We’ve all had the importance of tooth-brushing drilled (sorry) into us from an early age, and it’s not hard to understand why: humans have been plagued by tooth decay for as long as we’ve been human, and had teeth. Cro-Magnon skulls 25,000 years old show evidence of tooth decay, for instance, and as long ago …
Category: Science Columns
Sleep in a bottle
I love a good night’s sleep. I just rarely get one that’s quite as long as I’d like. I’m not alone in that, either. Although exactly how much sleep any individual needs varies according to that individual’s age, sex, genetic makeup and other factors, studies indicate that the “normal” sleep need for most adults is …
Sleep in a bottle
I love a good night’s sleep. I just rarely get one that’s quite as long as I’d like. I’m not alone in that, either. Although exactly how much sleep any individual needs varies according to that individual’s age, sex, genetic makeup and other factors, studies indicate that the “normal” sleep need for most adults is …
Happy New Year!
I’m still busy being in Beauty and the Beast at Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon, so in the same spirit as last week’s recycled Christmas column, this week I’m recycling (and refurbishing with fresh material!) a New Year’s column from 1995, because, hey, isn’t doing more reusing and recycling one of those things we all resolve …
Happy New Year!
I’m still busy being in Beauty and the Beast at Persephone Theatre in Saskatoon, so in the same spirit as last week’s recycled Christmas column, this week I’m recycling (and refurbishing with fresh material!) a New Year’s column from 1995, because, hey, isn’t doing more reusing and recycling one of those things we all resolve …
An old chestnut, re-roasted
Time for the traditional Christmas column, and just as we haul out the same old ornaments year after year, this year I’m hauling out an old column (from 1994) because, well, it’s timeless. Also, it’s almost Christmas, and I’m lazy. (Something to do with the conservation of mass and energy: at Christmas, your mass increases …
An old chestnut, re-roasted
Time for the traditional Christmas column, and just as we haul out the same old ornaments year after year, this year I’m hauling out an old column (from 1994) because, well, it’s timeless. Also, it’s almost Christmas, and I’m lazy. (Something to do with the conservation of mass and energy: at Christmas, your mass increases …
Sweet science
’Tis the season for peace and love and carols by the fire and decorated fir trees and all that sort of thing. ’Tis also the season for candy: candy canes, fudge, toffee, peanut brittle, bon-bons of all kinds. A lot of it is store-bought, but a lot of it is made from scratch. As Grandma …
Sweet science
’Tis the season for peace and love and carols by the fire and decorated fir trees and all that sort of thing. ’Tis also the season for candy: candy canes, fudge, toffee, peanut brittle, bon-bons of all kinds. A lot of it is store-bought, but a lot of it is made from scratch. As Grandma …
Cars that drive themselves
This evening in the car my six-year-old daughter, Alice, commented out of the blue that she wished our car could drive itself. “I’d like that, too,” I said, and explained that scientists were, in fact, working on cars that could do exactly that, thinking of the Grand Challenges for driverless cars held by the Defense …
Acoustics
Acoustics have been on my mind recently, and not just because of (as some might suggest) the echoing empty space between my ears. First came the CFL Western semi-final game at Mosaic Stadium, where noise, reflected and focused by the stands, played at least some role in the Riders’ victory—and utterly failed to carry from …
Roboethics
Download the audio version.Get my science column weekly as a podcast. *** A couple of weeks ago I wrote about research aimed at making robot-human interactions more comfortable for humans. With more and more robots finding more and more uses in society, that kind of research is important. But there’s something else we’re going to …
My latest live walk and vlog
Buy Autographed Books
