I'm mixing my movie references with the headline, perhaps, but it's honestly the first thing that popped into my head when I read about a worm helping scientists understand longevity.…

I've often talked about how amateurs still can make contributions in modern astronomy, making us unique among the sciences.  Well, 14-year old Caroline Moore became the youngest person to…

"It is incredible how technology changes our lives. I, for example, was not used to swear." (Teo Guadalupi)

Fingerprints are essential for crime dramas and look nicely distinct for each of us but what are fingerprints really for? According to Roland Ennos, from the University of Manchester, other primates…

It's No Soap - Laundry Saves Lives On January 7th 2007, at Sizewell A power station on England's Suffolk coast, an environmental disaster was narrowly averted when a worker visiting the laundry…

John Levine notes that using secure branding can be an effective way to combat phishing. “Secure“ branding, in this sense, means using trusted authorities to verify the credentials of a web site or…

From 1958 to 1970 Wladimiro Dorigo, my father, directed a political and cultural magazine called "Questitalia" ("This italy"), where emerging political issues were discussed, and the ongoing…

Injury of the peripheral nerves, such as the nerves in your arms, is common and often results in a loss of function or sensation.  Although these nerves have the capacity to regenerate and…

With school budgets already sub-par, and the purse strings futher tightened in this current economic state, teachers have to find ways to do more with less. One suggestion, if I may, is to…

The idea of the “selfish gene” was intended to shift focus from the organism to the gene to provide a different perspective on natural selection. It was been described as a metaphor, or simply a…

The second World Science Festival kicked off at Lincoln Center in New York City last evening with a birthday tribute to Edward O. Wilson, everyone's favorite ant man, and science fans fron the…

Space explorers have found another mystery. The Shrinking Betelgeuse! This red supergiant in the constellation of Orion appears as a bright star to the naked eye observer. It has been found to be…

The premise behind the pokerbot is simple: there are many, many bad players in online, low-limit poker games, and thus by playing a tight, mistake-free strategy, you will win over time. Unfortunately…

I'm on the road, so here are two (dueling?) quotes to make up for the hit-or-miss blogging:  God forbid that we should give out a dream of our own imagination for a pattern of the world. …

Meganonsense Alert!There is no consensus amongst linguists as to exactly what constitutes a word.  How do you count words?  What counts as a word?  Do 'run', 'running', 'ran' count as…

If you're a man, somewhere at some time some woman has said you just don't make love long enough.  Okay, for some men all women have said that.   But there are other extremes as well.…

Most people won't eat two cups of blueberries a day but tell them a cup of red wine will make them healthier and they seem downright happy.   Red wine has cultural and historical mystique…

A study of patients and members of the public has shown that most lack even basic knowledge of human anatomy. The research, featured in the journal BMC Family Practice, found that people were…

Graying hairs that crop up with age could be more than just nature, they could be signs of stress, according to a new report in the June 12 issue of Cell.  The researchers say that the kind of…

Who says politics and science can't mix?   Well, we say they shouldn't mix but we're rare in science media.  Yet sometimes political events can make for great science studies too. Case in…