Never Sleep Again.
The Journal of Neuroscience is keeping us up at night with an article called “Systemic and Nasal Delivery of Orexin-A (Hypocretin-1) Reduces the Effects of […]
Science 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 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 moreA Plague of Sea Lice
Enough of this love for marine arthropods in which we’ve been indulging over recent weeks! New Scientist sets us straight with their revelations over a […]
Killer Bees.
New Scientist reports on the latest weapon in the war on Colony Collapse Disorder, the syndrome that’s killing off thousands of beehives and potentially threatening […]
Science Art: Taraxacum Ruderalia by Bartz
A dandelion seed pod seen up close, photographed by Richard Bartz. — Also, unrelated to the above, you really should check out more science art […]
Broken wheel of discovery.
PhysOrg reports on one of 2007’s most dramatic moments of serendipity, when Mars rover Spirit discovered evidence of life by breaking down. As the researchers […]
Bored Aliens.
New Scientist reports on a problem facing the researchers with the SETI project. It’s not a technological issue, really. Intelligent alien civilizations are probably already […]
Cooking up intelligence.
Scientific American interviews a primatologist – well, a biological anthropologist named Richard Wrangham – who believes humans evolved big brains because of cooking: Your theory […]
Quiet loudspeakers.
LiveScience.com is spreading the word on speakers that don’t spread much of anything – except precisely where they’re pointed. Think of them as being like […]
Powered by toxic waste.
LiveScience.com reports on a new power source from old coal mines – a device that makes electricity from seeping pools of toxic waste: The researchers […]
SONG: First Man in Space (penitential cover version)
SONG: “First Man in Space” (cover) (To download: right-click & “Save As”) ARTIST: grant. Originally by Jarvis Cocker (of Pulp) and Phil Oakey (of the […]
Sorry, our comet is missing.
Astronomers at the University of Hawaii recently had to make a strange correction to the Deep Impact mission. The ship, which thrilled scientists in 2005 […]
Science Art: Ptolemaic System, from Andreas Cellarius’ Harmonia Macrocosmica
This chart shows the universe as understood in 1660 – a solar system with a giant Earth at its center.
Cell phone gourmand.
New Scientist unveils yet another thing Nokia is designing cell phones to do – read the menu for you: Snap a picture of, say, a […]
Burning coal creates nuclear waste.
Scientific American reports on a series of studies that mess with our sense of common sense. Nuclear power plants should be creating nuclear waste, and […]
Songs for Giant Isopods
[n.b.: Subsequent to writing this post, I wound up writing a song about isopods myself. I think it’s one of my better ones; check it […]