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We need new models of popular physics communication
One of the issues I have with Steven Weinberg's list of 13 science books is that they showcase a very specific model of science writing - that of straight explanation and historical exposition. Isaac...
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Food Babe versus the Science Babe: Of Beaver Butts and Bullshit
A few weeks ago I wrote a piece for Slate about the Food Babe's tactics, prompted by the flurry of publicity for her new book, The Food Babe Way. I pointed out the Food Babe's strategy of "malicious...
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The Monty Hall Evolver
The Monty Hall problem is very famous (Wikipedia, NYT). It is so famous because it so easily fools almost everyone the first time they hear about it, including people with doctorate degrees in various...
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Winning the plant lottery
You don't shop at big box stores for the best plants. Sometimes even the labelling is iffy and the plants are not necessarily in the best condition. So TPP seldom shops in such stores, but then 2...
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How unfortunate! Poodle pruning is a no-no.
One of the shrubs that you should never, ever poodle prune is Forsythia. When pruned properly Forsythia is an open shrub with some gracefully arching branches with a lacy look in when in flower....
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FieldNotes: Brontosaurus in, Food Babe out.
The biggest news this week is the 300-page PeerJ paper reanalyzing a bunch of sauropods and concluding that Brontosaurus is, after all, its own genus. I have not seen much dissent on paleo-blogs, and...
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A molecular modeler to his beloved (medicinal chemist)
With all apologies to W. B. YeatsOriginal:"I BRING you with reverent hands The books of my numberless dreams; White woman that passion has worn As the tide wears the dove-gray sands, And with heart...
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We Need to Work Much Much Harder
I recently spent some time with family very dear to me that I had not seen in many years (contradictory yes, reality sucks). It was wonderful to catch up, meet new cousins, and have them meet my son....
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April 10, 1815: The Eruption that Shook the World
“I had a dream, which was not all a dream. The bright sun was extinguish’d, and the stars Did wander darkling in the eternal space, Rayless, and pathless, and the icy earth Swung blind and blackening...
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Friday Fabulous Flower - Liverleaf
Liverleaf is one of TPP's favorite early spring woodland wildflowers. Interestingly enough the common name liverleaf, and it's genus, Hepatica, derive from the similarity between the plant's...
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Barrallier's Monkey
"Gogy told me that they had brought portions of a monkey (in the native language "colo"), but they had cut it in pieces, and the head, which I should have liked to secure, had disappeared. I could only...
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Spring cleaning
One problem with herbaceous perennials is the spring cleanup. Most herbaceous perennials need to have last years aerial shoots pruned off before this season's new shoots really get going. This process...
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How disruptive are MOOCs? Hopkins launches new genomic data science series.
If you could visit a college classroom a hundred years from now, would you expect it to look just like one of today's classrooms?I suspect not.Yet if you walked into almost any college classroom today,...
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It's a miracle! It's chocolate!
This recent revelation explains a lot about the Easter bunny. As a kid, there were a couple of German chocolate makers in our little town who came out of hiding once a year to fill their soda fountain...
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New RNA-seq work
(OK, I just checked, RNA-seq should be hyphenated.)I've made a couple of posts about plans for new RNA-seq work on the Sense Strand blog:...
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Clash of the Titans: The Science behind the Iceberg that sank the Titanic
The tragedy of the “unsinkable” Titanic– lost in the cold water of the Atlantic – became part of history and pop culture, but the story of the main culprit that caused the disaster is mostly forgotten...
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How to "improve" university professors and destroy higher education in the...
The GnOPe in particular wants to destroy the one remarkably good thing the USA ever constructed: a public education system. The cynical view is that a party that governs by ideology rather than...
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Electric cargo tricycle
A regular reader just called TPP's attention to this news article on the BBC about a really nifty electric cargo tricycle. Totally cool, but TPP is out in front on this one having blogged about that...
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Coloring book for up-tight flower people
Today is the last day of tax season, a date closely watched at the Phactor household; now it's time to help Mrs. Phactor unwind from the stress and work load of tax season. Perhaps there are more of...
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What's in a name? They're blue and bell-shaped.
A pox on common names is certainly deserved in that they are never precise and often terribly confusing. Still people prefer a fuzzy, whuzzy, common name no matter the consequences. While walking...
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