I was impressed by the extensive damage done to an Indiana home and surrounding structures a few days ago. It really did look like a bomb blast. The obvious explanation is that a gas leak was the…

It has taken a while, but the rare decay of B_s mesons (particles composed of a bottom and an anti-strange quark) to muon pairs has finally been seen. The authors of the find -we cannot yet call it…

Microbiologists and geochemists have shown that marine methane oxidation coupled to sulfate respiration can be performed by a single microorganism, a member of the ancient kingdom of the Archaea, and…

"China’s Openness no One-Way Alley" appeared in the The Nanjinger. After all, it is called “science outreach” for a reason. From the article: Science needs to play a role in important decisions.…

One big knock on solar energy is that it is inconsistent; it doesn't work at night or on cloudy days and storing it in batteries takes away the cost effectiveness. But a new technology is in…

Want to help unlock the secrets of magnetism at the molecular scale without getting a PhD in physics? A citizen science project entitled Feynman’s Flowers lets volunteers from across the world…

There's been plenty of research showing that when people inhale oxytocin, they tend to have more positive social behavior: trust, generosity,empathy and communication. But if taking one whiff of…

Sometimes when things catch the attention of the kookier segments of the public, they really take off. Fracking is a good example.  Though it's been around since the 1940s, once it got really…

I read the text below in the Facebook page of a colleague and friend, Christopher Hill. The text was meant as a facebook rant - sort of - but it raises important points. I liked what he wrote and I…

The CDF and DZERO collaborations at the Fermilab Tevatron collider just saw published on Physical Review D (PRD 86, 092003) their final combination of their most recent and precise measurements of…

A new prostate cancer awareness survey found widespread misconceptions about the disease and says the emotional impact on men is underestimated. The physical effects of prostate cancer are widely…

In the past, the stereotypes of autism often included a savant capability in some specific thing. A new look at eight child 'prodigies' suggests there may actually be a link between the children's…

The most startling thing to me about the election of 2012 was how spookily accurate polls were.  Social scientists in one camp want to dismiss determinism while the other camp has biology-envy…

If you haven't seen the movie "Up", you should.  It's a cartoon but it tells a more authentic love story in a three-minute montage than every Katherine Heigl movie combined. And it has inspired…

If you haven't seen the movie "Up", you should.  It's a cartoon but it tells a more authentic love story in a three-minute montage than every Katherine Heigl movie combined. And it has inspired…

BOSTON, MA—“The trees are certainly shorter out here,” said Luke. The East Coaster in me bristled instantly. “Well, sure, nothing’s going to measure up to a Redwood,” I said, “but these guys along…

A journalist I am following on twitter just posted the question in the title of this post. I felt bound to try and give an answer with as simple concepts as I found meaningful. So, what makes a…

“ ‘Chills’ (frisson manifested as goose bumps or shivers) have been used in an increasing number of studies as indicators of emotions in response to music …” But in a new research project,…

Here is an interesting statistic: if we multiply the (approximate) number of computers currently present on planet Earth by the (approximate) number of transistors contained in those computers we get…

In its third century, psychological science will come of age but a mature discipline carries with it responsibilities, chief among them the responsibility to maximize confidence in findings through…