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
Select Topic
Assignment: Impossible
A Modest Proposal: Google Autopiano
In the series "A Modest Proposal," my colleagues and I will propose inventions and projects that I think are eminently doable and would love made real.
Life, Unbounded
From Andromeda With Love
Here comes another galaxy... (Credit: NASA, ESA, Z. Levay and R. van der Marel (STScI), T. Hallas, and A. Mellinger) Some recent research on the long-term future of the Milky Way prompted me to dig out and re-polish this post from the Life, Unbounded archives of 2010...
A Blog Around The Clock
The Scienceblogging Weekly (June 1st, 2012)
Blog of the Week: Vintage Space is a blog by Amy Shira Teitel, science writer and historian of space exploration living in Arizona.
Cross-Check
Why B. F. Skinner, Like Freud, Still Isn't Dead
Behaviorism is back! That's what David Freedman proclaims in the June Atlantic cover story, "The End of Temptation: How the creepy science of behavior modification is reshaping our desires." The article is, on one level, a hyperbolic report on apps that are "transforming us into thinner, richer, all around-better versions of ourselves" by helping people (including Freedman's brother) overcome overeating, smoking and other bad habits...
The SA Incubator
Bora s Picks (June 1st, 2012)
Young Scientists Embrace Crowdfunding by Kelly Slivka : Crowdfunding, or appealing to the online community for funds for personal projects, seems to be thriving.
The Network Central
#SciAmBlogs Thursday - guilty dogs, crackpots at meetings, solar tariffs, writing science books, and more.
Tune in at 12 noon EDT for a 30minute live chat with Robin Lloyd and myself - we'll chat about science blogging, circadian rhythms and more.- Jason G.
The Network Central
#SciAmBlogs Wednesday - outlawing sea-rise, Mt.St.Helens geologists, anthrax vaccine money trail, old-age smell, plagiarism, rare rabbit, petrels and more.
- Scott Huler - NC Makes Sea Level Rise Illegal - Dana Hunter - Dedication: The Geologists Who Died at Mount St. Helens - Judy Stone - Anthrax vaccine – To the victor, the spoils - Christie Wilcox - The Nose Knows: Telling Age Based On Scent - Janet D...
Observations
Men's Offices Harbor More Bacteria Than Women's
What is the dirtiest thing on your desk? If you work in a typical office, it's not actually your computer mouse or your keyboard or even your desk. According to a new study, published online May 30 in PLoS ONE , it's your phone—but your chair's not far behind.Before you drop that receiver or leap out of your seat, hold that thought for just a second...
Observations
Exoplanet Hunters Get a Technology Boost in Search for Earth-like Planets
The European Southern Observatory already has one of the world’s best planet-hunting tools in the HARPS spectrograph. Installed at the 3.6-meter La Silla telescope in Chile, HARPS is an instrument that can detect the extremely subtle wobbles in a star’s motion that may be induced by the gravitational pull of an orbiting planet.But the wobble, or radial-velocity, method most readily turns up large exoplanets, some of them many times more massive than Jupiter, that orbit quite close to their host star...
Observations
A Visual Guide to the Social Acceptability of Various Human-Machine Interfaces
Acceptable:Frowned upon:Only if you're a billionaire, and even then probably not a good idea:Please, no: The MH2 Wearable Humanoid Robot, developed by scientists at Japan's Yamagata University, "lives on your shoulder and can be remotely inhabited by your friends from anywhere in the world," according to Evan Ackerman at IEEE Spectrum 's Automaton blog...
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Everything you always wanted to know about raising science-literate kids
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Cross-Check
Critical views of science in the news
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Dark Star Diaries
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Dog Spies
Explore the science behind the dog in your bed
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Extinction Countdown
News and research about endangered species from around the world
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Observations
Opinion, arguments & analyses from guest experts and from the editors of Scientific American
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Roots of Unity
Mathematics: learning it, doing it, celebrating it.
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Adventures in the good science of rock-breaking.
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STAFFIllustrating science since 1845
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Talking back
STAFFA science blog, sans blague
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The Artful Amoeba
A Blog About the Weird Wonderfulness of Life on Earth
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Exploring and celebrating diversity in science.
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