The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

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Month: May 2026

A new (easier) way to detect alien life.

19 May 2026 grant 0

Mashable reports on astrobiology research that may have found a simpler (and, importantly, more portable) way to detect traces of life on alien planets … by measuring up amounts … Read the rest “A new (easier) way to detect alien life.”

Scientific illustration of fish guts, the innards of a whitefish in black and white ink. It's very ... organic.

Science Art: Fowler – Coregonus Nelsonii Bean.

18 May 2026 grant 0

This is an Alaska whitefish, a cousin of the salmon whose genus name, Coregonus, means “angle-eyed.”

But this isn’t the eye. It’s the alimentary canal, the guts,… Read the rest “Science Art: Fowler – Coregonus Nelsonii Bean.”

Neanderthals died out from something like loneliness

15 May 2026 grant 0

Or maybe “loner-ism.” IFL Science reports on new research showing that what might have led to the demise of Neanderthals as a distinct kind of human was the lack of a social network… Read the rest “Neanderthals died out from something like loneliness”

A Florida high schooler got anxiety meds from tarantua venom.

13 May 2026 grant 0

Relax, the spider is here to soothe you. Tampa Bay Times reported on Daniel Park, who won a state-wide science competition by using his computers to design a drug candidate for treating anxiety… Read the rest “A Florida high schooler got anxiety meds from tarantua venom.”

Scientific illustration of a mathematical shape, a circular paraboloid, looking a little like a stained-glass arch or a checkerboard dome standing by a reflecting pool.

Science Art: Paraboloide Circular 02, by Rodrigo Argenton

11 May 2026 grant 0

This is a circular paraboloid, a shape with “one axis of symmetry and no center of symmetry,” according to Wikipedia, which also, helpfully, says a *circular* paraboloid … Read the rest “Science Art: Paraboloide Circular 02, by Rodrigo Argenton”

Brazilian villages make a good living protecting a giant fish

11 May 2026 grant 0

Science reports on a conservation project that’s also helping some of the poorest people on the planet — villagers along the Juruá River, a western tributary of the Amazon … Read the rest “Brazilian villages make a good living protecting a giant fish”

The Earliest Emperor Butterfly

9 May 2026 grant 0

IFL Science reports on the (beautiful) discovery of a (well-preserved) butterfly from 34 million years ago … a specimen with visible, identifiable wing patterns and veins that … Read the rest “The Earliest Emperor Butterfly”

Scientific illustration of 19th century apparatus, gears and wheels and tubes, for determining altitude and azimuth. It's all very complicated.

Science Art: Azimuth and Altitude Instrument, c. 1876

4 May 2026 grant 0

This is an illustration from the Great Exhibition, 1876, or The great Centennial exhibition critically described and illustrated, by Phillip T. Sandhurst, which you can leaf through … Read the rest “Science Art: Azimuth and Altitude Instrument, c. 1876”

Trees grow six times taller in strange Amazonian soil.

1 May 2026 grant 0

BBC’s Science Focus is digging in the dirt to get inside the mystery of “dark earth,” which seems to make the Amazon as fertile as it is… though no one knows how it… Read the rest “Trees grow six times taller in strange Amazonian soil.”

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Something to Believe In

GRANT: something to believe in

You could write a review of this album here on iTunes.

That would be generous.

Fellow Travelers

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Tags

acoustics aeronautics agronomy anatomy anthropology archaeology astronomy biochemistry biology botany chemistry climatology computer science ecology economics electrical engineering electronics engineering entomology epidemiology evolution genetics geology linguistics marine biology mathematics medicine meteorology microbiology microscopy nanotechnology neurology oceanography optics paleontology pharmacology physics psychology quantum physics research robotics sociology space exploration theremin zoology
RSS Help Wanted: ScienceCareers
  • Resilience: Automation Engineer III (Relocation Assistance)
  • American Academy of Arts and Sciences - Hellman Fellowship: Hellman and Simons Fellow for Science, Engineering, and Technology
  • Simons Foundation: Director/Senior Director of Research Software Engineering
  • THE HONG KONG POLYTECHNIC UNIVERSITY: Professor / Associate Professor / Assistant Professor
  • Baylor College of Medicine: Senior Research Program Management Associate - Microbiome and Neurodevelopment
  • Baylor College of Medicine: Postdoctoral Associate
Honorary Troubadours
  • Jonathan Coulton, Contributing Troubadour for Popular Science.
  • Laura Veirs, who knows her way around a polysyllable.
  • Thomas Dolby, godfather of scientific pop.
  • Squeaky, fact-based rock about fusion containment & rocket science.
  • Cosmos II, a.k.a. Boston University astronomer Alan Marscher.
  • Dr. Fiorella Terenzi, astrophysicist who makes music from cosmic radio sources.
  • Dr. Jim Webb, astronomy professor and acoustic guitarist.
  • Artichoke, the band behind 26 Scientists, Vols. I and II.
  • They Might Be Giants, unrelenting proponents of scientific popular song.
  • Symphonies of Science, the people who make Carl Sagan and others sing.
  • Giant Squid, doom metal about the sublime horrors of marine biology.
  • Gethan Dick,6 scientists, 6 musicians, 1 great album
Related Projects
  • Squid Pro Crow
  • Grant Bandcamp
  • Grant Soundcloud
  • Penitential Originals Playlist
https://guildofscientifictroubadours.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/01-gravity-song.mp3

 
"Is it a fact—or have I dreamt it—that, by means of electricity, the world of matter has become a great nerve, vibrating thousands of miles in a breathless point of time?"
— Nathaniel Hawthorne, The House of the Seven Gables, 1851

grant balfour made this website.

Member institution: Duct Tape Aesthetic Laboratories
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