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Scientific American

May 14, 2010

Extra, Extra

Figure 1: From the good folks at Fake Science, something particularly relevant for me, these last few weeks. Here’s a round-up for this week.

By Jason G. Goldman

This article was published in Scientific American’s former blog network and reflects the views of the author, not necessarily those of Scientific American

Why Is Coffee Addictive?
Figure 1: From the good folks at Fake Science, something particularly relevant for me, these last few weeks.

Here's a round-up for this week. Since I missed doing it last week, I'll include a few extra things that I would have included last week.

Did you catch my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week? Here's a link. And last week's.

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Awesome Things, Science and otherwise:

Check out Daniel Simons' awesome new version of the invisible gorilla illusion. If you've been in any Intro Psych class recently, you're familiar with this. But watch the video anyway, follow the instructions. This is fantastic.

And then, you might be interested in Dave Munger's interview with Daniel Simons.

A really interesting post at Cocktail Party Physics about the oil spill and an interesting solution to clean it up (hair!)

A piece I wrote for LAist this week on how cooperation is maintained in large groups. The answer might surprise you.

Phil Plait at Bad Astronomy explains why the moon looks bigger when its on the horizon. Fascinating.

Dolphins bully porpoises. Of course, that's if by "bully" you mean "mushing up their internal organs," and not "stealing their lunch money."

And more dolphins! Fascinating article from The Orion on early studies of dolphin communication. (Including a human researcher giving a dolphin a handjob. For real.)

Last, some amazing and very sad photos of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Finally, a little housekeeping:

You can follow me on Twitter: @jgold85

Here is this blog's RSS feed: http://scienceblogs.com/thoughtfulanimal/index.xml

Jason G. Goldman is a science journalist based in Los Angeles. He has written about animal behavior, wildlife biology, conservation, and ecology for Scientific American, Los Angeles magazine, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the BBC, Conservation magazine, and elsewhere. He contributes to Scientific American's "60-Second Science" podcast, and is co-editor of Science Blogging: The Essential Guide (Yale University Press). He enjoys sharing his wildlife knowledge on television and on the radio, and often speaks to the public about wildlife and science communication.

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