“…there is no authoritative definition of the sense of humor, and it is also not yet clear what ‘laughing at oneself’ is, or if it even actually occurs in people’s everyday behavior.” - explain…

Fertilizer that comes from cows or other animals does not really originate with them.  Manure from cows and other animals has been used as a crop fertilizer for millennia, and it is still used…

Type 2 diabetes has a strong hereditary component, and while we can't change the genes we were born with, if epigenetics says a father eating a Twinkie before conception can lead to bad grades for…

While there are still plenty of mysteries in electromagnetics, electrical engineers are sure of one thing; current is carried through materials by flowing electrons.  In physics, Luttinger's…

Here I vow to never "reblog", but exceptionally I will break that rule, translating from Italian a very nice article recently appeared on the Italian newspaper "Il Sole-24 Ore". The author is the…

I've determined that I won't write blogs about dumb science unless I encounter at least three in a row.  I probably won't actually adhere to that, but it seemed like a convenient excuse to write…

The term 'elites' gets a bad rap in modern culture, mostly because political pundits use it to mean 'me and people I like' - elitism - rather than understanding what elite means. Yet in sports we…

Media and politicians have focused on one common denominator in the shooting sprees that have occurred during the last few years; guns. What they leave out is that every instance also had shooters on…

Media and politicians have focused on one common denominator in the shooting sprees that have occurred during the last few years; guns. What they leave out is that every instance also had shooters on…

American education reform in the first decade of the 21st century, called No Child Left Behind, resulted in math parity among boys and girls for the first time in history. It may have taken so long…

One of the most basic laws of quantum mechanics is  the superposition principle - a system can be in more than one state, that is to say it can exist in multiple realities, at once. This…

The Biggest Loser is a hit reality show which follows a group of obese people as they attempt to lose weight and regain their health. The contestants maintain a grueling workout routine and eat a…

The Biggest Loser is a hit reality show which follows a group of obese people as they attempt to lose weight and regain their health. The contestants maintain a grueling workout routine and eat a…

 Marsupials represent approximately 6% of all mammal species and include iconic pouched mammals like the kangaroo, wombat and koala. Compared to eutherian mammals like the dog, cow and human,…

A new psychology paper evolution and basic survival techniques adapted by early humans influence the decisions gamblers make when placing bets.  So if current counseling options for problem…

Electrically charged lunar dust near shadowed craters can get lifted above the surface and 'jump' over the shadowed region, bouncing back and forth between sunlit areas on opposite sides.  This…

Ancient rises in sea levels and global warming are partially attributable to cyclical activity below the earth's surface, according to a new analysis of geological studies.  New York University…

Engineers at the University of Sheffield have been doing some science of rugby - measuring the dynamic friction between the material of the ball and the skin on the fingertips and palm, and the mitts…

In a first, a whale skeleton has been found on the ocean floor near Antarctica, almost a mile below the surface in an undersea crater. With it were at least nine new species of deep-sea organisms…

A new paper in Molecular Pharmacology describes how 'reverse pharmacology', enabled by Heptares Therapeutics StaR(R) technology, can be applied to and accelerate GPCR-based drug discovery. The paper…