pharyngula

Amanda Marcotte rips into stupid gotcha by Marco Rubio. When Rubio appeared on CNN after Thursday night's Republican debate, he kept insisting that this vague entity called "science" has declared that human life begins at conception. (Actual biologists, for what it's worth, argue that life is…

I saw this video and that description, and my first thought was "siphonophore". Got it in one.

Scotland is going to formally ban the cultivation of genetically modified crops. Apparently, this was an easy step for them to take, because it's the scientists who are explaining that this is a foolish move, and everyone knows you can just ignore the scientists. I also think it's a matter of…

I have a brother with red hair. I also have a son with red hair. Once upon a time, my beard and mustache contained many red hairs among the dominant browns. If you've ever wondered how these gingers appear all over the place, Petra Haak-Bloem offers a good explanation (although it needs some…

Taxidermy is art, and art can be disquieting. I think Kate Clark is doing some amazing art here.

Oh, my…the meeting looks very interesting, especially that one titled "Cephalopod Neurogenomics: Insights into the evolution of complex brains". Can I escape to Florida that early in the semester? Can I afford it? My schedule and my wallet are moaning "noooooo…"

I have a question for the partnered gay and lesbian couples out there. I know you get the question, Which one of you is the "man", and which is the "woman" from ignoramuses who are unable to think beyond their narrow sexual biases, but I'm wondering about a subtler, messier question. Do you ever…

Every once in a while, I get some glib story from believers in the Singularity and transhumanism that all we have to do to upload a brain into a computer is make lots of really thin sections and reconstruct every single cell and every single connection, put that data into a machine with a…

You can bomb your hometown too! Just put your location into that link, and it'll show you the area of devastation if your town were hit by the Hiroshima bomb. Here's the effect if the nuke went off at my house: I was a bit disappointed, actually. All that happens to Cyrus is broken windows? The…

Here's a cool kickstarter: it's for a real chemistry set, like the ones we had in old days. Go watch the video, and you'll see that it actually lets you set things on fire!

I used a cruel headline, but this is actually a useful list: Fifty psychological and psychiatric terms to avoid: a list of inaccurate, misleading, misused, ambiguous, and logically confused words and phrases. It's not just the popular media that mangle scientific language, but also more technical…

No, really, they are. Hipster libertarians are the new street mimes, so enjoy them while you can before everyone gets tired of them. The latest example is this silicon valley entrepreneur, Rob Rhineheart, who has written a paean to his lifestyle. It starts with a complaint about the horrors of…

David Futrelle missed an opportunity! He posted about this awesomely stupid Reddit thread that asserts the biologically inferior nature of women, and then he admits to reading only a few of the comments in the resulting mess. I do love that statement that They have very little conceptual…

LiveScience, via opus

I'm a bit shell-shocked today -- man, that was a long drive yesterday -- and I stumbled into work today thinking this might be a really good day to bag it early and take a nap. And then I found something in my mailbox that perked me right up. As a little background, I'll summarize my talk in St…

Alexis Rosenfeld

Oh, joy. Deepak Chopra is mad about being called an evolution denialist, and to disprove the accusation, he fires back with a whole long letter full of misconceptions about evolution. As usual, he relies on painting himself as the brave pioneer at the very edge of science, with a hooting mob of…

This 1925 Bugatti Brescia was found in a state of profound neglect in a garage, and was auctioned off for almost a million dollars. It's a beautiful work of art. It doesn't run, but still…that would be a fine vehicle for a Sunday drive, once it's restored. But it's the wrong model! Way, way back…

For people with missing limbs, here's a prosthetic interface that allows them to customize it…with Lego. Hoping to build the confidence of children living with a missing limb, Carlos Arturo Torres Tovar, of Umeå University in Sweden, has designed a prosthetic arm that’s compatible with Lego so…

The Smithsonian has a traveling exhibit based on the David H. Koch Hall of Human Origins. It's going to be put up at libraries all across the country (but nowhere in Minnesota!), so lots of people will get a look at some of the evidence for human evolution. Can you guess who is not happy about this…

This bird may be doomed. It's genome has been sequenced, and there is very little genetic diversity in the remaining populations.

You may have seen the hype. GAME-CHANGING CURE FOR ALZHEIMER: THE NEW DRUG, NEW BREAKTHROUGH. Next Best Thing To Alzheimer's Cure: Solanezumab May Delay Onset Of Dementia By 30%. Have scientists found a drug to stop Alzheimer's disease? I'm going to have to pop your balloon. Someone knowledgeable…

I've only just noticed that I have a fondness for food metaphors when talking about development -- gastrulation is a peculiar way to make a jelly sandwich, neurulation is like rolling up a burrito, and somite formation is a meatball sub. They sort of illustrate the arrangement of the tissues…

Divers discovered this gigantic transparent blob floating in the sea off the Turkish coast. What could it be? It looks like that's a squid egg mass, containing millions of eggs and embryos, drifting deep in the ocean until it hatches out, releasing a vast swarm of tiny predators in one…

SCREEEE SCREEEE SCREEEEEEEEEEE. Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Simon Chandra

At least, not the pink ones.

Uh, maybe not. What if it gives you a tiny little nibble? Now, 10 minutes later, you notice something strange. Your lips are going numb. So is your face. You want to yell for help but can’t: It’s getting harder to speak. And your stomach feels—oh, gross! Right in front of everyone. Somebody…

I'm going to stay away from Mary for a while. It was a busy weekend for both of us, we're both really tired, and then she sends me this as an appropriate organism. I'm trying to read the message in sending a picture of a botfly to your spouse. Featured Creatures Don't panic, here's the cure:…

TONMO