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, […]
Science Art: Mirounga leonina 01, by H. Zell
This is a southern elephant seal, the largest marine mammal that isn’t a whale. They’re about twice as weighty …
Read moreScience Art: What can make any tape recorder sound a little more like an Ampex?, 1963.
This is an ad for Ampex tape from the August 1963 edition of Electronics Australia, a magazine (which I found o…
Read moreScience Art: Cygnus region in emission lines, 2025
This is a photo of space with a bit of color amplification so we can tell what we’re looking at. Nebulas on the…
Read moreScience Art: Heart apical two-chamber view myocardial regions, by Patrick Lynch
This is an illustration of a particular perspective in a cardiac echocardiogram. An “apical view” is one of the…
Read moreSONG: Sleeping Cathedrals
SONG: “Sleeping Cathedrals”. (OGG version here.)
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: Based on “World’s biggest whale g…
Read moreGrampa 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?” […]
SONG: “Back into flow”
SONG: “Back into flow.” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Based on “What it’s like to wear a brain-stimulating ‘thinking cap’”, […]
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 […]
The Guild reviewed.
Check this out: http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/culturelab/2012/03/songs-torn-from-science-headlines.html Forget your Variety and your Rolling Stone. The Guild of Scientific Troubadours just received positive notice from a writer for New […]
Facebook more efficient than IQ tests at determining employability. (Yeah, HR will be reading your updates.)
Forbes takes us one step closer to the Facebook-dominated society with a Northern Illinois University study that finds a quick social media review works better […]
100% efficiency? Bah. Here’s an LED that’s MORE than 100% efficient.
Wired reveals how MIT made this cool magic trick happen – by using a little bit electricity to convert heat into light: The LED produces […]