SciAm bloggers have been busy delving into the dark to explore things that go bump in the night and make your hair stand on end. Here’s a collection of the spooktacular posts you will want to investigate (with a flashlight): Revenge of the Zombifying Wasp Blithe Spirits: Science Ain’t Afraid of No Ghosts The Vampire [...]

Ed. Note: What better way to round out Halloween than by considering why it is that clowns can strike fear into our hearts when they’re supposed to be harmless? Coulrophobia is the fear of clowns. And I’ll admit that they make me nervous. I’m not totally crazy about hanging out with folks who think wearing [...]

Ed Note: Our foray into the spooky and superstitious continues with this look at a popular West Indian belief. This post originally appeared on AiP on October 25, 2010—and it was selected as a ResearchBlogging Editor’s Selection! Trinidadians have a rich collection of superstitions, many of which found their way to the island via colonialism. These [...]

Ed note: As Halloween rapidly approaches in the US, AiP will be exploring superstitions, beliefs, and the things that go bump in the night. This post originally appeared on AiP on May 17th, 2011, in response to Zombie Awareness Month—oh, it’s real all right. It’s been slightly modified for this posting. I think I must [...]

Ed note: As Halloween rapidly approaches in the US, AiP will be exploring superstitions, beliefs, and the things that go bump in the night. [Evil laugh.] At some point, most of us have likely had a token that we believed would protect us or bring us luck. It could have been a baseball cap, a [...]

Scared of insects, spiders, or other leggy arthropods? It could be worse. You could be one of them. At that size you face an array of dangers unlike anything you know from your comfortably large human existence. Here are just a few of the many perils to worry about as an arthropod. 1. Your guts [...]

Spooky paleo-papercraft from Tiffany Miller of deadraccoon.com ! (edit:) Here’s  a bit more about papercraft from Tiffany: The paper sculptures are created with found specialty papers. Minimal altering of color and pattern may be done. A drawing is carefully made, and the papers are cut and formed by hand to create a three dimensional collage. [...]

Happy Halloween! I decided to revise and repost this piece from November 1, 2010, on dog bites, full moons, and confirmation bias. Click the archives icon to see the original post. Our story begins in March 2000, when Dr. Simon Chapman and colleagues from the University of Sydney published a paper in which they assessed [...]