Animal News

Animal News

The lates news, is mutants. Would you like to read more about it?
Nit-Picking On The Omega_b Baryon: Part II

Nit-Picking On The Omega_b Baryon: Part II

In a previous article here I considered from a statistical standpoint the signal of Omega_b candidate decays extracted by the DZERO collaboration in a large dataset of proton-antiproton collisions…
Mummy's Little Grammatical genius

Mummy's Little Grammatical genius

Mummy's Little Grammatical genius How babies learn to use language. A special note of caution to students.  My description of how a baby probably acquires language is speculative and is not a…
Aged Neural Stems Cells Still in Running Order

Aged Neural Stems Cells Still in Running Order

A recent study of adult neural stem cells suggests a new route for research and development of  treatments for neurodegenerative disease in elderly patients. Within the last 20 years…
How Is A Protist Like A Flying Pig? Mutualism

How Is A Protist Like A Flying Pig? Mutualism

Before the days of mandatory underseat pet carriers, my airline colleagues received a call from a woman who needed to bring her therapy pet, a pig, on a flight. The airline didn’t see a problem,…
Spacecakewalk!

Spacecakewalk!

Astronauts blazed through their third of five spacewalks Saturday as they continued servicing the Hubble Space Telescope, installing the new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) and repairing the main…
The Internet, in "New Scientist", parts 5 and 6

The Internet, in "New Scientist", parts 5 and 6

For the next installment in my series of comments on the New Scientist magazine series “Eight things you didn’t know about the internet”, we have two for one. Actually, not really: I’m going to skip…
Say Goodbye to the Printed Textbook....

Say Goodbye to the Printed Textbook....

I remember distinctly lugging a backpack of textbooks across the frozen tundra of Michigan State University in January. On many occasions, the weight of the backpack was enough to send me skidding…
Elsevier published *six* fake journals.

Elsevier published *six* fake journals.

Last week we found out that Merck paid Elsevier to publish a fake peer-reviewed journal.  This week we found out that Elsevier produced five other pay-for-publication journals.  The …
The Internet, in "New Scientist", part 4

The Internet, in "New Scientist", part 4

On to part 4 in my series of comments on the New Scientist magazine series “Eight things you didn’t know about the internet”: “Is there only one internet?”, by Ben Crystall. As with all the questions…
Play Against the Physicist!

Play Against the Physicist!

Tired of reading about science ? In need of a boost to your ego ? You think you are smarter than me ? Can you play chess at a reasonable level ? Or, do you have a chess program and you don't mind…
Cells On Petals Are 'Velcro' For Bees

Cells On Petals Are 'Velcro' For Bees

When bees collect nectar, how do they hold onto the flower? Cambridge University scientists have shown that it is down to small cone-shaped cells on the petals that act like 'velcro' on the bees'…