I have been meaning to give a summary of my experience as a judge at The Ohio Academy of Science for the State Science Day (May 7, 2011) - for, I think, the…

Cosmic Embryo #5:  Aiming for the moon with all rockets blazing? A critique of Breast Cancer Deadline 2020®   The multibillion dollar breast cancer enterprise has just issued its damning…

A question posed by Tony Smith in the thread of the previous post (which dealt with the choice of the bin width in histograms) triggered me to do a little work to produce a convincing answer to him.…

So Stephen Hawking doesn't believe in Heaven.  This is apparently a big deal.   It's not that he is wrong, he is most likely right, though the nature of faith is belief in defiance of any…

Just a quick note today, on getting DIY stuff done.  Schedules are better than plans.  Just blocking out the time during which you will tackle a task is more important than figuring out how…

Whole body computerized tomography (CT) scanning has helped diagnose the earliest confirmed case of coronary artery disease in history.The Egyptian princess Ahmose-Meryet-Amon, who lived in Thebes…

A gene in the nucleus of muscle and brain cells named  MLIP (Muscle enriched A-type Lamin Interacting Protein) affects heart development and the aging process, according to a study in the…

Anyone who have been working in a multidisciplinary science project knows how hard it is to establish coherent dialogs that make sense and are productive for all participants. Scientists from each…

I was unaware of the following story, which was brought to my attention by Monica Pepe-Altarelli yesterday. Since I totally agree that nobody should be detained without proof of guilt for long…

The question whether all human clinical trials undertaken in India are conducted ethically has been answered. The final report of the three-member committee appointed by the central government to go…

If your advocacy group says Republicans are anti-science but then Democrats are also anti-science, it may instead be that your groups positions aren't really scientifically valid.  Yet…

When the woman asks what this biologist would choose if he could have anything, product placement hilarity ensues:

When the woman asks what this biologist would choose if he could have anything, product placement hilarity ensues:

Hello to the K. B. Polk 4th graders! I enjoyed your visit to Cedar Ridge Natural Preserve.  As I told some of you, I'm a scientist and I was going out to South Texas that weekend to find some…

This blog contains four snaky puzzle questions, their back stories, answers, and discussions. Due to family responsibilities, the video blog must be delayed until at least Thursday.click or skip a…

Aggression in mating males is a successful reproductive strategy for individuals but a numerical model says it can drive a species to extinction, Evolutionary biologists have long debated whether the…

Human embryonic stem cell research is limited in the US and Europe but creative researchers have made significant advances  using the existing hESC lines allowed under US federal guidelines…

Could the key to our hydrogen future be a black stain on rocks? Using sunlight to split water in a cheap, efficient way is the goal of true renewable energy that won't involve ghastly wind vanes or…

Thrombolytic agents, commonly called "clot-busting" drugs, are frequently used in the treatment patients with blood clots in the lungs but a new study says clot-busting drug are no more effective…

In a complex system you never know what obscure change can modify things that wouldn't seem to be related.  A new study shows that variation of the scavenger receptor class B type 1 gene (SCARB1…