Evolution
Fruit Flies Use Alcohol to Self-Medicate, but Feel Bad about it Afterwards
This article is the second (see the first here) in a miniseries of six articles that will be posted over five days about civilization, fungus, and alcohol.
Guest Blog
Commentary invited by editors of Scientific American
Evolution
A Sip for the Ancestors: The True Story of Civilization s Stumbling Debt to Beer and Fungus
This article is one in a miniseries of five articles that will be posted over the next five days about civilization, fungus, and alcohol. The first four articles are already determined, but just how this series finishes up will be determined by the comments and ideas of readers...
Environment
Blizzard! Explained.
It starts with a soft, almost soothing, hiss, but it is not a comforting sound. The hiss -- the sound of wind and snow grains sliding along the ground--is the prelude to a mighty symphony of noise, swirling snow, and danger...
Environment
People Displaced by Climate Change Need Our Help, But So Do Those Who Cannot Leave
The environment is already affecting patterns of human migration. On the island of Hatia, along coastal Bangladesh, 22 percent of households have migrated to cities as a coping strategy following tidal surges...
Health
The Illegal Teeny Turtle Trade
High-ticket items at my local 99¢ store endanger lives. For $6 a pop (or 2 for $10) a child brings home a baby turtle hardly larger than a quarter. They’re deceptively deadly pets for kids who put the bitty creatures in their mouths, or who neglect to wash their hands after touching the turtle...
The Sciences
Undergraduate Adventures with the Thermally Responsive Nanoparticles
Last October I attended the National Women in Physics Conference at Lincoln Nebraska. For an undergraduate women in Physics this is an amazing conference that offers a great opportunity to network with other young physicists and learn about the research going on around the country...
Health
Molecules to Medicine: Plan B: The Tradition of Politics at the FDA
In my last post, I focused on flaws in the medical device approval process. The Union of Concerned Scientists’ “FDA at a Crossroads” meeting also covered problems with drug approval.
Environment
Tsunami Debris and North America: Is the Tail Wagging the Dog?
Recent weeks have seen a spate of news articles (three examples here, here, and here) claiming that wreckage from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami has started arriving on the west coast of North America...
Environment
Conflicts and Cooperation in Conservation: Adventures in Researching the Pygmy Hippopotamus on Tiwai Island, Sierra Leone
Our vehicle pulled into the village late one rainy night. Dozens of my new neighbors, Sierra Leone’s Mende people, emerged from their thatch-roof houses, looking cross at being woken up and not exactly welcoming...
Mind & Brain
If It Looks Like a Compliment, and Sounds Like a Compliment...Is It Really a Compliment?
Two weeks ago I was at Science Online 2012, the annual conference for science bloggers and writers in Raleigh, NC. While there, I attended the session on Blogging Science While Female (a more detailed summary of the session can be found here).At the session, many of the women in the room expressed discouragement at how many comments they have received that, while seemingly complimentary, somehow still felt wrong...
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