Dancing To The Sound Of Jelly Wobbling

Dancing To The Sound Of Jelly Wobbling

You may not have noticed but the sound of a jelly wobbling was recorded for the first time ever in a sound-proof chamber at University College London (UCL) recently. Yes, they recorded the sound of…
Renaissance Humor Gets Its Own Conference

Renaissance Humor Gets Its Own Conference

When Sir Thomas More stood on the scaffold in 1535 he continued to make jokes. We don't often associate humor with executions by berserk kings over religious convictions but that is why humor has…
Helping Nature Regenerate Tropical Forests

Helping Nature Regenerate Tropical Forests

Dutch ecologist Marijke van Kuijk has studied the regeneration of the tropical forest in Vietnam. Abandoned agricultural land does regenerate to tropical forest, but only slowly. Two procedures are…
Abiogenesis vs evolution.

Abiogenesis vs evolution.

At The Panda's Thumb, Nick Matzke has a post about abiogenesis (the origin of life from non-life) and evolution. He, PZ, and others argue that abiogenesis is part of evolutionary biology and that it…
Symmetry and the Standard Model (1)

Symmetry and the Standard Model (1)

It’s Physics World time again, folks! This month’s (July 2008) issue has a cover headline “On reflection: Symmetry and the Standard Model”, and a diagram of the 8-dimensional E8 group squashed flat…
Gecko genome size and cell size

Gecko genome size and cell size

One of the many aggravations I encounter when reviewing manuscripts is that some authors greatly overstate the applicability of statistically significant patterns they report. For example, a…
Surrogate, Egg Donor Kids Do Just Fine

Surrogate, Egg Donor Kids Do Just Fine

The emotional well-being of families where children lack a genetic or gestational link to one or both of their parents (where the children have been conceived through surrogacy, egg donation or donor…
Say hello to some new Scientific Blogging faces

Say hello to some new Scientific Blogging faces

If you get a minute (and if anyone reads my blog - I know, I know, people are here to read the good stuff, not me) say hello to Audrey Amara, our most recent staff science journalist - with articles…
The Color Of The Sun: Revelation

The Color Of The Sun: Revelation

Continuing from the prior article... “The Sun Ain’t Yeller”, cries the heliochromologist.  Undaunted by tradition, dogma, or tens of thousands of erroneous magazine and textbook images of our…