Science Art: “Acherontia atropos,” Nordisk familjebok
The Death’s Head Hawkmoth. There’s a more recent photograph of one here; the first time I remember learning this beauty’s name was in a brilliantly […]
Science
The Little Green Men and the Heavenly Host.
New Scientist reports on the Vatican’s public acceptance of extraterrestrial life: In the interview, headlined “The extraterrestrial is my brother,” [Reverend Jose Gabriel Funes, head […]
California’s Fast Future.
They’re one step closer to Burbank to San Francisco in less than 3 hours. Besides being fast, high-speed rail’s other touted benefits do sound pretty […]
Seismologists, look to the skies.
What with earthquakes being in the news recently, it might be reassuring to look at a recent New Scientist piece on a potential early warning […]
A Southern Man Don’t Need This Spider Around.
The CBC reports on a newly discovered trapdoor spider named for Mr. Neil Young: East Carolina University biologist Jason Bond calls the new species Myrmekiaphila […]
Science Art: Sixteen Black Dot Tentacles by Ernst Haeckel
Sixteen Black Dot Tentacles by Ernst Haeckel. This may look like an abstract or a mathematical exercise; it’s not. It’s an illustration of a microscopic […]
Space Boomerang: A Slight Return.
You really wanted to see it come back, didn’t you. I sure did….
Brilliant Morning Coffee
You already knew this, but the BBC Science Desk reiterates that caffeine really is brain food: “Caffeine appears to block several of the disruptive effects […]
BREAKING: The Platypus is Weird.
New Scientist leaves us in no doubt: the platypus is not like other animals. Wesley Warren at Washington University in St Louis, Missouri, led the […]
Global Warming and DDT
New Scientist reveals an ugly, new problem from melting glaciers. They’re dosing penguins with DDT… and us with a whole bunch of other bygone pollutants: […]
Grim Aurora: Earth’s Magnetic Field and Suicide.
New Scientist brings up the odd notion that our planet might be using invisible forces against us, with the recent discovery that geomagnetism triggers suicides: […]
“Basket of Species”. Who knew they came in baskets?
LiveScience is skipping through the woods with news of legless lizards, horned toads and more things creeping out of an amazing new trove of animals […]
Science Art: Venus in Old China
Astronomical charts from Gujin Tushu Jicheng, a Qing dynasty Chinese encyclopedia.
Set the Controls for the Heart of the….
NASA is heading into the Sun: NASA has tapped APL to develop the ambitious Solar Probe mission, which will study the streams of charged particles […]
Tiny Telephones.
LiveScience is on the line with a call about insect telephones. Please hold – this plant is busy: When a subterranean insect takes up residence […]