The pendulum swings again - green tea and cancer

The pendulum swings again - green tea and cancer

First green tea may have anti-cancer properties. Now it turns out, according to a pre-pub in the ASH journal Blood, that polyphenols in green tea can interfere with cancer treatments. Researchers in…
The Internal Debate Over Stem Cell Research

The Internal Debate Over Stem Cell Research

The use of stem cell research in medical therapies has been hotly debated by the political, scientific, ethical and religious communities alike. Ethical considerations are weighed against the…
LIfe as a Daytime Astronomer: Coffee

LIfe as a Daytime Astronomer: Coffee

I don't drink coffee, and to some degree this has impeded my astronomy career. Coffee is the one social connection even the most isolated theorist engages in. Heck, our wall of 3x3 monitors showing…
Cool Thought Experiments III: Schrodinger's Cat

Cool Thought Experiments III: Schrodinger's Cat

Throughout history, scientists, philosophers, mathematicians and Phd students lacking funding for actual research have turned to the thought experiment in hopes of discovering something publishable,…
What Funny Faces Can Tell Us About Schizophrenia

What Funny Faces Can Tell Us About Schizophrenia

As many as 2.4 million Americans have schizophrenia so a late or incorrect diagnosis and the lack of effective treatment options can destroy a sufferer's quality of life. Schizophrenia usually…
How The Influenza Virus Hijacks Human Cells

How The Influenza Virus Hijacks Human Cells

Influenza is and remains a disease to reckon with. Seasonal epidemics around the world kill several hundred thousand people every year. In the light of looming pandemics if bird flu strains develop…
Cloning is awesome....right?

Cloning is awesome....right?

I feel like I found this article with near-perfect timing, considering that I am starting a unit on genetics in my Biology classes.  To recap: sadly, after scientists seemed to have successfully…
What's Down There, Anyway?

What's Down There, Anyway?

Google Earth has the answer to this question, apparently.  Developers are starting to include ocean floor data in the maps accessible via the program.  It's about time, really- but first I…
Introduction

Introduction

What is it, this life that we are presented with? Human history has brought us from bands roaming, hunting, each day guided by mere survival, through villages and great empires of mortar and steel.…
Cloning Experiment Refutes Creationist

Cloning Experiment Refutes Creationist

Evolution may be viewed as a controversial subject by much of the US population, but evolutionary biologists frequently complain that this controversy is manufactured by opponents of evolution who…
Metamorphosis in Science (but not à la Kafka)

Metamorphosis in Science (but not à la Kafka)

Recently I read on this site Massimo Pigliucci’s articles on Hard and Soft Science.  As usual, though, I at first sailed over the main theme, and picking up one or two phrases went off on one of…
Big Bong Theory - The Toke-n Bad Boy?

Big Bong Theory - The Toke-n Bad Boy?

Kudos to Sally Jenkins at the Washington Post for the best article I've read so far on the Michael Phelps non-scandal. I thought I was going to read a humorous article about one of my…