… and so here are a couple of compilations. The first is Sciencealert's top 10 animal videos for this year. They include a lone porcupine seeing off a pride of 17 (!) lions; an octopus 'walking' on land (which is really really strange: it must take an awful lot of effort to do this, unsupported […]
Continue readingMonth: December 2014
are ‘alternative medicines’ really free of side effects?
Not necessarily. OK, most homeopathy's just water (or sugar pills), but if a non-self-limiting disease goes untreated because someone is relying on homeopathy then, yes, this 'remedy' could be said to have side effects. Similarly, using powdered rhinoceros horn – prescribed as an oral dose in Traditional Chinese Medicine – is unlikely to have side […]
Continue readingcows and physics and urban myths
In which we encounter – cow-tipping! This is apparently the focus of both myth & mirth in the US: the idea that cows, asleep on their feet, are regularly tipped over by tipsy youths. Now, apart from the inconvenient little fact that cows tend to sleep lying down & thus are supremely untippable at that […]
Continue readingengraving by homo erectus – art? or doodling?
Why is it that practically every time there's a new discovery relating to the evolution of our own species, there is a headline saying that this finding 'could rewrite human history'? Because, bingo! At least one newspaper report1, of a paper published last week in Nature, carried the header: "Homo erectus engraving could re-write human history, […]
Continue readingfrom small beauties to a big one
Is it a peacock? Is it a turkey? Another in the occasional series of gorgeous creatures: the ocellated turkey 🙂 Image credit: backyardchickens.com Over on Tetrapod Zoology, Darren Naish provides the detailed story of this species' biology & evolution. Apparently they are difficult creatures to keep in captivity, so they won't be appearing on the Christmas menu […]
Continue readingthe beauty of tiny things
I loved playing with kaleideoscopes when I was (much) younger, but the images they produce have nothing on what Victorian microscopists achieved using diatoms. Diatoms are single-celled photosynthetic organisms, and one of the things that really makes them stand out it the variety & beauty of their cell walls, which contain a very high proportion […]
Continue readingsome seasonal fun (with the spice of science)
When I was a kid – & we're talking a looong time ago now! – we had a gorgeous Advent calendar that was designed to look like a renaissance-era painting. At least, that's how I remember it. And there was certainly none of this new-fangled stuff involving chocolate behind the little doors! But Advent calendars […]
Continue readingcredulous reporting around cancer
This is a really difficult post to write. The word 'cancer' evokes any number of fears & unpleasant images, and I can't imagine something worse than discovering that a child has cancer. (Nor can I be certain of my own reaction, if I should find myself in that position.) But that doesn't excuse credulous reporting […]
Continue readingzombies & lego – great combination!
Actually, that's a bit of a fib as the zombies & the lego don't actually meet in these videos 🙂 But both have a science focus. Lego is the focus of a clip called 'Building Curiosity', which is something of an ode to science; I rather enjoyed it. And the zombies? Well, you're likely to […]
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