Shirking - The Upside

Shirking - The Upside

The word 'Shirk' normally carries quite pronounced negative connotations. But are there circumstances when shirking might have beneficial effects? For example in the efficient operation of teams?…
Science meets Society interviews Sascha Vongehr

Science meets Society interviews Sascha Vongehr

Science meets society (SMS) has interviewed me. Actually, they took my answers to their list of questions so to make it look like an interview may have taken place. I am thankful for the honor and…
Blowing Hot Air: The Methane Hydrate Delusion

Blowing Hot Air: The Methane Hydrate Delusion

Last week, word came from Prudhoe Bay that sent chills through me as surely as if I’d been standing in the Alaskan North Slope drilling outpost myself. The United States Department of Energy – in…
Tycho Supernova Remnant 55 Light Years Wide

Tycho Supernova Remnant 55 Light Years Wide

Type Ia supernovae are important for measuring the universe because they're bright enough to be seen across large distances and similar enough to be a reference, an an object of known luminosity -…
Marcellus Shale Fracking Wastewater Harmful

Marcellus Shale Fracking Wastewater Harmful

A new paper by Natural Resources Defense Council says hydraulic fracturing (fracking) generates massive amounts of polluted wastewater in in the Marcellus Shale that threatens the health of…
Physics is hard.  No Duh?

Physics is hard. No Duh?

It seems that one Toby Cubitt,  a quantum physicist, has done research which proves mathematically that physics is hard.  Well no duh.  Physics is the subject sane people avoid in…
Traumatic Insemination - How Bugs Get Over It

Traumatic Insemination - How Bugs Get Over It

If bugs have their own Tori Amos, she is likely writing about sexual conflict and how reproduction exists at all given that it can be so costly, especially to females. One aspect of this conflict…
How Handedness Happens

How Handedness Happens

Many proteins and other functional molecules in our bodies display a striking characteristic: They can exist in two distinct forms that are mirror images of each other, chirality or "handedness…