milhayser
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The science portion of The Nation's Report Card was released on February 24th, with test scores from school districts in seventeen urban centers. Almost every district performed below the national average. Greg Laden explains, "Poverty determines the outcome of the results, and this is probably…
To judge by its name, cancer may seem like a monolithic disease. But a recent study which sequenced the genomes of seven prostate cancers reveals just how staggeringly complex the disease can be. The sequencing revealed not only DNA mutations, but rampant rearrangements of the chromosomes…
Vaccines are a tried and true mechanism for controlling disease, but they are not always a magic bullet. Researchers who study the spread of cholera in Haiti recently modeled what would happen if 150,000 vaccines were administered in Port-au-Prince. They concluded "the benefits would have been…
House Republicans are pushing a bill that would cut funding for the National Institutes of Health by $1.6 billion, over five percent. Isis the Scientist issues a call to action, saying "Whether you are a scientist, a student, or a member of the public interested in the future of science, I join…
For the last few years, Claire L. Evans and friends have been producing a television show designed to teach computers about the human experience. On Valentine's Day, the term technophile got a new meaning on Universe. Claire explains, "we made some valentines for you and your computer to share.…
On Universe, Claire L. Evans takes us all the way back to 1966, when an event called 9 Evenings happened in New York City. This "epic art salon" brought together ten artists with a bevy of engineers from Bell Laboratories, who "helped the artists with complex technical components to their pieces…
Deservedly or not, jocks have a reputation for being less cerebral than beaker jockeys and bookworms. But when it comes to American football, brain damage can be all in a day's work. On The Pump Handle, Liz Borkowski highlights a recent article by Ben McGrath in the New Yorker, addressing "the…
On Life at the SETI Institute, Dr. Franck Marchis shares the latest results from Kepler, a telescope in an Earth-trailing heliocentric orbit which keeps a distant eye on 156,453 stars. Kepler watches for tell-tale reductions in brightness, which "could be due to the transit of an exoplanet…
If the hand that rocks the cradle rules the world, then what of the hand that rocks the world? Dr. Jeffrey Toney reports that Google recently showed its revolutionary colors with speak2tweet, a service that enabled netless Egyptians to access Twitter over the phone. After breaking with China over…
January 28th marked the 25th anniversary of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, when one of the rocket boosters separated from the external fuel tank after liftoff and aerodynamic forces tore the shuttle apart. Like millions of Americans, Ethan Siegel and Greg Laden watched the orbiter…
Kissing remains popular among the people of the world, and in a new book former scibling Sheril Kirshenbaum delves into the emerging science behind the age-old practice. For one, the sensory experience of osculation (as sucking face is more formally known) forges new neuronal connections in the…
We heard recently that 36% of university students "did not demonstrate any significant improvement in learning" upon graduation, although they may have bettered their Xbox skills, social lives, and tolerance to alcohol. Physics professor Chad Orzel isn't surprised by this number, saying it "seems…
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday to you,
Happy Birthday dear Erin
Happy Birthday to you!
...and many more!...
Whoever coined the phrase "easy as pie" probably never had to cut 100 tiny digits out of crust. But hard work has paid off for Claudette, whose 100-Digit-Pie is the winner of the 2nd Annual Pi Day Pie Bakeoff! Congratulations, Claudette, you just won $314.16! And although rounding to the nearest…
If coming back for seconds is indulgent, then this eighth helping of Pi Day Pies makes us pure hedonists. But hey, the dessert table is the new water cooler.
First, Travis Saunders and his girlfriend cobbled together their own entry on Obesity Panacea, a vegetarian Raspberry Pie that uses agar…
Like Little Jack Horner, we at ScienceBlogs are not above sitting in a corner and sticking our thumbs into pies. Which is why we're not allowed to have pies in the office. Plums are all fine and dandy, but what else we could pull out of these amazing creations?
Domestigoth gets creative with the…
Forget the chase, let's cut to the filling.
Inspired by Harold and Maude, Matthew Rowley searched high and low for a Ginger Pie recipe before putting one together himself. Like the film, this custardy creation brings together young ginger and aged rum, but unlike the film, nobody has to die.
If…
Time to preheat your ovens...the second annual Pi Day Pie Bakeoff wants your best creations to celebrate March 14. This year food mecca Serious Eats is our co-sponsor, meaning the prizes have gotten bigger and badder. The Grand Prize winner will receive $314 in warm, flaky cash—irrational change…
On The Frontal Cortex, Jonah Lehrer explores the cognitive consequences of depression and happiness, explaining that the way we feel has a huge impact on the way we think. First, Jonah shares an article he wrote for the New York Times Magazine, in which he says the blues can be "a clarifying force…
ERV familiarizes us with the different "layers" of the immune system, including intrinsic, innate, and adaptive immunity. The last layer makes specific antibodies to recognize pathogens, but in the case of HIV, capable antibodies aren't enough to stave off the progression of disease. ERV writes…
March 14 is fast approaching...3/14/10. Personally, I can't wait till 3/14/15, just so we can get a couple more digits in the mix. That will be the Pi Day of the century.
In the meantime, ScienceBlog Overlord Erin Johnson has thrown down the potholder, challenging all our bloggers to concoct the…
You are cordially invited to Dinner With a Dinosaur X—that's a Roman numeral, not a mysterious appellation. The event happens March 12, 2010, in the Great Hall at Chicago's Union Station, located at 210 South Canal Street, 60606. Yes, there will be a dinosaur, and no, it will not be alive. Other…
If we are to skirt the disasters of pollution, ocean acidification, and climate change, we must change our ways of life. But as Matthew C. Nisbet reports on Framing Science, young people may be less engaged than older generations when it comes to global warming. Citing survey numbers that show…
On Universe, Claire L. Evans interviews sci-fi world-builder Ursula K. Le Guin. Their conversation centers on the Google Books Settlement, which seeks to "circumvent existing U.S. copyright law." While Le Guin hopes her books will become more accessible in the future, she says "the vast and…
You don't have to be brain-damaged to feel the presence of God, but it just might help. On Neurophilosophy, Mo analyzes a recent study into feelings of "self-transcendence" among individuals afflicted with brain lesions. Those with tumors in the posterior regions of the brain were more likely to…
Earlier this week on Adventures in Ethics and Science, Dr. Free-Ride reported that a UCLA researcher faces renewed harassment from animal rights activists for talking about his work. Dr. Dario Ringach and his family have been the subject of invasive physical and personal attacks, and Dr. Free-Ride…
On Laelaps, Brian Switek tells the story of a man who cooled off in an Ethiopian river against all advice, only to meet his death. Brian writes that "like our hominin forebears we can still be prey, and crocodiles are among the animals that have long considered us to be on the menu." Crocs were…
The Open Laboratory 2009 is now available in print! This cutting-edge anthology of science writing includes many great ScienceBlogs posts as well as work from around the web. Editor Scicurious announces publication on Neurotopia, writing "we've got some fun stuff in there (hyenas and boobies and…
On Aetiology, Tara C. Smith shares some intriguing student work on the role infections play "in cancer, autoimmune disease, mental illness, and other chronic conditions." First, Ahn To investigates the causes of nasopharyngeal carcinoma. Smoking is not a prerequisite for this type of cancer, but…
Equations can hurt, although not as much as wiping out on the downhill or faceplanting in the halfpipe. On Dot Physics, Rhett Alain explains the amazing angles at which Apolo Ohno leans around the short track, writing "a skater wouldn't have to lean at all if the skater was stopped. As the angle…