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Even People Without Synesthesia Find Colors in Music
It’s time to stop scoffing at the synesthetes: linking music to colors is totally normal. It’s not really about the notes, though. Researchers say the colors we find in music are actually the colors...
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The Even Earlier Discovery of Antibiotic Resistance
So about a month ago, I wrote about how amazing it was that penicillin resistance was discovered as early as 1940, two years before it went on general sale. But whilst researching that article, I...
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How dumb is too dumb? We still don't know!
A very excited out-of-work sports caster called TPP on the phone last night. “Now’s the time!” And after reeling off the current set of anti-Obama sound bites asked me to sign a petition in support...
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The Wool Plants
Vegetable lamb, as illustrated in The Travels of Sir John Mandeville (ca 1360). Medieval legend in Europe spoke of a strange animal that could supposedly be found far off in central Asia: the vegetable...
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VerbCorner: A Citizen Science project to find out what verbs mean
Earlier this week, I blogged about our new VerbCorner project. At the end, I promised that there would be more info forthcoming about why we are doing this project, about its aims and expected...
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My pet theory about the human nose: breastfeeding
Why is the outer nose shaped as it is? Why don't humans just have two holes in the face, rather than this protuberance that we care so much to have the right shape of? Here's the best illustration I've...
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Flower parts and then some
Most if not all of the readers of this blog know their basic floral parts. Generally there's a perianth in two whorls, sepals and petals, and then there's the androecium composed of a whorl of...
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Naming a viral disease around the world
OK so I need a little help. I am a final year PhD student studying the molecular biology of mumps virus. As part of my final written thesis I would like to include an historical aside to mumps virus...
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Porcelain Fans
Mature specimen of Rhapydionina deserta, from Loeblich & Tappan (1964). Calcareous foraminiferans have been featured on this site before: planktic floaters, living stars, microscopic jelly moulds...
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Ants Reveal How to Build a Tunnel You Can't Fall Down
It's hard to keep your footing in a steep tunnel made of loose dirt while others are scrambling around and over your body. Harder still in pitch blackness. That's why fire ants build tunnels that will...
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TMI Friday: Batteries should NOT be included
There are some days when you have to ask yourself, just what is the deal with men. I don't mean our general demeanour, or the pretensions of superiority over other genders. No, I'm talking about the...
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Music and fractal landscapes
published by @ulaulaman For the #towelday I publish the paper by Richard MacDuff extracted from from "Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency" by Douglas AdamsMusic & Fractal Landscapes from Jamie...
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Styrofungus, mycolastic - saving us from styrofoam
To interplanetary archeologists our particular civilization will probably be know as the "styrofoam makers". Styrofoam and its cousin polystrene (those white coffee cups, packing "peanuts", and...
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Tree pruning - man with a machete
Pruning trees correctly is a skill; pruning trees well is an art. When you see a person, OK, in this case it will always be a man, heading toward a tree with the intent of pruning it and he's carrying...
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Fracking threatens - wait for it - quality beer!
OK, the possibility of polluting the environment doesn't seem to arouse public officials into action to strictly regulate fracking, but German beer makers, serious beer makers and consumers, worry...
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Artist on a roll does gather moss
TPP has a great fondness for botanical art in one form or another. So it was with great interest that he read about the sculptural art of Mineo Mizuno that uses moss to create a living component....
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Virginia nominates extreme anti-science candidate for governor
Last week, the Virginia Republican party nominated Ken Cuccinelli for governor, in an election to be held later this year. Just three years ago, in his current job as Attorney General of Virginia,...
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New Stratigraphy, Geochronology, and Paleontology from the Late Triassic of Laos
Note that 225-221 Ma is now considered to be Norian...Blanchard, S., Rossignol, C., Bourquin, S., Dabard, M.-P., Hallot, E., Nalpas, T., Poujol, M., Battail, B., Jalil, N.-E., Steyer, J.-S., Vacant,...
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Can a bacterium help you lose weight ?
Yes, it's called Cholera. There, story over. Nothing to see here. All right, I'll try to leave the snark aside for this story. It's just that every time I look at a story extolling the virtues of a...
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A New Late Triassic Phytogeographical Scenario in Westernmost Gondwana.
Césari, S. N., and Colombi, C. E. 2013. A new Late Triassic phytogeographical scenario in westernmost Gondwana. Nature Communications 4, Article number: 1889 doi:10.1038/ncomms2917 Abstract - Floral...
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