Attentive readers of this blog may have noticed that those who post comments to my entries often show two interesting and complementary attitudes: a fundamental distrust of (if not downright contempt…

It is estimated that biomass covers currently up to 15% of the world energy demand, almost 1/3 of all energy consumption in the Less-Developed Countries. This rate was over the last years rather…

In my younger years, the belief in a world populated by divine entities plagued my thoughts. To the eyes of an atheist, I was a religious adherent, albeit not as devoutly as some of my contemporary…

Many politicians see government welfare as the best way to address the problem of poverty in society. President Barack Obama, for example, recently promised to halve poverty within ten years, and his…

Virtually limitless sources of energy are everywhere. One such potential source is energy from ocean waves that could be used to generate electric power.  Yet as engineers test new technologies…

According to new research conducted by scientists from the University of Maryland and the Ecole Centrale de Lyon in France, smokers may face another serious health risk from the habit and the tobacco…

To non coders, a computer program seems almost like a work of magic: somehow, a collection of simple words - like DO WHEN CASE FOR UNTIL CONTINUE - in a computer file can be "run" and will do stuff.…

 Following up their 2000 discovery of an ancient reptile commonly referred to as SuperCroc,  paleontologists from the University of Chicago and McGill University today unveiled key fossils…

Considering the people and things most often googled these days, it maybe surprising to learn that search engines play a much bigger role in our lives than just helping us find pictures of Megan Fox…

A new study of Antarctica's past climate reveals that temperatures during the warm periods between ice ages (interglacials) may have been higher than previously thought. The latest analysis of ice…

The magnificent plant of Euphorbia Tirucalli, most commonly known as the pencil plant, has a great potential. It naturally produces a poisonous latex...COOL right? Well that isn't the…

First the bad news: our octopus died. Climbed out over the astroturf, was found on the floor the next day. Very, very sad. But, the consolation: on the same day, a dozen or so live market squid…

(Essay 3 in the Evolution and Morality Series) Religious morality is by no means the only source of moral reasoning available to us. There is in fact a long history of secular philosophy dating…

Massimo had an interesting post on his “Rationally Speaking” blog last week about the rift between science and philosophy. He feels that too many of the “new atheists” are being over enthusiastic in…

The 150th anniversary of the publication of The Origin of Species is coming up next week, and even the creationists are celebrating. In fact one of them is giving out free copies of Darwin's seminal…

I recently discussed here the Tevatron results of searches for new Z bosons in electron-positron or dimuon samples collected by CDF and DZERO, pointing out that there seem to be a couple of…

Robotic Surrogate Takes Your Place at Work Having one of those days where even a hearty bowl of Fruit Loops and Jack Daniels can't get you out of bed? A telepresence  robot can come into…

The decision to pursue physics in my tertiary years sprang from a rather naive mindset of my youth: the belief that this constantly evolving field had cracked open the chest of mysteries that we…

Some discussion over the identity of Nemo's little octopus friend Pearl has led me into a deep investigation of Grimpoteuthis (dumbo octopuses) and Opisthoteuthis (flapjack octopuses). Both are…

Pharmacognostical studies on Calotropis procera (Ait.) R.Br. Anita Kumari and Ashwani Kumar Calotropis procera (Asclepiadaceae) is a wild shrub, which grows upto a height of 1-3 m and its leaves are…