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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.
Ed Yong is an award-winning science writer based in London. Not Exactly Rocket Science is his attempt to make the latest scientific discoveries interesting to everyone by beating jargon, confusion and elitism with the stick of good writing. He finds writing about himself in the third person strange and unsettling.
"One of the best sites for in-depth analysis of interesting scientific papers" - The Times
"A consistently illuminating home for long, thoughtful, and thorough explorations of science news" - National Association of Science Writers
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July 31, 2009
Category: Animals
Some ants scrounge off other species by mimicking their chemical odours. But the shampoo ant doesn't bother - it relies on the simple strategy of tasting really, really bad.
Posted by Ed Yong at 9:40 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 30, 2009
Category: Horizontal gene transfer
Bacteria have the ability to transfer genes to one another. Now, scientists have found that one species, Wolbachia, has managed to transfer its entire genome into that of a fruit fly. These extreme gene transfers could be more common than we thought, and they have important consequences for genome-sequencing projects.
Posted by Ed Yong at 12:00 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 29, 2009
Category: Animal behaviour
Humans can detect five different taste sensations. Now scientists have found the first animal with a sixth type. Fruit flies, it seems, love the taste of the carbon dioxide dissolved in fizzy water.
Posted by Ed Yong at 12:00 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 28, 2009
Folks, I'm taking a bit of a breather from blogging for a week. My wife and I are celebrating our second-year anniversary and I'm lavishing her with attention for a week. It's also a busy time at my day job,...
Posted by Ed Yong at 7:03 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Psychology
Using virtual reality illusions, two groups of scientists have managed to simulate out-of-body experiences in the lab - by convincing volunteers that they were actually sitting or standing outside of their own bodies, watching themselves from behind.
Posted by Ed Yong at 10:30 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 27, 2009
Category: Conservation
Urban noise drowns out the calls that birds use to attract mates and defend territories. But while noise pollution reduces the diversity of bird communities, it actually helps those that remain by scaring away predators that feed on bird eggs.
Posted by Ed Yong at 8:30 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 24, 2009
Category: Evolutionary arms races
Snails in a New Zealand lake are more likely to reproduce via sex rather than cloning if they live in shallow waters that are rife with parasites.
Posted by Ed Yong at 10:00 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 23, 2009
Category: Animal behaviour
The massive bill of the toucan is a radiator, like an elephant's ears but much more effective. When it's warm, widened blood vessels within the bill allows heat to radiate into the atmosphere.
Posted by Ed Yong at 1:00 PM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Brain
From the scientists who brought you the infamous 'Halle Berry neuron' and the 'Jennifer Aniston neuron' come the 'Oprah Winfrey neuron' and the 'Saddam Hussein neuron'.
Posted by Ed Yong at 11:00 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
July 22, 2009
Category: Neuroscience
When danger approaches, do you consider your options and plan the best possible escape, or switch off and rely on instinct? A Pacman-like game shows that the answer is both. You flick from one to the other depending on how far away the threat is.
Posted by Ed Yong at 9:00 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Neurophilosophy 11.19.2009
The Island of Doubt 11.20.2009
Greg Laden's Blog 11.20.2009
The World's Fair 11.19.2009
Laelaps 11.20.2009
