…is how this story about Madagascarian insect life is headlined, but never mind the science: doesn’t “Moths drink the tears of sleeping birds…” sound like the start to a wonderfully evocative poem by some terribly sensitive poet? Something like: Moths drink the tearsOf sleeping birds;I drink up beersAnd slur my words. *Sniff.* Brings a lump …
Tag: science
Practice makes perfect?
Nope. Turns out: “The main reason you can’t move the same way each and every time, such as swinging a golf club, is that your brain can’t plan the swing the same way each time,” says electrical engineering Assistant Professor Krishna Shenoy, whose research includes study of the neural basis of sensorimotor integration and movement …
Ho, ho, ho and the world ho, ho, hos with you
‘Tis the season to start columns with the phrase ’tis the season…and, if you’re fortunate, to laugh a lot, at parties, at kids, at TV Christmas specials–or just because other people are laughing. Why is laughter contagious? A new study, just published in the Journal of Neuroscience, provides a hint. Researchers at University College London …
Canada refuses to be part of invasion of Mars
You know, I’m probably more philosophically inclined toward the Conservatives than the Liberals, and I’ve been on board with many of the policy decisions the Stephen Harper government has implemented, and at least willing to give them the benefit of the doubt regarding others, but… Are you people nuts? What are you thinking? I’m with …
"Researchers demonstrate direct brain control of humanoid robot"
Not only that, the story references science fiction, so I don’t have to. Here’s how it works: The controlling individual – in this case a graduate student in Rao’s lab – wears a cap dotted with 32 electrodes. The electrodes pick up brain signals from the scalp based on a technique called electroencephalography. The person …
"Male Circumcision Reduces HIV Risk, Study Stopped Early"
Well, at least they didn’t say “cut short.”
"The only living Canadian with no pulse"
Sounds like the set-up to a joke about some ancient Senator, doesn’t it? But it’s really a remarkable story about a 65-year-old-man whose heart has been replaced (*SEE UPDATE*) by an artificial “turbine heart” designed to last for 10 years. As Paul Simon sang (many years ago now), “This is an age of miracles and …
Researching the glue that holds the universe together
Sometimes I think I’m a little too focused in these column on the practical applications of recent scientific research. That’s understandable, since it’s through technology and new ways of doing things that science impacts on our everyday lives. But underpinning all scientific advances is basic research: research conducted, not to enable us to make a …
I used to think spelunking would be fun
That was before I knew that, along with stalactites and stalagmites, one can also find “snottites” in caves. Eeewwww.
Yeah, but cleaning the print heads is murder
What exotic device do you need to cause a single population of adult stem cells to form a variety of types of tissues? What else? An ink-jet printer.
Restore the prairie…
…to something like its natural state, and reap a benefit: turns out the best feed material for creating ethanol isn’t monoculture crops like wheat or corn, but mixtures of native prairie grasses and other flowering plants. Easier to grow, too, obviously.
Organic chicken?
No, thanks. Turns out, …organic poultry is actually less nutritious, contains more fat and tastes worse than its mass-produced equivalent, research has shown. That’s going to make some people squawk.
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