Something is killing lots of dolphins in the Gulf.
Discovery News says the 714 reported dolphin deaths are just the tip of a much larger iceberg: NOAA declared the die-off an “Unusual Mortality Event” […]
Science
The world’s first winemakers were the world’s first beekeepers.
They lived in the Republic of Georgia, says Eurasianet.org, where scientists have just found 5,500-year-old honeypots: The honey stains found in the ceramic vessels, found […]
Science Art: A red blood cell in a capillary, pancreatic tissue – TEM, by Louisa Howard
Click to embiggen Happy blood. April fool blood. Pancreas blood. Turning sweetness to pep blood. Smiling blood. Very, very enlarged blood. Image from Wikimedia Commons.
World’s largest laser gets just a little larger (and closer to making fusion happen).
Scientific American makes me jealous of the physicists at Livermore’s National Ignition Facility, who get to utter orders like, “Now, my assistants! Fire the FUSION […]
The hands ARE NOT CLEAN! (Or: how germs could cause OCD.)
New Scientist reveals a possible irony of microbiology. It could be that obsessive-compulsive disorder – in which the brain gets stuck in loops of repetitive, […]
Grampa Worm!
PhysOrg greets our oldest known ancestor – a very special worm: Researchers from the University of Cambridge, University of Toronto and the Royal Ontario Museum […]
Farewell, Great White North.
Climate scientists, as quoted in New Scientist, have said goodbye to summer ice in the Arctic. For good: Despite fears of runaway sea-ice loss after […]
A blood test for autism.
MedicalXpress reports that Swedish and Iranian researchers might have identified a way to diagnose autism physically, by checking biomarkers in blood plasma: In the current […]
Science Art: FAGOCITOSI BY RAFF by Raffmara.
Look, this isn’t funny, OK? This isn’t funny at all. If this wasn’t going on inside your body all the time, you would be SO […]
Language is the music of emotion.
PLoS ONE presents research on music and words, showing that, no matter what language you use, speaking an emotion uses the same sounds as playing […]
Cheer up, science fiction!
It’s probably just coincidence that the week after pulp hero John Carter, Warlord of Mars finally made it to the big screen, Neal Stephenson appeared […]
The simple elegance of the Flame Challenge.
Alan Alda asks exactly the right question in exactly the right way: As a curious 11-year-old, Alan Alda asked his teacher, “What is a flame?” […]
Science Art: 5257: Life cycle of Diphyllobothrium latum.
Click to embiggen This is Diphyllobothrium latum, a tapeworm that might make itself at home inside you if you eat undercooked fish. The picture comes […]
What’s made from blue cheese and cleans itself?
If Inhabitat.com’s on the money with this one, the answer could soon be “just about anything,” thanks to Swiss scientists who’ve used blue cheese fungus […]
Happy birthday, zeppelin!
Wired celebrates the anniversary of that very special day, March 14, 1899, when Count Ferdinand Von Zeppelin got the U.S. patent for his design for […]