When I first saw this video I thought it was fake. Perhaps an April Fool’s joke. But, not only is it real, it is a phenomenon that’s been known for hundreds of years. Why am I just hearing about it? (there’s also a full version in which you can hear the tones: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yaqUI4b974) So, what [...]

For the past several months I’ve been working on a television show for The Weather Channel. Hacking the Planet is the brainchild of my friend John Rennie, former editor in chief of Scientific American, and it features me and Cara Santa Maria, senior science correspondent for The Huffington Post. As host, John flies around the globe, talking [...]

I’ve been a freelancer for over 20 years. It’s not quite accurate to say there aren’t benefits. There are; they just don’t include health care and employer-matched IRAs. The benefits are such things as not having to use an alarm clock or wear pants everyday, if you don’t feel like it. You can.  But you don’t [...]

Today, of course, is Charles Darwin’s birthday. What a guy!  He would’ve been 204 years old. It’s sad when they’re taken from us so young. Hopefully, by now, you’ve heard that Abraham Lincoln was born the same day – in the same year, 1809!  Big day for the human race! In 2009, I made this [...]

Hello! Come in! Have a seat by the fire. Ooh, not so close! That’s better. Let me tell you a bit about myself… Unlike many of the bloggers here, I am not a doctor.  I sometimes say I play one in the broken dreams of my parents. And people laugh, although it isn’t a joke. [...]