The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

National Geographic reveals how parasitic wasps transform cockroaches into zombie slaves:

he parasitic jewel wasp uses a venom injected directly into a cockroach’s brain to inhibit

The BBC has a field report on the XO, the laptop distributed by the One Laptop Per Child project. It’s a field report by one of the XO’s intended users (sort of) – an actual… Read the rest “Keeping the “C” in OLPC.”

Natural History magazine sounds a warning for words. University of Michigan linguist Sarah Grey Thomason, a specialist in the Salish–Pend d’Oreille language of Montana’s Native… Read the rest “Endangered words.”

Palaeontologists in North Dakota have found a first-of-a-kind duck-billed dinosaur fossil, the BBC reports, containing not just hadrosaur bones, but the remains of skin, ligaments … Read the rest “Dinosaur meat.”

Science Daily continues to make me feel inadequate by pointing out that even chimpanzees are better at math:

“There are still many people, including many biologists, who believe

New Scientist reports on the wisdom of babes. Six-month-olds are able to recognize who’s really on their side and who’s trying to do them wrong, even though you might think … Read the rest “Babies know who’s helpful.”

For a few years now, computer engineers have been building a virtual brain – using computers to replicate every neural connection in a mammal’s gray matter. The question they’re… Read the rest “Making a brain.”

Nature recently revealed research that will please the nihilists among us, from astrophysicist Teppo Mattsson, who says that dark energy, the stuff that keeps the universe from imploding,… Read the rest “Invisible? Or just empty?”

…even when taught online by some of the world’s top universities.

Maybe I can finally get chemistry to make sense.

Nature reports on a new strain of genetically modified drought-resistant tobacco. OK, so some people are probably thinking this sounds like the least healthy plant ever, but it could be… Read the rest “Dry tobacco.”