Random Thoughts

Though the presence of Russian influence in social media during the 2016 election was hyped unrealistically (more damaging was their funding of activism against U.S. food and energy, designed to help…

In synergy with the third season of the hit Netflix series "Stranger Things", Burger King is selling upside-down Whoppers starting today, retro 1980s packaging included. If you are not familiar with…

RIP to Professor Murray Gell-Mann, who passed away last week and was famed (including a Nobel prize) for quark theory.  I never met him, but if you spent time at Caltech you probably did. He was…

Should you ever get invited to a party at my house in Padova, you will discover something that I otherwise do not publicize much - I am an avid mineral collector. I started as a child, fascinated by…

Today we are between what was supposed the be the day Britain left the EU, and Mothering Sunday, more popularly known as Mothers’ Day. How how to link those two? Well, until recently I used to be a…

The Laura and John Arnold Foundation was created by a hedge fund magnate to devote some of their Wall Street wealth to education reform, public pension reform, criminal justice reform, dietary policy…

If you are in a hurry, I will save you some time. Do not walk, fly at 20,000 MPH to your nearest theater or Fandango or however you get IMAX tickets and see "Apollo 11." I want to be the first to…

As the regulars here already know, I am an employee of the INFN. This is the "Istituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare", which translates as "National institute for nuclear physics", a slight misnomer…

In 2011 I wrote a book with Dr. Alex Berezow of RealClearScience in which we noted the common cause among the anti-vaccine, anti-energy, and anti-GMO communities. They shared common beliefs about…

Anti-science activists are having a field day on social media, happy that a poorly designed study can let them claim that human sperm is being damaged by modern pesticides, even though the study…