Now on ScienceBlogs: The Galaxy's Biggest Valentine
My small attempt to celebrate science and to make it interesting and fun by giving jargon, confusion and elitism a solid beating with the stick of good writing.
Come and visit Ed Yong’s blog Not Exactly Rocket Science in its new home at Discover Blogs.
"One of the best sites for in-depth analysis of interesting scientific papers" - The Times
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"Ed Yong... is made of pure unobtanium and rides TWO Toruks." - Frank Swain
"Ed Yong is better than chocolate, fairy lights, and kittens chasing yarn. That is all." - Christine Ottery
Why I blog
An interview with me
The original site • Tell me about you: Part 1 Part 2
April 30, 2009
Category: Palaeontology
This is the second time that Mary Schweitzer has recovered soft tissues from a dinosaur, and she provides strong new evidence that these are not bacterial biofilms. They are original proteins, cells and tissues, preserved ofor over 80 million years.
Posted by Ed Yong at 2:00 PM • 13 Comments •
Category: Animal behaviour
Two dancing parrots can move in time to music, speeding or slowing their bopping at the rhythm changes. They suggest that this ability is not unique to humans, but YouTube tells us it may be unique to animals that can mimic each others' calls.
Posted by Ed Yong at 12:00 PM • 9 Comments •
April 29, 2009
Category: Viruses
Retrocyclins are genes that protect other primates from HIV but have lain dormant in our genomes for 7 million years. Now, these sleeping guardians are set to awaken.
Posted by Ed Yong at 8:30 AM • 14 Comments •
April 28, 2009
Category: Sex and reproduction
The male Harpactea sadistica spider has a needle-sharp penis. When he mates with a female, he incapacitates her with a bite. Ignoring her genital tract, he drives the needle straight through her underside and ejaculates directly into her body cavity.
Posted by Ed Yong at 7:00 PM • 11 Comments •
Category: Genetics
The largest ever study on autism genetics has found six common genetic variants that affect the risk of developing autism-spectrum disorders. The six probably control the activity of genes involved in connecting neurons together.
Posted by Ed Yong at 1:00 PM • 20 Comments •
April 27, 2009
Category: Animal intelligence
Groups of 6 sparrows succeed at a problem-solving task more quickly and more efficiently than pairs. Better problem-solving skills may be yet another advantage of living a social life.
Posted by Ed Yong at 5:00 PM • 2 Comments •
April 26, 2009
Category: Medicine & health
The heart is notoriously bad at repairing itself after injury. But one study finds that the heart does actually have the ability to renew its cells, albeit to a limited degree. And another reports a cocktail of proteins can nudge this process along, at least in mice.
Posted by Ed Yong at 1:00 PM • 5 Comments •
April 24, 2009
Category: Spiders
Scytodes spits a sticky, venomous fluid from its fangs that both traps its victims and poisons them. And it does this in packs - after hatching, spiderlings spend their early lives on their home web and they spit at, bite and devour prey en masse.
Posted by Ed Yong at 8:30 AM • 11 Comments •
April 23, 2009
Category: Perception
Just a few weeks in a cast can desensitise the trapped hand's sense of touch, and lower neural activity in the part of the brain that receives signals from it. The uninjured hand, however, rises to the occasion and picks up the sensory slack by becoming more sensitive than before.
Posted by Ed Yong at 12:00 PM • 1 Comments •
April 22, 2009
Category: Transitional fossils
Puijla is a transitional fossil. It gives us a glimpse at the earliest stages of seal evolution, before they had flippers.
Posted by Ed Yong at 1:00 PM • 32 Comments •
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