Jolts from Volts I have almost finished my translation of Volta's original article on his pile and his crown of cups. Most of the article is a straightforward description of his experiments, but I…

It's mind over mechanics. A group in the University of Minnesota's College of Science and Engineering have developed a new noninvasive system that allows people to control a flying robot using only…

In the more urbane sectors of New York and Los Angeles and Austin or wherever you find Whole Foods–levels of gastronomic consciousness and sufficient disposable income (rich, liberal, anti-science)…

In the more urbane sectors of New York and Los Angeles and Austin or wherever you find Whole Foods–levels of gastronomic consciousness and sufficient disposable income (rich, liberal, anti-science)…

A thick paper by the ATLAS collaboration has been published by the Cornell Arxiv today. It is going to become a reference to all ATLAS analyses searching for new phenomena at high energy, or studies…

What happens if you are a Yogi living in Seattle (or Portland, or San Francisco - wherever progressive pseudoscience crackpots feel welcome and included) who discovers that 'proof' is more…

It was no less than Aristotle himself who wondered “Why are the stones on the seashore which are called pebbles round, when they are originally made from long stones and shells?” In typical…

Check out this June 7th, 2011 eruption showing dark filaments of gas blasting outward from the Sun's lower right. The solar plasma appears dark against the Sun's bright surface but it actually glows…

Cities have long been likened to organisms, ant colonies, and river networks. Yet clever analogies fail to capture the essence of how cities really function.   A paper in Science attempts to…

The Van Allen radiation belts in in the Earth's upper atmosphere, two doughnut-shaped rings of highly charged particles, were discovered in 1958. The Van Allen radiation belts consist of an inner…

Arp 142 looks like the profile of a celestial bird but its imagery shouldn't overlook the fact that close encounters between galaxies are a messy business. The interacting galaxy duo Arp 142 contains…

Petermann Glacier 2013 If the feature arrowed in the image below is not a processing artifact, then Petermann Glacier is setting itself up for yet another major calving event.  Further data is…

The Red Queen hypothesis, a popular idea in evolution named after Lewis Carroll's character who in "Through the Looking Glass" described her country as a place where "it takes all the running you can…

Chlamydia trachomatis is a human pathogen that is the leading cause of bacterial sexually transmitted disease worldwide. More than 90 million new cases of genital infections occur each year. About…

A student who shows up on time, listens respectfully and appears fully engaged to teachers might still lack emotional and cognitive involvement with the course material, according to survey results…

Long hours, no money - medical residents have a hard job and it can wear them down. But topping the list are residents in anesthesiology training programs, reports a surve in the July issue of…

Mealybugs only eat plant sap but sap doesn't contain all the essential amino acids the insects need to survive - so mealybugs have developed a symbiotic relationship with two species of bacteria, one…

An assistant professor in the Division of Biology at Kansas State University is projecting that grazing animals such as bison and cattle will get smaller due to global warming in the Great Plains.…

Laws and Flaws The roots of miscarriages of justice.   Although this article is about the common law, the author hopes that it may be of more than passing interest to scientists and to all…

Nearly 70 percent of Americans take at least one prescription drug and more than 50 percent take two, scholars writing in Mayo Clinic Proceedings say. Antibiotics, antidepressants and painkilling…