Bats are in trouble

I've heard some rumblings about this for a little while. But here it is. The Missouri Department of Conservation announced:Avoid caves and bats this winter, but report signs of diseaseThree New England states have reported thousands of sick and dead...

A couple of things about memory

First:Children's Memory May Be More Reliable Than Adults' In Court CasesResearchers Valerie Reyna, human development professor, and Chuck Brainerd, human development and law school professor--both from Cornell University--argue that like the two-headed...

Cheating

It's certainly appropriate – as well as hilarious – to draw the analogy between humans and slime molds. Kurt Vonnegut, Samuel Clemens, and H. L. Mencken would approve. But there's serious truth in it: Some cheaters can keep it in their genesA...

Embryonic stem cells and Klf4

There's now some additional information on one of the transcription factors written about here, which are able to reprogram adult skin cells into embryonic stem cells. To review, one of the teams responsible for this research used Oct3/4, Sox2, c-Myc,...

MicroRNA and stem cells

I've written about both microRNA and stem cells recently. But there is more news that reports on connections between the two.Following are summaries of the announcements. Role Of Tiny RNAs In Controlling Stem Cell Fate Identified (3/6/08)The...

Alternative energy sources

The outlook on energy alternatives to fossil fuels is looking a little bleak.There have been several recent studies or reports casting significant doubt on the economic and/or environmental viability, at least for the near and intermediate future, of...

Blog Action Item - Green for All Presents: The Dream Reborn

What is Green For All? Green for All has a simple but ambitious mission: To help build a green economy strong enough to lift people out of poverty. The Dream Reborn Conference is April 4-6, 2008 in Memphis, TN. It is both a commeration of Dr. Martin...

Amazing Animal Stories - Animal Behavior edition

A Dolphin saved the lives of two whales - yes, no kidding. As much as I can get all warm and fizzy about animals, I still tow the hard line. I try not to get too carried away with the stories of animal heroism or villainy. But this is a documented case....

Women in Science - Part 2

Here's more Women's History Month Fodder for you. The Association for Women in Science is a national organization that promotes science careers for girls and women. Chapters throughout the nation host events and fairs to introduce school-age girls...

Science Writing for Highlights Magazine

I was sitting in the Dr.'s office and was thumbing through an issue of Highlights. I was instantly taken to my childhood. I loved those activity maganzines and I loved the TimberToes. Iwas such a nerd, even now.I was looking through this issue and say...

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle - the Green Trifecta

Do you recycle? A Better Question: Do you Reduce and Reuse? Do you and your family try your hardest to use as little as possible for as long as possible? When something becomes worn, broken or damaged, do you repair it or toss it? When it's time to discard...

Induced pluripotent stem cells

It was one of the top science stories of 2007: number 2 on Science's list – reprogramming ordinary adult body cells (of mice and humans) to act like embryonic stem cells. (See here for summary.) As Science put it, The riddle of Dolly the Sheep has puzzled...

It's Women's History Month - Celebrate Science and Women Achievers

All year is great time to learn more about science and the people who make the discoveries. But the month of March offers a unique opportunity to learn about the achievements of Women throughout history and from different cultures in the sciences.To...

Satellite Catches a Galaxy Ablaze With Starbirth

NASA's Swift Satellite Catches a Galaxy Ablaze With Starbirth (2/26/08)The Triangulum Galaxy is also called M33 for being the 33rd object in Charles Messier’s sky catalog. It is located about 2.9 million light-years from Earth in the constellation Triangulum....

Exascale computing

I don't have a whole lot new to say on this topic right now. Earlier comments are here. To recap, "petascale" refers to computers capable of doing 1015 arithmetic operations ("flops") per second. Such computers already exist. The next main step is "exascale"...

More concepts from ring theory

We are at an important juncture in our discussion of algebraic number theory. From here on out, the path starts to go uphill more steeply, with quite a bit more abstraction and technical complexity. I hope you'll follow along anyhow. Don't feel like...

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