Observations
Masks and Emasculation: Why Some Men Refuse to Take Safety Precautions
They think it makes them look weak, and avoiding that is evidently more important to them than demonstrating responsible behavior
Blogs
Observations
How a Landmark Physics Paper from the 1970s Uncannily Describes the COVID-19 Pandemic
Phil Anderson’s article “More Is Different” describes how different levels of complexity require new ways of thinking. And as the virus multiplies and spreads, that’s just what the human race desperately needs...
Observations
The Fight against COVID-19 Threatens to Cause Collateral Health Damage
The pandemic is no excuse to abandon chronic disease management and prevention
Recent Posts
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Ladybusiness Link Love
A new post coming shortly, but in the meantime read these other posts. A rather specific set of links this time, because there has been some pretty good ladybusiness writing in the last month...
In Rio for the 2013 International Symposium on Pterosaurs
I love academic conferences, I love pterosaurs, and I love South America. So, as predicted, I very much enjoyed the International Symposium on Pterosaurs I just attended: it was the sixth symposium devoted specifically to pterosaurs, and was held at the Museu Nacional/UFRJ (= Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro), Rio de Janeiro...
What If Woo Was True?
Aside from asking the nerdiest of questions here at Overthinking It, I’m also a ranger for good science. As such, I constantly have my eye out for the good, the bad, and the ugly.
What If Woo Was True?
Aside from asking the nerdiest of questions here at Overthinking It , I'm also a ranger for good science. As such, I constantly have my eye out for the good, the bad, and the ugly.
Spooky Action on Broadway: A Quantum Drama by Brian Greene
Fans of Brian Greene’s NOVA programs, such as The Fabric of the Cosmos, will no doubt enjoy what amounts to a 90-minute live episode. Kicking off the 2013 World Science Festival in New York City on Wednesday night, the show, “Spooky Action: The Drama of Quantum Mechanics" provides an entertaining and thought-provoking journey through the strange reality of quantum mechanics.Greene serves as host and narrator, and he gets help from stage actors who deliver famous (and infamous) lines from physics history, such as Albert Einstein saying that god doesn’t play dice with the universe, Niels Bohr responding that Einstein shouldn’t tell god what to do and Werner Heisenberg saying that Erwin Schrodinger’s wave equations were bullshit (at least that is how his German got translated to English onstage).With the help of a Princeton University colleague, Greene also conducts an onstage double-slit experiment, in which particles passing through two closely spaced slits form over time the classic light-dark interference pattern of waves...
Does Controversial Decision Pit California Condors against Wind Turbines?
Talk about a "damned if you do, damned if you don't" situation. The U.S. needs to generate more renewable energy if we hope to stave off the effects of climate change.
The Puzzle of Consciousness: Watch Full Video of World Science Festival Panel
Unraveling the mystery of consciousness remains perhaps the biggest challenge in all neuroscience, so big and amorphous that most brain scientists won't go near the topic, leaving philosophers to speculate about the a prioris ...
Dangerous Braids That Tangle in Brains and Veins
Alzheimer’s disease is a neurodegenerative condition of the brain that is assuming epidemic proportions as the population ages, since it can strike almost anyone.Sickle Cell Disease is a strictly genetic disorder of African origins that rigidifies red blood cells.These would seem to be worlds apart in more ways than one.Yet I was reminded this week that one of the delights of science is the discovery of the connections between things that seem totally unrelated: A recent breakthrough in understanding Alzheimer’s, described in the current Early Edition issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences is based on advances my colleagues and I made some 30 years ago in understanding sickle cell.What these maladies have in common is the association of molecules that were never intended to come together in healthy processes...
Fact Check: Does That New Mammoth Carcass Really Preserve Flowing Blood and Possibly Live Cells?
Yesterday brought a flurry of news stories trumpeting a mind-blowing discovery from the lost world of the last ice age: a 10,000-year-old woolly mammoth carcass that preserves muscle tissue the color of fresh meat and blood in liquid form, despite the -10 degrees Celsius temperatures in the Novosibirsk Islands, where Russian researchers discovered the beast...
Welcome to the Center for Epigenetic Cloning
Welcome to the Center for Epigenetic Cloning. Within, you will find epigenetic clones of Lady Gaga, Barack Obama, Angela Merkel, Napoleon and Jesus.From the Center's press release: The procedure is completely noninvasive...
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Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
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A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
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Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
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