OK, here's more commentary on some of the interesting stuff over at Cosmic Variance, this time on the cult of genius: During high school or college, many aspiring physicists latch onto Feynman or…

At Cosmic Variance, find out how the once active physicist Frank Tipler now registers high on John Baez's crackpot index: In science, we tend to valorize (to the point of fetishizing) a certain kind…

As a science site, we can continually be baffled that both the left and the right can find something to be critical about.   Some on the right are critical of stem cell research or climate…

In an article in the International Journal of Astrobiology, P. McCafferty discusses the possibility of a red, blood-like life form living inside meteors. This conclusion raises the possibility that…

Imagining aliens helps us think about evolution If we ever do make contact with an extraterrestrial intelligence, what will it look like?  Hollywood has had no shortage of examples for films and…

If you're a reader of geography or a student of eastern philosophy, you may have seen the name K'un Lun.  It is the name of a mountain range in western China and borders the northern edge of…

One suggestion would be to gain more understanding of life processes. For that, we design science experiments in situ, in vitro, in vivo, and/or in modeling. There are facilities…

In part 2 we closed with the idea that Bohr seemed to be using general relativity against Einstein to save quantum mechanics! A wonderful story. But is it true? Einstein seems to have thought…

Is a recent PNAS paper a knock against evolution? Does it support a "the concept of a preexistent design, with front-loaded genetic programs"? Nonsense. PZ explains why. Go read this if you're at all…

Previously I wrote about "the Science Bubble".  Since then, there has been good news, and bad.The good news is that apparently Speaker Pelosi has been recorded as noting that Science will be…

Two years ago, I had t-shirts made up for my evolution course that depicted Darwin's notebook sketch of a simple tree diagram capped by the words "I think". In total, we generated about $500 for…

Climate prediction is difficult stuff.   As you know, it's impossible to predict the weather 10 days from now much less six months and aside from "it will get a lot worse" no one can say with…

Introducing presumed consent or opt-out system may increase organ donation rates, suggests a new systematic review published in the BMJ (British Medical Journal). There is currently insufficient…

With record low temperatures, winter blizzards and warming that isn't really global, people aren't taking climate change very seriously these days, but that doesn't mean pollution gets a free pass if…

5. That's how many mated pairs will need to have survived the extensive habitat loss that occurred during the early 1900's for the ivory-billed woodpecker to still be around today. Do they exist?…

Take heart, parents.   If your teenager is brandishing a virtual shotgun in their new video game, you're not raising the next Columbine kid.    If they're enjoying themselves, it's…

A new Commonwealth Fund study says that the United States should adopt the policies of Switzerland and the Netherlands.    Those countries have near-universal coverage, though they have to…

Scientists at deCODE genetics have completed the largest study of ancient DNA from a single population ever undertaken. Analyzing mitochondrial DNA, which is passed from mother to offspring, from 68…

Scientists say they have developed a mathematical model of the mating game to help explain why courtship is often protracted.   That's right, there may one day be a numerical model to tell you…

Katy Kao, assistant professor in the Artie McFerrin Department of Chemical Engineering, and Stanford University colleague Gavin Sherlock say their new study of yeast cells has resulted in the most…