We human primates evolved and innovated extreme flexibility of body and mind, partly because we grow flesh around, instead of within, a bony framework. Yet we envy and copy the crusty, scaly or…

Wine. You can earn a degree for studying it (enology), earn a living being an expert at it (Sommelier) or fake wine know-how to get through a dinner party.  Wine lovers …

Not a whole lot of squid news this week, although the cephalopod mailing list continues to host a lively discussion, spurred by that coconut octopus story, of concepts like "tool use" and…

That we should be judged by the content of our characters and not the color of our skin. I don't think so.  The way other "black" people treat each other says no. America has still…

Hot off the press: the National Research Council’s Recognition and Alleviation of Pain in Laboratory Animals. The NRC’s publications on laboratory animal care articulate (usually in the most…

The Greening Of Domestic Arguments It seems that trying to go green can be a cause of domestic arguments.  I can see why.  Not everyone has the ability to see the big picture.  From a…

2010 has just started with the best auspices to bring us exciting new science, and there comes a pledge to forecast what will happen in 2020. Oh, well - rest is not what I became a scientist for.…

And why they make a lot of money, according to The Economist: Although you might expect people who seek out obscure products to derive more pleasure from their discoveries than those who simply…

THE QUESTION IS "What Will The Next Decade Bring In Science?" The answer is both obvious and dreamy at once. Well, 'motherhood' is a wonderful term for the expected and the unexpected. Take…

Via Nobel Intent: A man with the non-existent but increasingly believed-in electromagnetic sensitivity disorder is suing his neighbor to get her to shut off her wi-fi and stop using her cell phone.…

    IS THERE A LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR IN HUMAN BEHAVIOUR?     Ayad Gharbawi   January 18, 2010 – Damascus, Syria       When we look at people anywhere and…

Let's face it, in practice, science is what scientists do. Then, who's a scientist? Simply delivered, a human with values. Well, our humanity has had plenty of practice in that realm. Remember…

The Athena Festival accentuates celebrating “the wisdom of women”, and indeed at the gathering that I attended, there did seem to be an air of celebration and excitement.  In addition to a…

Our universe expands, and this expansion is accelerating. Current consensus is to attribute this acceleration to a mysterious form of energy: dark energy. This dark energy density is very tiny and…

Older people who suffer "mental lapses," or episodes when their thinking seems disorganized or illogical, may be more likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than people who do not have these lapses,…

Though it's commonly thought that most opioid overdoses occur among drug abusers and people who obtain the drugs illegally, a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine links the risk of…

People who experience trauma in childhood are more likely to pick up dangerous habits like smoking and contract lung cancer later in life as a result, say the authors of a new study in BMC Public…

Surgeons from UC Davis Medical Center say they have demonstrated that artificial muscles can restore the ability of patients with facial paralysis to blink, a development that could potentially …

Low concentrations of oxygen and nutrients in the lower layers of the beaches of Alaska's Prince William Sound are slowing the aerobic biodegradation of oil remaining from the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill…

Reporting in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, an international team of researchers has determined the structure of 14α-Demethylase (14DM), an enzyme essential to the survival of the protozoan…