Science Fact: Healthy food is in the news this month, and it’s not tofu and quinoa. Articles based on scientific studies give a boost to the health-giving properties of two popular beverages: coffee and alcohol. And there’s new evidence about … Continue reading
Science Fact: Plants listen! They don’t have ears or brains. And they don’t have a nervous system, although they have internal communication systems that may play that kind of a role. Nevertheless, plants listen and react to specific sounds. Let’s … Continue reading
Wine Tasting Wine tasting is a topic that never gets out of date! Those who enjoy wine find tasting to be fun, delicious and sociable. And the wine tasting process itself involves so many dimensions besides smell and taste. Charles … Continue reading
Science Fact: The discovery of America by Christopher Columbus is one of the few historical “facts” that sticks with most people long after they have forgotten the Magna Carta, Beowulf and the invention of the cotton gin. The stickiness of … Continue reading
Science Fact: Diabetes is a disease that everyone should understand and at least be wary of, if not fear. Excellent information abounds from the ADA (American Diabetes Association) and the National Institutes of Health. Nevertheless, it’s a complex disease and its data … Continue reading
Science Fact: Dark matter. Dark energy. An invisible force filling and dominating the universe. Sound familiar? It should. Dark matter pervades popular culture: – The Force of Star Wars – Dark matter nebulas in Star Trek – Dark matter as … Continue reading
Science Fact: Robots imitating people is a respected line of research in Japan, and the Japanese lead the world in this area. Getting a robot to do anything is challenging enough, which helps explain why there are many university programs … Continue reading
Science Fact: Diet drinks are in our diet to help us lose weight. The name is misleading, because they don’t help us diet at all. Diet drinks don’t reduce our weight, and they aren’t even very satisfying! Scientists are finding … Continue reading
Science Fact: Great ideas are here with us at all times. But if you expect this post to discuss scientific research on creativity, forget it! There’s plenty of that work around. I consider great ideas to be an art form, … Continue reading
Science Fact: Popularity imposes a penalty on teenagers: it predisposes them to problems with substance abuse and criminal behavior as young adults. The conflicting demands of having friends and resisting damaging peer influences are at the heart of growing up. … Continue reading
Science Fact: The end of paralysis is the promise, a computer takeover the threat. But the news features sniping by scientists. Who’s in the right, anyway? This is a timely post, because three hours from now there may be a noteworthy public … Continue reading
Science Fact: Handwriting is an educational supertool. It can develop your kids’ fine motor skills as well as their fine thinking skills. And it may even help overcome dyslexia! A New York Times article is the most recent example of a … Continue reading
Science Fact: A fifty year future forecast! Our future starts in the past with this poster of Fritz Lang’s 1927 film Metropolis as restored in 2010 and available for purchase on DVD. Metropolis, the first film to show a robot, … Continue reading
Science Fact: Brain sync. Brainwave synchronization. A story of New Age stoners, hackers, hucksters and the frontiers of medicine. The Brain Sync Headline Brain sync popped up stage center with an article titled New Study Shows How Guitar Players’ Brains … Continue reading
Science Fact: Not So Big is the phrase coined by architect Sarah Susanka in a series of very readable books beginning in 1998. I discovered her first book, The Not So Big House, within a year after buying my last house … Continue reading
Science Fact: Rice, wheat, meat. Each is a healthy food, but they are different. Does what we eat affect our ability to innovate? How about what our great-great-(40 greats)-grandparents ate? We might expect a nutritionist or a geneticist to study … Continue reading
Science Fact Politics defeats science whenever we confront highly emotional social issues. STEM education – science, technology, engineering and math – cannot guarantee that we will act rationally. Part 1 of this post described the career opportunities and general technical literacy … Continue reading
Science Fact: STEM education means science, technology, engineering and math. Different from the stem cells this blog featured last week (Part 1 & Part 2) — yet also vital to modern life and health. This post also comes in two parts: Part … Continue reading
Science Fact: Researchers studying stem cells have created life-saving miracles, all while working within society’s legal and ethical limits. Tuesday’s Part 1 related the discovery of stem cells and recognition of their life-saving potential. Today’s Part 2 tells how political … Continue reading
Science Fact: Stem cells have many stories to tell. Depending on the teller, you may hear: – a tale of politics interfering with life-saving medical research; – of babies saved because scientists were not allowed to use fetal tissue; – … Continue reading