I've just read (via the NZ Skeptics page on FB) a fascinating article on Slate about the psychology of conspiracy theorists. In it, Will Saletan describes a series of studies from the past 20 years, that attempted to understand why a fair proportion of people seem to incline towards conspiracy theories (for example, a 2007 poll […]
Continue readingMonth: November 2013
why did the pigeon cross the road?
if I lived in Hawkes Bay I'd be keen to attend this Royal Society public lecture, & I'll certainly be watching the video, which will be available after. It looks like being of interest & value to senior Biology teachers. The ninth lecture in the 10X10 series Why did the pigeon cross the road? […]
Continue readinga glorious (but deadly) cephalopod
Every now & then the husband goes on a fossil-fossicking expedition, in order to add to his collection of things long dead & turned to stone. There are a number of good sites in the Waikato region, and one of them has yielded quite a few belemnite remains: specifically, the bullet-shaped fossilised internal shells of […]
Continue readingshould one emit flatulent gases silently, or with gusto?
I must admit, I'd never really thought about this one (although I suspect littlies would find it amusing). However, it does appear that silence, in this case, is definitely not golden (and it's got a lot to do withe the mixture of gases produced during bacterial fermentation in the gut).
Continue readingin which we encounter a very strange idea about water
Namely, that water today is becoming harder to absorb because the water molecules are clustered. Yes, really.
Continue readingswimming as a sperm does
It's much harder for a sperm to swim, than it is for a sperm whale. Why? This excellent TEDed video explains: I think I'll use it next year, during the 'reproduction' section of my first-year biology paper 🙂
Continue readingmigration and ear wax
Last year's Schol Bio paper contained (as is usual) some interesting and challenging questions. One of them was about earwax. More specifically, the earwax phenotypes 'dry' and 'wet', and what their distribution can tell us about patterns of human evolution. (Note to those sitting these examinations: most questions have a reasonable amount of resource material […]
Continue readinga creeping assassin
The daughter & her friends play Assassin's Creed from time to time. This little arachnid would fit right in: Photo: Jeremy Miller For this is an assassin spider, one of a number of species (in the superfamily Palpiamanoidea) that prey on other spiders. The assassin spiders have a long history: a combination of fossil & DNA evidence suggests […]
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