Measles rising.
The aptly named PLoS blog “The Panic Virus” brings together a few disturbing strands of information about the anti-vaccination movement and the growing threat of […]
Science Art: Body-centered cubic (bcc) unit cell of iron, 2009
If you were curious about the crystalline structure of iron mentioned in the last post, here it is — a molecul…
Read moreScience Art: MOON: For the Benefit of Humanity, 2023
It’s a poster made by NASA for lunar exploration, showing some landers, space stations, and sample-taking equip…
Read moreScience Art: Bubble chamber with colour enhanced tracks, 2026
This is a CERN image from January 6, 2026, showing something that happened in the 1960s, but enhanced for 21st-…
Read moreScience Art: Dissection of Asterias rubens, by Hans Hillewaert.
Starfish anatomy.
If you want to know the parts, according to Dutch Wikipedia, they are:
Read moreLegend
1 Arm
2…
Science Art: Jupiter's Family of Comets, 1898
This is a diagram from A New Astronomy For Beginners, a textbook that’s about a century and a quarter old, or a…
Read moreSONG: Your Catalogue
SONG: “Your Catalogue”. (OGG version here.)
ARTIST: grant.
SOURCE: NBC News, “New wild cat species is ide…
Read moreThe 100-Year Starship
OnOrbit Alpha wants all you really long-sighted business & organizational experts out there to know the Pentagon’s research arm wants your help in conquering space: […]
SONG: Without the Sun
SONG: “Without the Sun.” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Based on Stress can shorten telomeres in childhood, Nature, 17 May […]
Science Art: RC540 stereo animation.gif by Brian0918
Click to embiggen and animate This is a large buckyball molecule – which is to say, a form of carbon, the same stuff in pencil […]
Orphan planets
Popular Mechanics takes a look at the loneliest planets in the universe – the ones that drift around without a star to orbit: The researchers, […]
Earthquake warnings from above.
MIT’s Technology Review takes an interesting look at some atmospheric findings – hot flashes in the air, basically – that could help predict earthquakes: Dimitar […]
Stress alters kids’ chromosomes.
Nature reports on the deep damage suffered by kids in orphanages – not psychological, but down in their chromosomes: Children who spent their early years […]
Driving while absent.
No, PhysOrg says, if Google has its way, it won’t be illegal any more in Nevada if you want to send your car out for […]
We Are The Result Of This Asymmetry: A Song And Dance For Radiolab
The Vimeo page for this says it better than I could: On a hilltop in Maine, students at Colby College express their incredible joyfulness that […]
Science Art: CASENT0010677 (Cephalotes atratus), Antweb.
Click to embiggen Ants don’t actually spin webs. This striking image is one of what will ultimately be more than 11,700 photographs – no, wait, […]
The Soul of the Zombie Ant.
National Geographic has some creepy new insights into one of nature’s creepiest reproductive strategies. The zombie ants – insects whose brains have been hijacked by […]
Fracking stinkwater.
Nature looks at the odoriferous threat to our drinking water created by new methods of natural gas mining: Injecting large quantities of water and other […]
Eyes on the forest and the trees
Medical Xpress examines new ways we can train our minds to use “holistic processing” – that is, we can teach our eyes not to miss […]
A language-killing grudge.
The Ayapaneco language is about to die out, the Guardian reports, in part because the last two speakers aren’t talking to each other: Manuel Segovia, […]
Science Art: Xylophylla, by Olof Swartz, 1791 (detail)
Click to embiggen From a page of botanical babies drawn by Swedish botanist Olof Swartz just before the dawn of the 19th century. Swartz was […]