If you’d told me yesterday that there’s a fish with a transparent head, I wouldn’t have believed you. I certainly wouldn’t have imagined that anything would look up and around through its own head for a greater range of vision! But that is exactly what the barreleye (Macropinna microstoma) does.

http://www.youtube.com/v/RM9o4VnfHJU

Mirrored from ( Read more... )

UCS Lab Coat cartoon

From the Union of Concerned Scientists:

This spring, to draw humorous attention to the serious issue of political interference in science, we offered Union of Concerned Scientists supporters the chance to enter Science Idol: the Scientific Integrity Editorial Cartoon Contest.

Please vote on the right for your ( Read more... )

This could have gone in my last post, considering Porter’s life ;-) Thanks to Scott Bragg for the link.

Bisexual Species: Unorthodox Sex in the Animal Kingdom: Scientific American

… as many as 1,500 species of wild and captive animals that have been observed engaging in homosexual activity. Researchers have seen such same-sex goings-on in both male ( Read more... )

Water From Rock, Easier Than Blood From Stone

Gypsum, a rocky mineral is abundant in desert regions where fresh water is usually in very short supply but oil and gas fields are common. Writing in International Journal of Global Environmental Issues, Peter van der Gaag of the Holland Innovation Team, in Rotterdam, The Netherlands, has hit on the ( Read more... )

We got Katie’s report card in, and she did in fact get all As!

She’s well into the next semester now. Because everybody else was registered for this year last spring, the advanced physics course was full and she’s in the “normal” physics course. She is crazy bored. I mean, this is seriously the first time I’ve wondered if she’ll get in trouble ( Read more... )

An awesome article by Seed magazine (my current favorite magazine!) about learning by doing. Apparently, that’s how we learn best. When we learn by doing, we retain the information we’ve learned much better than if it’s presented to us in an abstract way.

How We Know: What do an algebra teacher, Toyota, and a classical musician have in common?

( Read more... )

Device writes on water

Researchers at Akishima Laboratories (Mitsui Zosen), working in conjunction with professor Shigeru Naito of Osaka University, have developed a device that uses waves to draw text and pictures on the surface of the water. The device consists of 50 water wave generators encircling a cylindrical tank 1.6 meters in diameter and ( Read more... )

Realistic Time Machine?

The laws of physics seem to allow time travel, but no one has had much hope of building an actual time machine because it would take such exotic conditions and materials.

Now, physicist Amos Ori of the Technion Israel Institute of Technology in Haifa has come up with a potentially more practical time machine design. Unlike ( Read more... )