The Daytime Astronomer on Work/Life Balance

The Daytime Astronomer on Work/Life Balance

A colleague raised the issue of work-life balance.  He wrote: "I want to spend more time with my kids. My kids need to eat, so I work. Something needs to change so these things aren't mutually…
Did Jared Diamond Lie?

Did Jared Diamond Lie?

Two New Guinea men, Henep Isum Mandingo and Hup Daniel Wemp, have filed a $10 million defamation  suit against the New Yorker and Jared Diamond for a story the New Yorker printed called “Annals…
Hubble Takes A Look At That Jupiter Collision

Hubble Takes A Look At That Jupiter Collision

A surprising impact on Jupiter is big news this past week.   The eyes of the entire space world have been riveted on the discovery of amateur astronomer Anthony Wesley of Canberra, Australia.…
WARNING: Stop Eating or You Will Die

WARNING: Stop Eating or You Will Die

In addition to shark attacks and boredom-related deaths due to mid-season baseball, the summer months are the time of food poisoning. If you live in Florida or California, you should be especially…
Dog Breed Matters If You Want To Communicate

Dog Breed Matters If You Want To Communicate

Researchers who make generalizations about the effects of domestication and dog-wolf differences in the utilization of human visual signals, take note; a new study says dog breeds selected to work in…
Who's More Rational, You Or An Ant?

Who's More Rational, You Or An Ant?

Humans, bah.  Multimodal, egg-headed, tool-using, bipedal, opposing-thumbed existence is so 2008.   Ants are where it's at, to the delight of neo-rationalists everywhere (and Edward O.…
What Do You Know About Energy Usage?  A Quiz

What Do You Know About Energy Usage? A Quiz

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/4984727/Vampire-... http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/item.php?news=1803 http://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/3502/jim1537.52/0_2805a…
Your CO2 Is Bad For You In Your Space Suit

Your CO2 Is Bad For You In Your Space Suit

You don't want carbon dioxide (CO2) build up in your space suit. Even those who argue to love huge CO2 emissions into our atmosphere should learn from the AP news: Two…
What Does A Real Scientific Controversy Look Like?

What Does A Real Scientific Controversy Look Like?

The main stream media (“MSM”)[1] frequently treat us to dramatic stories of “scientific controversies” supposedly playing themselves out before our eyes. However, while such stories might make for…
Systems Biology: Asking the Wrong Questions

Systems Biology: Asking the Wrong Questions

Talk to any molecular biologist, and you'll find that most of them feel that there is something that we're missing when we analyze complex biological systems. These systems are often too difficult to…
Dating with short-lived extinct radionuclides

Dating with short-lived extinct radionuclides

Absolute radiometric dating requires a measurable fraction of parent nucleus to remain in the sample rock. For rocks dating back to the beginning of the solar system this requires extremely long…