Three reasons why government can look less efficient than it really is: 1. Cherry-picking in privatization. Let’s suppose we could rank government agencies or services in descending order of…

A Gemini Legacy image has captured the colorful and dramatic tale of a life-and-death struggle between two galaxies interacting. All the action appears in a single frame, with the stunning polar-ring…

Tropical Storm Maria is moving away from Japan and strong wind shear is pushing its rainfall east of the storm's center, with no areas of heavy rain remaining in the tropical cyclone. The low…

Some physicists are looking to do for elections what they have done for economics - try and prove that people can behave rationally.  Here is hoping it goes better this time. Unfortunately, the…

Some physicists are looking to do for elections what they have done for economics - try and prove that people can behave rationally.  Here is hoping it goes better this time. Unfortunately, the…

Physicists at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) recently observed first glimpses of a possible boundary separating ordinary nuclear matter, composed of protons and neutrons we know today,…

An international research effort has resulted in an integrated physical, genetic and functional sequence assembly of the barley genome, which could lead to higher yields, improved pest- and…

Most people regard journalists as biased, though it is most evident in the bias of journalists at places politically different from the consumer - in the US, MSNBC viewers regard Fox News consumers…

If suffer from arachnophobia, fear or spiders, you know that rationality does not enter into it. Imagining a huge and hairy tarantula crawling on your arm in a therapist’s office is not less scary…

People love Top 10 Lists.  So a ranking system of the ten most important phytopathogenic fungi on a scientific and economic level should be a big hit. If you don't want to spend five more…

The link between mathematics and music has always been there - our ears hear in frequencies and even before those frequencies were known in physics terms, ancient philosopher-scientists had…

Recently, scientists in New Zealand welcomed a terrific new genetically modified organism (GMO) into the world: A cute, tailless cow named "Daisy" that produces hypoallergenic milk. Scientists…

Recently, scientists in New Zealand welcomed a terrific new genetically modified organism (GMO) into the world: A cute, tailless cow named "Daisy" that produces hypoallergenic milk. Scientists…

Researchers from Germany and Switzerland did an analysis on sediment cores from the Black Sea and concluded that, for a brief period during the last ice age, a compass at the Black Sea would have…

I had a dream. So what, we all do. Well, this was particular, because I remember all of it well, and because it involved a very interesting situation. I was at Fermilab, in an office on a top-level…

And once again I am amazed at the shortsighted, self-righteous moralizing of those who pretend to be all progressive, hip cyber age people. Now Gawker outed an internet troll, with no regard for that…

Supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud was close enough to be seen by the naked eye when its light first reached Earth in February of 1987.  During the explosion's peak, fingerprints of…

The economic downtown that began in 2008 has been hardest on the mental health of men in England - yet it isn't the actual unemployment and falling household income the authors blame. They blame the…

Every few years, San Diego State researchers and Clorox get together and produce a study showing that the 'five second rule' - how long food can be on the floor and still be safe to eat - is not…

Researchers from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory may have discovered why so little that makes sense results from political meetings - moderately high indoor concentrations of carbon dioxide…