The Guild of Scientific Troubadours

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.”

Nature makes us feel lonely. It turns out that Gliese 580c isn’t that likely to have life on it after all.

The most Earth-like planet discovered so far is not quite in the right place

…from a solar-powered toothbrush, of course.

The invention, from University of Saskatchewan professor Kunio Komiyama and his colleague Dr. Gerry Uswak, uses electrons to replace… Read the rest “Sunny smiles…”

UN Scientists looking at the weather have found that over the past 500 years, climate change has marched hand in hand with war, New Scientist reports:

The 100-year warming period would have

Arthropods are the creatures that have armor-like skin and jointed legs – the group that includes crawfish, scorpions, spiders and insects. The bugs. The largest arthropod currently… Read the rest “BIG bug.”

Despite being dead for, oh, 65 million years or so, dinosaurs still turn up in the darnedest places. Mainly museums, of course, but even there, the dusty shelves can still be full of surprises,… Read the rest “Unexpected dinosaurs.”

That’s the not-terribly cheerful news from Nature on the vaquita (Phocoena sinus), a porpoise from Mexico’s Pacific coast:

In 1999, researchers estimated there were 567