The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

Sometimes, you just can’t win.

You’d expect a country that’s embracing electric bicycles as an alternative to cars to be lauded as an environmental savior. But scale… Read the rest “China’s electric bicycle problem”

Microbiologists have come up with a dirty new weapon in the war on MRSA, according to reports in Scientific American and Science News. The flesh-eating germs might not succumb to antibiotics… Read the rest “Fighting dirty against germs”

Science News recently had a report on Michael Worobey’s work tracking AIDS.

The common conception of this disease is that it struck America in the 1980s, bringing the Sexy Seventies… Read the rest “AIDS: Around longer than you’d think.”

The Interesting Thing of the Day blog presents an interesting solution to a problem that’s deeper than most people realize. The problem is all the batteries powering our cell phones,… Read the rest “And after the charge gives out, you make martinis.”

Yep, scientists at UC San Diego seem to have found a way around the uncanny valley problem (the more “human” a robot, the creepier it gets) by creating an android that giggles… Read the rest “Giggle-bot is FRIEND!”

The Chicago Tribune recently had a piece on Russia’s latest contribution to today’s space race. They’re prepping for a Mars flight by locking six people in a small space… Read the rest “Virtual Mars mission – 500 days in a box.”

OK, sorry for that headline. New Scientist reports that a University of South Florida researcher has found a way to replace human corneas with sea cucumbers:

The team’s artificial

So sings Science Daily, reporting on new research reaffirming something plenty of superstitious types like me already know all too well. It’s actually good for you to believe in … Read the rest “You have to be-lieeeve in maaagic!”

You may have already noticed this, either by reading Sky & Telescope or by looking out at Perseus in the northeast sky over the past few evenings.

Comet 17P/Holmes suddenly exploded… Read the rest “Seen an exploding comet lately?”

New Scientist again challenges assumptions – in a more serious vein this time – asking about the effects of dolphin-assisted therapy (DAT) on the dolphins. Humans with autism,… Read the rest “Is dolphin-assisted therapy cruel?”

New Scientist pulls the covers back from an evolutionary mystery – how the spiny anteater’s penis works. Apparently, it does its magic two heads at a time:

Then Steve Johnston

Scientific American reports on another look at the origins of violent behavior in children… and rather than blaming food additives, junk TV or general social ills, they’re… Read the rest “Sins of the father?”