It's a phrase that is commonly used to describe a stubborn reluctance to seriously explore alternatives.  There are many arguments, mostly economic, as to why this should be, but mostly it's due…

Music - The International Language Peoples of all cultures love music and song. This article addresses two urban myths: that yodelling originated in the mountains of Austria, Bavaria and Switzerland…

Last night, while gym climbing with a science manager, I found he also did outdoor climbing, hiking, and yoga.  Yoga is a great exercise system.  Scientists need healthy bodies to match our…

A Global Warming Scam Exposed A favorite trick of scammers is to pick a phrase that is widely used and then use it to draw in site visits via Google searches for that phrase.1 If you search for "…

Psychrolinguistics I was going to title this 'cryolinguistics', but someone else already invented the term.   You have to admire the linguistic skills of anyone who can come up with a…

Instead of blogging, I've been gardening (for a living) and cultivating a scientific interest in weeds. I hadn't given much thought to weed science as a separate field of Crop and Soil…

Florida State accounting professor Douglas Stevens says economic decision-makers frequently factor morality into their judgments and behavior, and it's time for economic models to incorporate…

"There is no better way to learn something than to write about it" Martin Gardner (via Johannes Koelman)

Since I have started to write on this site, 13 months ago, I have realized that few of the contributors here discuss their private life and thoughts. But I was used to do it in my old site and so I…

Peer Review is universally used to ensure the quality of scientific research, but the process may not be as reliable as people assume. A new study in PLoS One suggests that the recommendations…