In May, Nature magazine published a draft sequence of the entire genome of the platypus, the bizarre mammal endemic of Australia that is so strange looking that the first scientists who received a…

In one of my snarkier moments, I coined the term "Dog's Ass Plot" (DAP) in reference to A graphical representation of data in any field that, through a lack of clear axis labels, selective inclusion/…

Perhaps you struggle with crafting elegant and effective prose. Fear not, gentle reader! Some simple guidelines are available to assist you.   HOW TO WRITE GOOD 1. Avoid alliteration. Always…

Over on Sandwalk, Larry Moran reports on a survey revealing that about 1/4 of Canadians do not believe in God, and that among those under 25 this figure is about 1/3. What he didn't mention was the…

One copy of the human genome is more than 3 billion nucleotides in length, and weighs in at about 3.5 picograms (pg, or trillionths of a gram). Only about 1.5% of this is composed of our 20,000 or…

The discovery of four families in which some members only walk on all fours (quadrupedality) may help us understand how humans, unlike other primates, are able to walk for long periods on only two…

Prenatal biochemical screening tests are widely used to look for chromosomal abnormalities in the fetus which can lead to serious handicap, or even death during gestation or in the first few days…

It’s stronger than steel and nylon, and more extensible than Kevlar. What is this super-tough material? Spider silk; and learning how to spin it is one of the materials industries’ Holy Grails.…

Some science sites are boring, some sites are difficult to navigate. Some don't write much about science at all. We cross all political boundaries and most cultural ones. We have Republicans,…

Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center have illuminated a window into how abnormalities in microRNAs, a family of molecules that regulate expression of numerous genes, may contribute to…