Found: God of silence. Slightly used. Won’t talk.
The (not exactly) god of silence and secrecy, Discovery reports, is at the heart of a new Egyptian antiquities mystery. Of four statues recovered by […]
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 moreRobot buddies.
Science Mag produces proof – actual, empirical proof – that nice guys really can finish first and that even killer robots can learn to care […]
Words on sling stones can SO hurt me.
That’s the gist of an AFP report on the messages ancient soldiers carved into their ammunition: Slingers, also known as sphendonetai, have been used in […]
Truck stop life.
Scientific American has a great guest post about a driven entomologist who discovered a new order of life… one that had eluded discovery by hanging […]
Viral solar.
PhysOrg brings us a teeny tiny bit closer to going green with an MIT project that offers solar power that reproduces virally: This dramatic improvement […]
Helicoma spp + rhinoceros beetle, from Insecten-Belustigung, by AJ Rösel von Rosenhof, 1700s.
Click to embiggen From Insecten-Belustigung (Insect Amusements), a three-volume encyclopedia by 18th century German illustrator AJ Rösel von Rosenhof. [via Bibliodyssey, via Keep Your Pebbles.]
I, for one, welcome our new astronauts.
They’re squid. No, really. Science 2.0 has blown the whistle on the final Space Shuttle mission – the one that finally brings squid back to […]
Precious beetles.
It shouldn’t be surprising that The Optical Society likes getting a little flashy… but their beetle test subjects take things a little too far: Costa […]
Neanderthal Heaven.
Discovery News unveils the religious life of Neanderthals: The Neanderthals were found covered together with rocks burying their remains. The researchers believe it’s likely that […]
Science Art: Total Eclipse of the Sun, by E.L. Trouvelot, 1881-1882
Click to embiggen From the description at the New York Public Library Digital Gallery page: Total eclipse of the sun. Observed July 29, 1878, at […]
SONG: Grains of Aragonite
SONG: “Grains of Aragonite.” (To download: double right-click & “Save As”) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Based on Primitive sea creature sports eyes made of rock, LiveScience, […]
NIMBioS: Science Songwriter Residency
I doubt I could skip out of my non-scientific day job for a month, but man, I sure want to now: NIMBioS is sponsoring the […]
Light batteries
University of Michigan engineers are taking a bright new approach to solar power: The researchers found a way to make an “optical battery,” said Stephen […]
“Cute” don’t pay.
At least not when it comes to dates. Evolutionary Psychology finds that pretty people expect free rides: [St. Andrews psychologists] set up hypothetical blind dates […]
Grapefruit vs. bugs.
NPR’s reporting sounds almost too good to be true as it extols the virtues of an all-natural, edible grapefruit extract that repels mosquitoes, ticks and […]