Random Thoughts

Placebo Buttons?

A recent article suggested that many of the buttons/toggles that we experience in our daily lives don't actually do anything, but that simply reinforce an expectation and foster a superstition. The problem with this article is that it doesn't act ...

Blog Post - Gerhard Adam - Aug 4 2013 - 3:54am

Beer: An Omics Conference That Won't Make Biologists Crazy

Omics slapped at the end of words is the latest rage. It makes just about anything sound scientific. If someone says they read an astrology journal, for example, I might roll my eyes a little, but if they call their journal Astrolomics, well... okay, I wo ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Apr 3 2015 - 5:42pm

I Changed My Mind

I haven't been on this site in a while, and in looking at a past article it strikes me that some of my previously posted views have changed. (Congratulations, right?) Normally, this is the kind of thing I'd tuck away in some cortical sulcus, but ...

Blog Post - Clayton Aldern - Aug 7 2013 - 3:07pm

Law Vs. the Laws of Science. My observations on jury duty as compared to collaborative science.

Applying the laws of men to murky facts is almost as hard as determining the laws of nature.   In science we have clear experimental and observational data and tease out the laws of science.   In the law the facts are in question the laws are known.   It w ...

Blog Post - Hontas Farmer - Aug 17 2013 - 6:52pm

Science Needs More Mysteries

I think a lot about science outreach. As a non-scientist, I am simultaneously the exact person science outreach advocates say should be excited about science while a few believe my interest (along with 80% of you) in science should consist solely of paying ...

Article - Hank Campbell - Aug 22 2013 - 4:39pm

Mapping a Complex System With a Nested, Emergent Vector

I don't know enough math to know if this has been precisely defined but I know enough about my ignorance of math to know that if there is such a definition I probably won't understand it.  Mathematics fails to be a universal language in most resp ...

Blog Post - Michael Martinez - Aug 26 2013 - 2:45am

Vive La Différence?

Since I retired three years ago, I have been becoming almost as sessile as a sea squirt, sitting in front of my computer, reading not just news but comment and what people are thinking about things.  Among the ‘things’, women’s equality is very much to the ...

Article - Robert H Olley - Sep 29 2013 - 7:13am

It's National Mole Day- Have A Cigar And Rest Up For National Bologna Day Tomorrow

With 365 days in a year and a whole lot of causes and events and gimmicks, it is no surprise that there are sometimes lots and lots of 'National XYZ' Days on the same day. The National Months get kind of cluttered too. October is Adopt a Shelter ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Oct 23 2013 - 2:07pm

Live Blogging The Science Of Ghostbusters

I won't bore you with an introduction but I'll just say "Ghostbusters" is one of the funniest movies of all time. So I decided to live blog it, but just the science parts. Let me know how I did. Opening:  Great movies open with somethin ...

Blog Post - Hank Campbell - Oct 30 2013 - 9:34pm

The Quote Of The Week- In God We Trust...

"In God we trust, all others bring data" William Edwards Deming ...

Blog Post - Tommaso Dorigo - Oct 31 2013 - 7:19am