black Out Big Time! Earth hour is an event organised by the World Wide Fund for Nature in which participants switch off lights for one hour at night.  The objective is to…

A pale pink, half-moon shaped scar sits above my left breast as a  reminder of my youth spent at Jones Beach with more baby oil than sunscreen, doing more baking than bathing. My scar is from…