Why it’s not so simple to create designer babies
“The Myth of Genetic Improvement”, an article in the Council for Responsible Genetics’ GeneWatch magazine by Barry Starr, who ran the Stanford at the Tech science outreach program that I volunteered at and really enjoyed. Nice article, talking about an issue that I think will become more and more relevant as we decipher the functions […]
Photographed: Ratchet-Like Cell Mechanism that Pulls Wounds Shut | Popular Science
Photographed: Ratchet-Like Cell Mechanism that Pulls Wounds Shut | Popular Science. A short piece I did for Popular Science magazine’s Megapixels section, which features a two-page spread photograph. The web version is available at PopSci.com at the link above. They’re usually pretty stunning, and I like this fluorescent image of dorsal closure in a fruit […]
A few links to other blogs: NCBI ROFL and Pwned Experiments
A couple of new sites that I’ve found entertaining: NCBI ROFL, which posts real scientific studies that are funny, often inadvertently. The creators of that site (which will soon move to Discover magazine‘s site) recently launched Pwned Experiments, a collection of funny failed experiments. It’s only just getting started, but I think it hits home […]
Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the pentatonic scale
[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/5732745[/vimeo] Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale from World Science Festival. Bobby McFerrin demonstrates the power of the pentatonic scale, using audience participation, at the event “Notes & Neurons: In Search of the Common Chorus”, from the 2009 World Science Festival, June 12, 2009. Worth watching, just to see how the audience […]
FYI: Why Don’t Loud Snorers Wake Themselves Up? | Popular Science
FYI: Why Don’t Loud Snorers Wake Themselves Up? | Popular Science. I wrote a couple of articles for Popular Science’s FYI section, including the one above. In the section, experts answer somewhat unusual questions, which is always kind of fun when you’re interviewing them. 🙂 Anyway, this one was in the December print issue, and […]
Wellcome Awards: The Most Stunning Medical Images of 2009 | Popular Science
Wellcome Awards: The Most Stunning Medical Images of 2009 | Popular Science. Another gallery that I made for PopSci.com, with the best medical images from this year’s Wellcome Awards. A stunning collection of images which features, among other things, aspirin, cancer cells, skin, bone, and intestine, that all look unexpectedly artistic. Follow the link to […]
Gallery: This Years Most Amazing Microscopic Photography | Popular Science
Gallery: This Years Most Amazing Microscopic Photography | Popular Science. A gallery of beautiful pictures from the latest edition of Nikon’s Small World photography competition, which showcases the best photographs taken through microscopes. Amina, another intern, and I created the gallery and did the write-ups, was fun seeing all the images in beautiful high-res…Again, the […]
A Squirt of Stem Cell Gel Heals Brain Injuries | Popular Science
A Squirt of Stem Cell Gel Heals Brain Injuries | Popular Science. Not as cool as swarms of insect-robots, but likely to be a lot more useful sooner. The scientists developed a gel that can be loaded with chemicals and stem cells, and seems to help brain injuries heal. Follow the title link for the […]
Begley: Amazing Tool Use by Crows in New Video | Newsweek Voices – Sharon Begley | Newsweek.com
Begley: Amazing Tool Use by Crows in New Video | Newsweek Voices – Sharon Begley | Newsweek.com. A fascinating look at non-human intelligence – apparently crows/rooks are really smart! The videos are well worth a watch, and are from two different studies. One study shows crows using tools to get other tools (to eventually get […]
Of mice and medicine: If a treatment works on rodents, will it cure us? | Alok Jha | Life and style | The Guardian
Of mice and medicine: If a treatment works on rodents, will it cure us? | Alok Jha | Life and style | The Guardian . Understanding some of the difficulties in applying research done in mice (the usual human-substitute for most laboratory research) directly to humans.