The importance of (experimental) design — ScienceDaily

One of the hottest debates in evolutionary biology concerns the origin of behavior: is it genetically encoded or do animals and birds copy their parents or other individuals? A classic experiment published in 2000 seemed to provide overwhelming evidence that a particular behavioral choice (whether individuals of a species of swallow breed in a small … Continue reading The importance of (experimental) design — ScienceDaily →

PHD Comics: The Higgs Boson Re-Explained

This is a pretty good explanation of the Higgs Boson.  (Not that I have the expertise to judge it, but it matches other stuff I've read and seems more accessible.) Click though to see the full size version. via PHD Comics: The Higgs Boson Re-Explained. I'm sure it's a simplistic interpretation, but the picture of all … Continue reading PHD Comics: The Higgs Boson Re-Explained →

The hard working but unloved multi-stage rocket

If you've ever read about rocket technology, particularly the issues involved in how much fuel is needed to get somewhere, you quickly run into a stark reality.  The payload, the part of the rocket that you want to get somewhere, is inevitably a tiny portion of the size and weight of the rocket. The rest … Continue reading The hard working but unloved multi-stage rocket →

When We Use Fate As A Scapegoat

Making decisions can be difficult, and making a hard decision can up the stress even more. A new study suggests that when we have an especially hard decision to make, we're more likely to use the belief in fate as a coping mechanism. The study, published in the journal Psychological Science, suggests that believing that … Continue reading When We Use Fate As A Scapegoat →

Astronomy’s Alpha Male | Seth Shostak

The other day, I asked if the age of science might eventually come to an end, noting that amateur scientific work has become rare.  In this post about the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope, whose data findings will be made publicly available, Seth Shostak describes a situation that might enable amateur discoveries again, at least for … Continue reading Astronomy’s Alpha Male | Seth Shostak →

Where is the Earth located?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_l8CxIieVQ I enjoyed this video, but I wonder about Fraser's statement that cosmologists think if you travel in one direction long enough you'll eventually end up back where you are.  That is one model, but not the only one.  It depends on space being curved, and tests currently show it to be flat. Of course, … Continue reading Where is the Earth located? →

The War on Reason – Paul Bloom – The Atlantic

Paul Bloom has an interesting article at the The Atlantic, much of which I agree with. Aristotle’s definition of man as a rational animal has recently taken quite a beating. Part of the attack comes from neuroscience. Pretty, multicolored fMRI maps make clear that our mental lives can be observed in the activity of our neurons, … Continue reading The War on Reason – Paul Bloom – The Atlantic →

The faster interstellar travel is, the further away intelligent aliens are

Ethan Siegel has an excellent post up exploring the possibility of extraterrestrial civilizations. With hundreds of billions of stars (visible, above, in infrared wavelengths) in our galaxy alone, and literally trillions of planets around them, we have many, many chances for life to have evolved similarly to how it did here on Earth. With at … Continue reading The faster interstellar travel is, the further away intelligent aliens are →