“Bird brain” might not be the worst insult you can hurl at someone. It turns out birds notice and can respond to the human gaze. Hand-raised jackdaws (relatives of crows, ravens and jays) were found in a study to avoid food if an unfamiliar person was looking at it, thought to be a response to [...]
Surely I’m not alone in those moments when the burger is a little too pink, and I’m thinking: this could be the one. This could be the burger that’s harboring those mysterious little prions, and they’ll worm their way into my brain and start eating. I’ll forget things, insignificant, random things at first, as the [...]
I saw a few great April Fool’s jokes today, but this one at NASA Watch really got the prize: “Pluto is Now Just a Fairly Large Rock” With perfect mock-serious delivery, blog author Keith Cowing reported it like straight news — given the growing number of solar system bodies in Pluto’s neighborhood, the beleaguered little [...]
Termite kings are fine for fathering the workers, but when it comes to producing daughters, the queen‘s got it under control, thanks … That’s the new finding from researchers in Raleigh, North Carolina and Japan, embellished with my romantic cynicism. Scientifically speaking, here are the goods: the researchers have shown for the first time that it is possible [...]
Ever see pictures of the other planets and fight the ridiculous urge to pack a picnic, or don the hiking boots for a little interplanetary adventure? I do. With all the images now coming back from Mars, for example — and the fact that the surface boasts as many named features as some of our [...]
