Hank recently wrote a piece that dealt with the problem of a "ghost train" and a "ghost hunter" that was killed by a real train while waiting for the apparition.

Since these were amateur ghost hunters, it would be a bit much to presume that there was any actual scientific query going on, but nevertheless there seems to be a persistence of belief that ghosts are the subject of active research.  However, the question to ask is whether there's any scientific basis for thinking there's something to investigate.

Here are a couple wonderful instances of people accidentally or intentionally driving nails deep into their gray matter. Can't get enough nails in the brain? Don't worry—I'll post another couple tomorrow.

The Standard Model of particle physics has been under attack since its original formulation, in 1967, and yet it has so far resisted every assault; in so doing it has become one of the most thoroughly tested physical theories. Like it or not, the construction has stood the test of time so well that theorists and experimentalists alike feel threatened by the chance that the Large Hadron Collider, too, will fail to find new physics beyond what the model predicts.

NEW YORK, August 27, 2010 /PRNewswire/ -- Iconic supermodel, entrepreneur and philanthropist Christie Brinkley, will receive the 2nd Annual HBA Positively Beautiful Award from HBA Global Expo (http://www.hbaexpo.com) for her active support of Smile Train and its mission. Smile Train (http://www.smiletrain.org) provides free cleft surgery for millions of poor children in developing countries and free cleft-related training for doctors and medical professionals.

The Positively Beautiful Award was established by HBA Global to annually recognize a celebrity who uses their name and talents to further a cause that champions inner beauty and self-esteem building.