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 […]
Science Art: Beebe's Bathysphäre, 1934
This is an image of William Beebe’s bathysphere, as placed on Wikimedia Commons by ETH Bibliothek. It was creat…
Read moreScience Art: Power of RCA Electron Microscope, May 1955
These are diatoms, I think, seen by two different microscopes.
As the caption from Popular Electronics says…
Read moreScience Art: Red Pepper, 1910.
Red pepper (Cayenne pepper) will cure almost any case of la grippe within 24 hours, or so they say. At least no…
Read moreScience Art: Figs. 1315-1333 (Various rotary piston engines), 1890.
This is a page of figures from (deep breath) The engineer’s sketch-book of mechanical movements, devices, appli…
Read moreScience 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 moreGlobal 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 […]
“Superluminal Lover” by Cosmos II
Listen to this song! It’s at Scientific American’s blog, it’s about relativity, black holes and sexiness, and it’s by a Boston University physics researcher. And, […]
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 […]
Beautiful (Have A Unique Ringtone).
Because I know that what the internet really needs is more people putting sad, hungry monkeys* on their cellphones, here’s my latest attempt to sell […]
Drip. Drip. Drip.
The BBC has us imagining that sound as New Zealand researchers thaw a colossal squid: “They’re incredibly rare – this is probably one of maybe […]
Pioneer Anomaly: A Long-Distance Bill
Scientific American closes in on the “Pioneer Anomaly” – the strange fact that the Pioneer deep space probes aren’t traveling at exactly the right speed. […]
Science Art: “Asian Types,” The New Students Reference Work (1914)
Click to embiggen A dicey bit of racial taxonomy from The New Students Reference Work (1914), edited by Chandler B. Beach, associate editor Frank Morton […]
Flammable Ice
New Scientist has a gas with the latest alternative energy source, flammable ice. …[I]t could be the world’s last great source of carbon-based fuel – […]
SONG: After the End.
SONG: “After the End” (To download: right-click & “Save As”) ARTIST: grant. SOURCE: “Arctic ‘Doomsday’ Seed Vault Opens”, Science Friday, 7 Mar 2008, as used […]
Bebe Barron, R.I.P.
Electronic music pioneer Bebe Barron has passed away. She’s best known for composing the score to Forbidden Planet with her husband, using living circuits – […]