Ambergris is a weird and wonderful thing. It has been tremendously valuable throughout human history, but its creation and functionality have been shrouded in myth and superstition. To this day, no…

Professor David Gelernter is a pioneering computer scientist who earned renown by connecting computers together into collaborative networks.  He has claimed since 2008 that Apple, Inc.…

Professor David Gelernter is a pioneering computer scientist who earned renown by connecting computers together into collaborative networks.  He has claimed since 2008 that Apple, Inc.…

I would like to signal an interesting article I have found on the web: Brian Cox is wrong: blogging your research is not a recipe for disaster - by Sarah Kendrew I tend to agree with Sarah, but I…

Mask-Bot, which looks somewhat like a real person (your uncanny valley sense notwithstanding) is actually the prototype of a new robot face that a team at the Institute for Cognitive Systems (ICS) at…

Neutrinos were first postulated in 1930 by Wolfgang Pauli, who won the 1945 Nobel Prize in Physics. “I have done something very bad today by proposing a particle that cannot be detected,” Pauli wrote…

How do new species arise? This question is still being vigorously researched in evolutionary biology. New technologies, such as genomics, provide intriguing new opportunities to investigate the…

These days I am preparing a three-hour course of statistics for particle physicists which I will give at a winter school in a couple of months. This stimulating task forces me to find nice and simple…

It is approaching fast. And it is big. The next NEO (Near-Earth Object) encounter that is. This Tuesday, a 400 m (1,300 ft) diameter rock, known as 2005 YU55, will pass by earth at a distance that is…

California is a jumble of progressive confusion.  People like to pay $15 a dozen for organic, free range chicken eggs and subsidize solar energy, for example, but a clothesline - the most…

California is a jumble of progressive confusion.  People like to pay $15 a dozen for organic, free range chicken eggs and subsidize solar energy, for example, but a clothesline - the most…

Antibiotic resistance is a huge problem. More and more resistant strains of microbes are appearing. Needless to state that this has a huge human and economic cost. Combining this with the increasing…

My recent article  on the relationship between Einstein's Theory of Relativity and superluminal neutrinos has triggered a series of comments. Some of them were reasonable, some others not. Among…

The biodiversity of the ecological community may impact whether a species can evolve to survive climate change, according to a numerical model that simulates the effect of climate change on plants…

Insects who can scale walls are able to do so because of the thousands of tiny hairs that cover their feet and legs. The hairs have flattened tips that can splay out to maximize contact, even on…

Chess is a lifetime passion, there's no doubt about that. In twentyseven years of practice I have often found myself temporarily losing contact with my chess club, with tournaments, and online blitz…

Old-fashioned 'leatherhead' football helmets from the early 1900s were as effective, and sometimes better, than modern football helmets - at least when it comes to injuries during routine, game-like…

Varices, commonly called varicose veins, are a cosmetic problem if they occur as spider veins but in their advanced stage they pose a real health threat. In those patients, the blood is no longer…

Apparently, in the world of Omega-3 supplementation, squid is the new hotness. A Norwegian company producing "Calamarine" has struck deals to sell to a bunch of US food supplements. It's a nice…

Estimates show that 2010 was by far a record year for CO2 emissions from fossil-fuel combustion and cement manufacture. Globally 9,139 Teragrams, a teragram is a million metric tons, of oxidized…