“Three hundred seventy million years ago or so, Saskatchewan was a very different place, which isn’t surprising, since most of it was underwater.” The topic? Potash.

Icicle lights. LEDs. It seems like every few years there’s another “big thing” in Christmas lighting. But how do they all work? General Electric’s first sets of pre-wired lights intended for home Christmas trees came out in 1904-1905. (Edward Johnson, a business associate of Thomas Edison, was the first to use electric lights on a …

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“I wonder if diagrams such as these would capture the public imagination today?” asks the author of this website of “Unusual Technical Images of Equipment Used in World War II.” And the answer…yes! (At least, this public’s imagination…) (Via digg.)

I’m a writer, write? (Er, right?) And so I present a new daily feature here at Hassenpfeffer: The First (Non-Blogging) Sentence I Wrote Today. Today that would be: It seems like every few years there’s another “big thing” in Christmas lighting. Hey, I didn’t say it was an exciting feature…

…than through song? Behold (and betide) the Science Songwriters’ Association!

Dr. Jeff Masters tallies it up.

Utah State University researchers think they may be able to help people eat less by using nanoparticles to trick the body into thinking it’s full.

Ebola kills apes and humans, but it comes and goes. Where does it hang out the rest of the time? Scientists from the International Centre for Medical Research in Franceville, Gabon, think they have tracked it down to three species of fruit bats. Maybe it’s time to update my book!

Ice, possibly, at least in the case of Mars–layers of almost pure ice more than a kilometre thick. Good news for future colonists!

…you read the headline “K-os, Jully Black winners on first of two urban music award nights” and you wonder why they’re giving a Canadian music award to a U.S. political blogger.

“If they can send a man to the moon, why can’t they cure the common cold?” These days, of course, we can’t even send a man to the moon, but never mind that. The main reason there’s no cure for the common cold is that the common cold can be caused by any one of …

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Red wine isn’t just good for the heart, it’s good for the joints, too! Research presented at a recent American College of Rheumatology meeting in San Diego shows that: “…resveratrol, a powerful antioxidant found in certain types of grape, appears to halt the damage done to cartilage – the gristle-like substance that covers the ends …

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