forensic science
laelaps | July 1, 2010
The trailer for Shaun of the Dead.Not all zombies are created equal. The most popular zombie archetype is a shambling, brain-eating member of the recently deceased, but, in recent films from 28 Days Later to Zombieland, the definition of what a zombie is or isn't has become more complicated. Does a zombie have to be a cannibal corpse, or can a zombie be someone infected with a virus which turns them into a blood-crazed, fast-running monster?
For my own part, I have always preferred the classic George Romero zombies from the original Dawn of the Dead and Day of the Dead films (as well as my…
ddobbs | June 1, 2010
In reverse order:
5. Â David Sloan Wilson, pissing off the angry atheists.
"I piss off atheists more than any other category, and I am an atheist." This sparked some lively action in the comments.
4. Lively or not, Wilson and Dawkins lost fourth place to snail jokes.
A turtle gets mugged by a gang of snails. 
3. A walking tour that lets you See exactly where Phineas Gage lost his mind
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2. "Push" science journalism, or how diversity matters more than size
We're constantly told -- we writers are, anyway -- that people won't read long stories. They're hard to sell to editors,…
laelaps | April 7, 2010A leopard (Panthera pardus). Image from Wikipedia.
When a leopard eats a baboon, what is left behind? This question is not only relevant to primatologists and zoologists. Even though instances of predation on humans is relatively rare, big cats still kill and consume people, and when they do they can virtually obliterate a body. Yet, just like a human criminal, the dining habits of big cats leave tell-tale clues, and in 2004 researchers Travis Pickering and Kristian Carlson fed two captive leopards eight complete baboon carcasses each in order catalog the most useful ways to identify the…