Ancient viruses gave us our brains.
“Language is a virus,” said William S. Burroughs. Now, Science Daily reports that researchers at Altos Labs-Cambridge Institute of Science have found that intelligence itself […]
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…
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Science Art: Relative Position of Observer and Observed in Direct Ophthalmoscopy, Arthur W. Head, 1917.
You gotta get right up in there if you really want to see what’s going on in those eyes. This is an illustration from a […]
Milking the amphibian
NPR has a story about a caecilian. Not Sicilian, but South American, these are to salamanders what glass snakes are to lizards: a legless version […]
Bumblebees teach each other.
Nature shares a study that found that bumblebees somehow communicate the solutions to complex puzzles to each other, something that only humans were thought to […]
Science Art: Earth by Henry De la Beche, from Researches in Theoretical Geology, 1834.
This depiction of Earth might be the first such image of our planet as seen from space. No human (as far as we know) had […]
Humpback sex photographed for the first time – and it’s gay.
The Guardian runs a science story about a milestone in marine biology – the first time humpback whales have ever been caught on camera in […]
Odysseus tipped over on the Moon.
Reuters reports on the first private-corp lunar lander, who successfully touched down on the Moon and sent back useful data about conditions there. That’s the […]
Science Art: Styxosaurus and Xiphactinus/i>, by ABelov2014.
Styxosaurus is, or was, an elasmosaur – an undersea predator with a long neck and sharp teeth, all the better for grabbing ammonites and prehistoric […]
Chinese dragon fossil discovered.
NPR, among other outlets, has reported on the discovery of a real Chinese dragon in this, the Year of the Dragon. At least, it’s certainly […]
Gene test reveals your likelihood of getting 10 common illnesses
Health Day reports on a new DNA scan that reveals to you (and doctors, and who knows who else) just how likely you are to […]
SONG: Lady at the Generator
SONG: “Lady at the Generator”. (available as .ogg here) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: Based on Amsterdam UMC, 4 Jan 2024, “Tiredness Experienced by Long Covid Patients […]
Science Art: Science-Gossip cover page, Dec. 1899.
This is the cover page of Science-Gossip magazine, “an illustrated monthly record of nature, country lore, & applied science.” There are articles in here about […]
Building a telescope on the Moon.
BBC Sky at Night Magazine reports on NASA’s plan to look deeper into space than ever before by setting up a 9-lb (4-kg) radio telescope […]
New hope for life on Mars
Space.com brings more evidence of a life-sustaining environment on primordial Mars, in the form of ancient sediments that confirm Jezero crater was once a vast […]
Say it to me deeply.
Science Daily reports on research into the psychological effects of the pitch of people’s voices. It’s fairly well known that people find men’s voices more […]