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Amazing Facts

Science Is for the Birds
May 19, 2007
Birds, with all their variety and functionality, are a never-ending source of study for scientists.  Here are some recent feathery findings: Memory masters:  Scrub jays are like us: they can plan ahead, regardless of mood.  Current Biology did a study that proved these common western birds can cache tomorrow’s breakfast regardless of their motivational state.  […]
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Dumb Ideas

Batting for Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week
May 18, 2007
National Geographic reported that bats are master flyers, whose aerodynamic skills outperform birds.1  They also have an exquisitely refined sonar sense that allows them to discern detail as fine as a fish fin sticking out of the water.  Coupled with aerobatics and see-in-the-dark sonar, a bat can swoop down and catch the fish right out […]
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Dumb Ideas

Can Morality Be Evolutionized?
May 17, 2007
A psychologist at the University of Virginia is probing the evolutionary origins of morality: [Jonathan] Haidt shows how evolutionary, neurological and social-psychological insights are being synthesized in support of three principles: 1) Intuitive primacy, which says that human emotions and gut feelings generally drive our moral judgments; 2) Moral thinking if [sic] for social doing, […]
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Health

Take a Walk in the Biodiversity Park
May 16, 2007
A walk in the park is good for your spirit.  That much we already knew.  Researchers at the University of Sheffield now claim, though, that the more biodiversity in the park, the better: “Dr Richard Fuller and colleagues from the University’s Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, and De Montfort University in Leicester, have been […]
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Origin of Life

OOL Study Substitutes Computer for Chemistry
May 15, 2007
Upon reading a recent origin-of-life paper in PNAS,1 you might think the authors ran experiments with real chemicals and real deep-sea rocks.  A more careful look, however, reveals that their model only worked in cyberspace.  This raises interesting questions about the ability of simulations to substitute for empirical evidence.     Their claims were dramatic […]
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Dumb Ideas

When Is a Primate a Human Ancestor?
May 14, 2007
Behold Aegyptopithecus zeuxis, an extinct fossil monkey.  It had a brain smaller than a lemon, smaller than that of modern lemurs.  Why, then, are the news media touting this as a human ancestor?     The new specimen of Aegyptopithecus is more intact and complete than previous specimens.  Two surprises were noted; the amount of […]
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Amazing Facts

Seeds Muscle Their Way into the Soil
May 11, 2007
A biological motor has been found, of all places, on the seeds of wild wheat.  A team of German and Israeli scientists watched wheat seeds and found they could dig themselves into the ground.  How can a dry seed, with no muscles, nerves or circulatory system, accomplish such a feat?  It all becomes clear when […]
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Dumb Ideas

Stupid Evolution Quote of the Week:  Design without a Designer
May 10, 2007
Apparently Francisco Ayala (UC Irvine) thinks that just stating something dogmatically is enough to end all discussion.  The scope of his paper in PNAS is grandiose and sweeping, enough to keep philosophers and theologians from around the world busy for years, but Ayala just put out his opinions without any hint of dispute, and stamped […]
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Politics and Ethics

Nature Displays Leftist Ideology
May 9, 2007
For a British scientific journal ostensibly devoted to nature (think: horses, trees, cells, atoms, stars), Nature gets downright political sometimes.  Usually, a liberal position is presented without rebuttal or balance – often intruding into American politics.  Some recent examples: Military defense:  In the May 3 issue, a Nature editorial attacked the American missile defense system, […]
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Amazing Facts

Details of Photosynthesis Coming to Light
May 9, 2007
New tools of science are unveiling the secrets of what was long a “black box” in biology: photosynthesis.  A paper in Nature last week1 described the structure of the plant PhotoSystem I complex (PSI) in near-atomic resolution.  Next day, a paper in Science2 described some of the protein interactions that occur when plants turn light […]
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Genetics

New Theory for Introns: Mutation Sponges
May 8, 2007
When you don’t know where damage will occur, it makes sense to spread the assets around.  Scientists from City of Hope Medical Center (a cancer care and research institute) have a new idea about introns, those regions of DNA “junk“ between the more interesting exons (parts of genes).  Perhaps the introns are mutation sponges.   […]
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Bible and Theology

Herod’s Tomb Found
May 8, 2007
The probable tomb of Herod the Great has been found, reported Haaretz a day before a scheduled press conference.  This is the King Herod who slaughtered the innocents of Bethlehem at the time of Christ’s birth after being visited by the wise men.  Scholars knew he was supposed to be buried at his fortress of […]
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Physics

Instant Diamonds?
May 7, 2007
Talk about catastrophism: imagine a geological process creating a dyke 150 miles deep in a few minutes.  This is a new model for how diatremes formed, as described in Nature last week.1  The surprise end of the abstract by Lionel Wilson and James W. Head III states, “No precursor to the eruption is felt at […]
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Amazing Facts

Seeking Explanations for Plant Fibonacci Spirals
May 6, 2007
The spiral patterns on an artichoke are enough to make a physicist choke.  How do plants like cacti, sunflowers, strawberries and artichokes produce geometric patterns of left- and right- handed spirals?  Why do these spirals follow a mathematical rule called the Fibonacci sequence?  A new theory suggests that it is the optimal energy arrangement for […]
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Physics

Tweaking Mercury to Keep it Old
May 4, 2007
Mercury has a magnetic field.  That’s odd.  It shouldn’t.  If it were 4.6 billion years old, the little planet should be solid stiff by now.  Planetary scientists have published a new model of its interior with the required molten outer core that allows a dynamo to generate the observed magnetic field.  What’s interesting are the […]
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