Electric Eel Power
PhysOrg reports on a slithery new power source – the eel generator: Electric eels channel the output of thousands of specialized cells called electrocytes to […]
biology
One Step Closer to the Spotless Mind.
Did I post this before? I have no way of knowing. New Scientist tells me (for what I hope is the first time) that researchers […]
Fart Stink Controls Blood Pressure.
Perhaps not heart-stoppingly foul, but, as LiveScience informs us, that distinctive smell is enough to give the circulatory system pause: The unpleasant aroma of the […]
Science Art: Aurochs, Webster’s New International
I’m quite fond of the aurochs. As the feared onager was to the domestic donkey, so the aurochs to domestic cattle. Onagers gave their name […]
Testosterone fuels financial crisis.
The same hormone that makes men hairy (and both genders feel frisky) is to blame for the current mess on Wall Street, say researchers: Scientific […]
If a potato can power a clock…
…then a tree can power a forest-fire deterrent system. At least, so says Discover magazine and a group of MIT scientists who’ve started a “tree […]
Space bears, more like.
New Scientist has joined the chorus of publications huddling around the cutest space invaders ever. Swedish researchers have just proved that tiny creatures called tardigrades, […]
Insomnia, meet inflammation.
I’ve sort of known this was true for years, but now ScienceDaily confirms it: lack of sleep has a direct correlation with inflammation in the […]
Science Art: Honey Ant, Webster’s New International
Does anyone else remember these from Insects Do The Strangest Things? Oh, what a fine children’s book that is. From Webster’s New International Dictionary of […]
The keen migratory instincts of cows.
It seems like this story hit everywhere at once, but it’s still marvelous. Here’s the BBC version of how cows always face north: Images from […]
Bad choices and birth control.
LiveScience makes clear that sometimes, contraception isn’t the best decision. Or, well, doesn’t help you make the best decisions… because birth control pills befuddle women’s […]
*More* spouses?
New Scientist has just given me stress-induced palpitations with their finding that the more wives, the longer-lived the man: After accounting for socioeconomic differences, men […]
Vegetarian spiders. Like panthers.
Bug-watchers at the 12th International Behavioral Ecology Congress have brought the world’s attention (and the attention of the fine bloggers at Greenupgrader.com) to a previously […]
Better than Shinola.
Dailytech.com is smiling (or is it just gas?) over the latest trick we’ve gotten E. coli to perform. Geneticists have altered the food-poisoning germ so […]
Spicy bugs.
If you like your food a little spicy, EurekAlert.org might whet your appetite in a crawly kind of way… because hot peppers owe everything to […]