Science & Society

BPA: Anti-Science Politicians In California Again

Every ramp-up to every election since blogging has been in existence has seen the blogosphere explode with the usual 'Republicans are anti-science' hype while whitewashing Democrats who do the same thing. This year is no different, though they fe ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Sep 2 2011 - 1:57pm

Being A Sexy Sexy Writer

In Physics Today's 'We love you, you're perfect, now edit', three editors give advice to potential science writers.  Their advice includes the 3 holy rules:   1) know who you are writing for   2) meet your deadlines   3) be polite... an ...

Article - Alex "Sandy" Antunes - Sep 2 2011 - 6:17pm

Can Squid Do "Jazz Tentacles"?

This is about a thousand kinds of awesome. It's a jazz tune called "Cephalopod" which includes these memorable lines: Cephalopod. Would you like to study cephalopods? Teuthology is a branch of science split from malacology. Their lack of my ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 2 2011 - 7:59pm

Art At CERN, Dancing About Physics

Everyone agrees what the LHC needs is more art. Okay, no one actually thinks that.  What the LHC needs is to find a Higgs boson or a whole bunch of Europeans outside physics are going to be annoyed they spent $10 billion to find the "God particle" ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 5 2011 - 12:19pm

Do Songs About Sex Affect Kids?

Some cultural activists like Hollywood director Rob Reiner believe smoking is so influential it should be the target of modern-day McCarthyism and banned from films and television. What about sexualized lyrics in popular music?  Do those have an impact on ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 6 2011 - 11:27am

Science: The Next 9/11

Mark, a graduate student in bio-engineering with a history of depression, registers for a scientific conference on evolution, which attracts no suspicion at all; why should it. He takes potassium ferrocyanide, a yellow salt easily available in gardening s ...

Article - Sascha Vongehr - Sep 10 2011 - 11:27pm

Anthropoteuthis

Here's a brilliant username I wish I'd thought of: Anthropoteuthis. The Spanish marine biology student who deserves credit spells it Antropoteuthis, since the "th" phoneme is foreign to Spanish. He recently posted some representaciones ...

Blog Post - Danna Staaf - Sep 10 2011 - 8:12pm

Government Funding Works- Almost No Failed Research Gets Published

What would you say if an oil company said it wanted to invest in alternative energy research but the cost was too much so it needed public financing- but wanted no accountability or timeframes or an expectation of results? You'd be skeptical of the pa ...

Article - News Staff - Sep 12 2011 - 1:38pm

When Common Sense Fails: Checklists To Save You From Woo

Sometimes, when things are bad enough, we'll cave in and buy into concepts and products that we otherwise wouldn't have. As one example, hurt bad enough and you'll try just about anything to ease that pain. And unfortunately, common sense i ...

Article - Kim Wombles - Sep 14 2011 - 7:14am

Professors Offer $10K For Story That HPV Vaccine Caused Retardation

Politicians throw out a lot of anecdotes, especially if it is one told by a constituent or potential voter, so Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann throwing forth a story told to her that the HPV vaccine caused a child's retardation would be just that, a s ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Sep 15 2011 - 11:35am