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Stop eating your pet's food

Apparently people are eating their pet's food, and they're getting salmonella poisoning in return...

A scientific reference manual for US judges

Science and our legal system intersect frequently and everywhere - climate, health care, intellectual...

Rainbow connection

On the way to work this morning, I noticed people pointing out the train window and smiling. From...

Neutrinos on espresso

Maybe they stopped by Starbucks for a little faster-than-the-speed-of-light pick me up....

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Becky JungbauerRSS Feed of this column.

A scientist and journalist by training, I enjoy all things science, especially science-related humor. My column title is a throwback to Jane Austen's famous first line in Pride and Prejudice

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When geeks have twins

When geeks have twins

Oct 29 2009 | comment(s)

Awesome.


H/t to The Daily What and the huz.
Heartless gravity

Heartless gravity

Oct 28 2009 | comment(s)

One of my favorite lines from The Big Bang Theory.
An exoplanet or fruit fly by any other name...

An exoplanet or fruit fly by any other name...

Oct 28 2009 | comment(s)

What is in a name? Juliet, you may have a point - a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.

So Romeo would, were he not Romeo call'd,
Retain that dear perfection which he owes
Without that title.

Two very different items - exoplanets and fruit flies - are the subject of no small (or large) naming controversy. Before you say, "What does it matter what they're called?" - which is what I initially said - read on.

Flies of Fruit1
Let's Get Physical (Art) II

Let's Get Physical (Art) II

Oct 26 2009 | comment(s)

Art is many things, but not often enough is it scientific. Fear not, art/science lovers, for Sir Isaac's Loft in the Franklin Institute is here to save the day!

I began describing the Loft in my previous article, including impossible human tricks to try at work or at the bar and amaze your friends! But there's so much more...read on.

Illusions

The eyes of the "inside out dragon" followed me no matter where I walked, which would have been creepy, but he was a cute little blue dragon. Since we aren't used to seeing things inverted, our brains turn the dragon right side out, and it looks "normal."
Which religion should I follow?

Which religion should I follow?

Oct 26 2009 | comment(s)

In a religious quandary? Don't know which traditional/cult/New Age group to join? Fear not, the Holy Taco has worked it out for you. Simply follow the flow chart to your transcendental bliss:


The only problem: I don't see the Flying Spaghetti Monster on the chart.
Difficult-to-treat asthma - is it the patient's fault?

Difficult-to-treat asthma - is it the patient's fault?

Oct 23 2009 | comment(s)

There are myriad reasons why pharmaceutical treatments are ineffective in certain people, but the first suspect is typically not the patient him- or herself.

An article published in the November 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine suggests that difficult-to-treat asthma often may have more to do with patients who do not take their medication as instructed than ineffective medication.

"[A] significant proportion of patients with difficult asthma are poorly adherent to inhaled and oral corticosteroid therapy," said PI Dr. Liam Heaney.