Science & Society

The interesting thing about being in a meeting like this is seeing some outstanding science and then seeing something that makes you wonder if people really know what they are doing.   Day 2 was when some of the more outrageous stuff, and therefore more outrageous headlines in the mass media, really came out.  If you want to start with Day 1, go here. Case in point was "The Science of Kissing" session in the morning.    We'll do an article about this that gives the data a fair shake but I won't go into that here.   Instead I can just tell you what really happened and…

Shortly after the Second World War, the famous naturalist, Gerald Durrell, was collecting animals in Cameroon.  While he generally got on well with the locals wherever he went, one frustration he encountered was that villagers might again and again offer him the same tortoise, despite his emphatic protestations that he did not want it.  But they would reply "You didn't want it from that man, but maybe you want it from me." Now the villagers may not have understood the principles of scientific animal collecting, but they were spot-on as regards human nature.  I could easily draw…

AAAS bills its annual meeting as 'the world's largest general science conference', which sounds just narrow enough to be true and since I am a patron member and we're a science community (indeed, we are the world's largest independent online science community) I decided to hop a plane and attend. Yes, to Chicago in February.  In two hotels that are not connected.  Obviously this is a cost-saving measure, though it seems likely none of the savings AAAS made were passed on to members, who paid the same cost as usual. The good thing about flying in a bad economy is you can get a first…

I recently spoke to biological anthropologist Dr. Helen Fisher about her groundbreaking work on the chemical basis of our personality and its influence on who we fall in love with.  As it turns out, science can shed a lot of light on a topic previously dominated by doubt, horoscopes, and what our mama told us.  “So have you read the book?” asked Fisher.  “What ‘type’ are you?”   “Explorer/Negotiator.  Are you sizing me up according to my ‘type’ now?” I teased.   “No,” Fisher replied; “But I had a bad experience with a journalist once.  A Builder. I…

The Brits are always thinking ahead and we could learn a thing or two from them on this side of the pond.   Those cheeky blokes are ditching pricey baubles in favor of if-we-keep-printing-money-we-will-be-Zimbabwe type ways of romancing loved ones this Valentine's Day - that is to say, without throwing out a lot of dough.     Research from a voice-to-text company over there called SpinVox claims almost two thirds of men (65%) have made huge cuts in spending this Valentines day.   1.6 million even claim they are following in the footsteps of Byron, Keats, and Shakespeare;…

Today, of all days, anything is possible. The laws of man and god are subverted by that of Murphy. This day is made doubly potent by its placement before the geek's darkest day of the year: Valentine's Day. And during this day on which anything that can go wrong will go wrong, it seems that even the cold truth of mathematics itself has failed. Specifically, two equals one. Damn. You shoulda been more consistent with the salt, garlic and Haitian door totems. But does two actually equal one? Does the following proof demonstrate the failing of math as a rational science and thus the end reason,…

Within the next few years it may be possible to go to Walmart, pick up a gallon of milk, and then stop by and have your genome sequenced while you wait. Sound unbelievable? Recent developments in the sequencing of your genome may make this a reality in the near future. A company called Complete Genomics has recently announced that they intend to market the $5000 complete genome sequencing package. $5000 is not cheap, but it is definitely cheaper than some of the earlier efforts at genome sequencing. The Human Genome Project cost 2.7 billion dollars, or roughly $1 per nucleotide in our…

“As a young boy I was always very curious. My parents didn't like to leave me at home alone, because they knew I would dismantle the radio. . .” So begins an interview with Ghana's rocket man who is now working at NASA.   It’s short, but very informative: read it here.

One of the weaknesses of using a surname as a guide in understanding genetic characteristcs has been the belief that 1 in 10 births were the result of infidelity - so the name is not only an incorrect characteristic but could even be deceptive. Not, so, says a study funded by the Wellcome Trust published this week in the journal Molecular Biology and Evolution, which may help genealogists create more accurate family trees even when records are missing. It suggests that the often quoted "one in ten" figure for children born through infidelity is unlikely to be true. Dr Turi King and Professor…

The run up to Valentine's Day is peak period for the lonely hearts business, says an advocacy group for the lonely hearts business. Many singles decide not to leave it to chance at this time of year, they say, and join dating agencies rather than leave their love-lives to fate.  The dating industries watchdog Association of British Introduction Agencies say the dating industry is thriving even amongst the doom and gloom of the economic crisis. January 2009 registrations among member agencies were up 20% over the same period last year.    That means you'd better hurry and do it…