We've all enjoyed the spectacular results when glaciers carved their way through the landscape and it seems intuitive that glaciers inhibit mountain growth due to erosion.

Not necessarily, say geologists, they can actually encourage mountain growth.

To cure global warming we have to trade some acid rain - at least given current battery technology, which uses toxic heavy metals.

Obviously, plants have a much better solution and we have written about it often - artificial photosynthesis - but despite nature being our best example of efficiency, she isn't easy to duplicate.    But a group of chemists say they have made a step towards that, by discovering a new way to pass electrons back and forth between two molecules.  Understanding the electron transfer processes in these molecules provides a way to design organic materials for storing electrical energy that could then be retrieved for later use - an organic battery.

Does my space-plunger sound profound?  It isn’t.  That space absorbs energy is confusing talk.  You could desperately try to make it work:  Firstly, the “space-plunger” is not moving slowly and the energy lost is partially recovered in the kinetic energy of the expanding space.  There is also energy in the gravitational potential, but it is negative, so it cancels the energy being created when a universe comes into existence.  Adding all up, the total energy of the universe may be zero, if you fudge it until you get zero.  Sounds profound?  It isn't.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is quite common these days, with over 4 million children born following IVF treatments worldwide and it is generally regarded as a safe technique, but some scientific reports have noted an increased rate of problems following IVF in comparison to ‘natural’ conception and birth.

A review by the Chair of the international body which collects data on IVF concludes that IVF is generally safe, although he stresses that patients need to be made aware of the slight risks, and that we need to continue to monitor the results of the technique.

It's been a mantra that more money has to be spent on outreach for women in academia, or even quotas implemented.  Why?   Women PhDs are now the majority, at least in the US.   This was an obvious trend since there were more underclass and graduate program females (60%).

But like any sort of cultural agenda, it is perpetual, so now it will be the case that not enough department heads are female.  This was the same in the NBA, where after it became 70% black there were no calls to recruit more whites or latinos, but rather calls to have 70% of the coaches be black.

Does expertise make the difference?   It depends.   When it comes to climate change, having a Ph.D. and a faculty position does not mean as much to the public as it does for researchers in other fields.

The difference?  Climate change researchers are perceived as being part of the cultural discourse rather than part of the objective science one, so if the scientist is taking a position different from yours, he is not an expert, he is just in the mud with politicians and environmental or industrial corporations trying to get money. Unfortunately, the same is true for both sides in the global warming discussion, and that is bad for science all the way around.

I'm a nice guy launching a nice little musical satellite.  But what if I were a super-villain?  What if _you_ were a super-villain and launching your own satellite?  Think-- and listen (or read) too-- how much damage can you do from (pico)-space, my latest podcast for "365 Days of Astronomy".  And now let's expand on that.

Think boys mature faster than girls?  Or vice versa?   Let's go to the MRI!

Researchers at Oregon Health&Science University and Washington University in St. Louis say they can now accurately predict a young person's age simply by taking an MRI brain scan and analyzing it with a numerical model. 

Since man has been able to think about big issues, such as why we are the way we are, it has been known that what happens during the daytime, including emotional stress and physical activity, can affect sleep. When an animal is active and awake, research shows, regulatory substances also build up in the brain that induce sleep.

But what in wakefulness is driving these sleep regulatory substances?  Sleep disorders affect between 50 and 70 million Americans, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academies. The Institute also estimates the lost productivity and mishaps of fatigue cost businesses roughly $150 billion, while motor vehicle accidents involving tired drivers cost at least $48 billion a year.

Multitasking is a part of everyday home life but increasingly a part of the workplace as well - as in anything, not all people will be suited to it.   How workers feel about multitasking and how they have adapted to it (or will) may influence their job satisfaction and the likelihood of quitting, an important factor in hiring decisions.