Garter snakes like to eat newts. Newts don't like to be eaten, and to deter snakes from eating them, they have evolved a seriously lethal neurotoxin. This toxin, called tetrodotoxin (TTX), is…

Enough. I have lost to hyperspace too many paragraphs of my scribblings -here, as well as elsewhere- and I cannot stand it anymore. I need your help. I write on a SONY VAIO laptop, with an English…

This really belongs in a general science category, but because of the nature of the experiment I post it here in the field of chemistry. Experience is the best teacher.  "The great Roman leader…

British start-up Novacem has developed a "carbon-negative" cement, meaning it absorbs more carbon dioxide over its life cycle than it emits. Cement is a big ol' polluter - with an annual production…

Just a quick and humorous post for you. I recently watched a program about human combustion on the Discovery Channel. On it there was a man who was attempting to prove that it was a real natural…

Treelines are not responding to global warming the way previous projections said they should, according to the first global quantitative assessment of the relationship between warming and treeline…

Even in adults born with extremely impaired sight, the brain can rewire itself to recognize sections of the retina that have been restored by gene therapy.  This surprising adaptability comes a…

Labels on prescription drugs tell you what researchers know about the medication, but what is left out can be important as well and researchers from the Stanford University School of Medicine think…

An insulator can now be transformed to conduct electricity by an ordinary camera flash, says a Northwestern University professor and his students who have found a new way of turning graphite oxide, a…

A previously unknown chemical compound in the atmosphere may help explain how and when clouds are formed, say a team of researchers from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) and the…

Researchers at the Department of Psychiatry, Klinikum rechts der Isar, Technische Universität München, say they have shown that formal education diminishes the impact of Alzheimer’s disease on…

If you feel lethargic or that your memory is slipping, diet may be a factor.   A new research study says that in less than 10 days of eating a high-fat diet, rats had decreased ability to…

A group of researchers from Indiana University's Center for Health Policy and Professionalism Research (CHPPR) say they have found that support for government health insurance for individuals under…

One of the more exciting aspects of going 4-wheeling in the wilderness is the potential for getting stuck in the mud or hung up on a rock. It’s not so exciting if the 4-wheeler is a robot on Mars…

The science is in and men are easy. Men are far more interested in casual sex than women, according to Dr. Achim Schützwohl, from the Department of Psychology at Brunel University in the UK, and…

What do you do if you're stuck between a banana and a hard place? The slippery slope of paying extortionists tripped up Chiquita in the late 1990s and early 2000s, much like Donald below... But two…

Ancient Egypt : Recommended Resources There are times when I find that anything I may write on a topic has already been written to a very high standard by someone before me.  In such cases, I…

Tonight you have a chance to contribute to science -namely, the knowledge of our solar system- and have a lot of fun at the same time. Do you want to know how ? Then please read on. Comet Swift…

Folsom, CA – August 11, 2009 – On Monday, August 17th at 1:30PM in Hensill Hall 113, attendees of the 90th Annual Pacific Division Meeting of the AAAS in San Francisco will get to learn about the…

I finally got around to reading Carl Sagan’s The Variety of Scientific Experience, a volume edited by his wife, Ann Druyan, and based on a series of Gifford Lectures on Natural Theology that…