At the Edge you can find a rather interesting discussion between Lee Smolin and Leonard Susskind, involving all the stuff I try to demystify often. They fought via email, then agreed to each write a…

Disappointed that our solar system mnemonic "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" became "Mean Very Evil Men Just Shortened Up Nature" at the International Astronomical Union meeting…

Disappointed that our solar system mnemonic "My Very Educated Mother Just Served Us Nine Pizzas" became "Mean Very Evil Men Just Shortened Up Nature" at the International Astronomical Union meeting…

It seems like many autism-related sites have ads on them for our kids, promising all sorts of results. How do we evaluate the claims of these products and prevent ourselves from (1) wasting precious…

Astronomers using two decades of observations from many telescopes around the world have discovered an unusual star system which looks like, and may even once have behaved like, a game of snooker.…

Researchers conducting genome-wide association studies say they have discovered 30 new genes determine the age of sexual maturation in women - and many of those genes also act on body weight…

A few weeks ago, The Science Cheerleaders grabbed headlines with their appearance at the USA Science and Engineering Festival, where they cheered for citizen science and science literacy, as well as…

A Waymark Called Hvitsark The Vikings did not use charts and instruments to navigate the open seas.  Having developed skills in coastal navigation they extended those skills to pelagic…

They start bad but they improve with time. I cannot say I like Pope Benedikt XVI yet, but I have the feeling that he is getting better as he ages, pretty much like Pope Johannes Paul II, Karol…

Godwin's Law says, "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches 1."  Since I started with the comparison, we can hopefully move…

Isn't dividing the world into disciplines the antithesis of Science 2.0?  My preference would be no categories, but at the least, couldn't we have a Field called "Multidisciplinary" or "Science…

If you grew up like me you were brought up in a culture based on a dualist metaphysics, one that asserts that there is an objective reality outside of ourselves (whatever “we” are) and that we know…

How are actors able to absorb a TV or film script, hundreds of verses of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter, or the bitchy, street-smart, exquisitely calibrated machine-gun dialogue of a contemporary…

How are actors able to absorb a TV or film script, hundreds of verses of Shakespeare’s iambic pentameter, or the bitchy, street-smart, exquisitely calibrated machine-gun dialogue of a contemporary…

A study by Wageningen University says radiation from wi-fi networks may be harmful to trees.    The researchers note that trees in urban areas in recent years have shown an increasing…

Here a short outtake of a depressing but interesting piece “The Shadow Scholar: The man who writes your students' papers tells his story” on outsourcing of thesis etc. writing that undermines our at…

Progressing from crude stone tools to elegant hand axes was a technological leap, but that required the slow, complex process of evolution, says a new study that seeks to explain why it took…

The eye is not just a lens that takes pictures and converts them into electrical signals, it is the first part of an elaborate system that leads to "seeing".   As with all vertebrates, nerve…

Two anchors on WGN were rewarded for their patience in trying to show a bridge implosion live by...missing it.   After 5 minutes of trying to kill time, they segued to the studio to talk about…

Two anchors on WGN were rewarded for their patience in trying to show a bridge implosion live by...missing it.   After 5 minutes of trying to kill time, they segued to the studio to talk about…