Science & Society

If we are ever going to be sure that we won’t face Armageddon we need to get rid of all Weapons of Mass Destruction. That is a simple fact with one hugely difficult, time consuming and potentially…

As a science nerd, and as a science nerd with friends who are science teachers, I am always on the lookout for new and interesting ways to expose others to the beauty and wonder that is science and…

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…

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…

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…

This is way better than the Geico Cavemen ads - Elisabeth Daynes' reconstructions of ancient hominins. Science Magazine featured her work in their July 10th issue. Her website has some great images.…

This is an oft mentioned safety rule that one should employ when driving to ensure an adequate distance is maintained with the vehicle in front of you. When conditions are wet or icy, the rule has…

I was reading about recent excavations at Amheida, a buried city in Egypt’s Dakhleh Oasis, where it is beginning to appear that agricultural development was taking place before the settlement of the…

I just finished reading an interesting book review by physicist Martin Blume in a recent issue of Nature. Blume was reviewing Eugenie Samuel Reich’s provocative book “Plastic Fantastic: How the…

In case you've been living under a rock, you probably know that Monday is the 40th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing.   I don't remember seeing it on TV when I was a lad, though I am…