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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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How to Think, Say, or Do Precisely the Worst Thing for Any Occasion

How to Think, Say, or Do Precisely the Worst Thing for Any Occasion

Jul 07 2009 | comment(s)

Who hasn't thought about starting a food fight at a formal dinner function? Telling your interviewer about some embarrassing personal story? The worst thing to do at the wrong time? And then the internal fight starts: "The impulse increases to a wish, the wish to a desire, the desire to an uncontrollable longing," says Poe, as quoted in the NY Times Science Tuesday article on why the imp in your brain gets out.
IQ And The Values Of Nations: Part III

IQ And The Values Of Nations: Part III

Jun 26 2009 | comment(s)

The first two articles of this series have covered a brief overview of evolutionary psychology and the difficulty in defining and measuring intelligence. In the first article, I covered that we can measure what people prefer and value, but we don’t know the "why" behind those preferences and values.

An evolutionary psychologist from the London School of Economics, Satoshi Kanazawa, wrote a paper on the origin of individual values and preferences that suggests values are tied to IQ, and you can theoretically predict the values of a nation based on its average intelligence.

A little dose of happy today

A little dose of happy today

Jun 26 2009 | comment(s)

Good day, bad day, in between - this 1 minute video will put a smile on your face. An elderly couple walked in to the Mayo Clinic lobby, saw a piano, and played an impromptu duet. The man, who is turning 90, obviously wasn't there for knee surgery, based on the way he was bopping up and down. Check out the cuteness starting at 0:44 seconds, when they start trading places.

Happy Friday!


Rise Of The Nerd-izzle

Rise Of The Nerd-izzle

Jun 25 2009 | comment(s)

Q. Who said this? "I have only two passions - space exploration and hip-hop."

A. Buzz Aldrin, space exploration pioneer, on Apollo 11, second person to walk on the moon, 79-year-old white dude.

I thought this was a joke when I first saw the posting on Wired, but it's real - Buzz recorded a rap song, "The Rocket Experience," with help from Snoop Dogg, Quincy Jones, Soulja Boy and Talib Kweli (who I didn't know but according to Wikipedia is "one of the best-known and critically, if not commercially, successful rappers in alternative hip-hop).
When logic falls through, do we demand follow through?

When logic falls through, do we demand follow through?

Jun 25 2009 | comment(s)

The world doesn't always make sense. Witness Mike's blog post on some convoluted language in a news story.

I understand that people make mistakes - I do all the time. My personal philosophy is honesty is always the best policy, and if you're upfront people tend to be more forgiving and understanding. One of my biggest pet peeves in the world is hypocrisy - and when your hypocrisy harms others, that's even worse.

Many Republicans have opposed granting federal rights to GBLT couples. A marriage is defined as between a man and woman, they say. (And of course some Democrats believe this too, but to a lesser extent.)