Missile defenses defeat ‘the science’ and ‘the experts’
If someone says “Trust the science!” these days, it’s usually an effort to short-circuit debate over weighty policy issues. “Trust the science” has been deployed in the past five years to prevent debate over COVID school closures and mask mandates, over electric-car subsidies, and over sex changes for boys and girls. For my entire time […]
OJ Simpson’s brain being donated for science a ‘hard no,’ estate executor says
O.J. Simpson’s brain will not be donated for scientific efforts to study it for signs of CTE, according to the executor of his estate. CTE, or chronic traumatic encephalopathy, is a brain disorder often caused by repeated head injuries. The disorder has been found in boxers and football players; Simpson was well-known for playing college football and then […]
COVID subcommittee chair asks top science journal editors to testify on relationship with federal government
Rep. Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio), chairman of the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, sent a letter Tuesday to the editors of three major scientific journals, warning that their publications and the federal government asked to testify regarding their relationship. Wenstrup wrote to the editors-in-chief of the journals The Lancet, Science, and Nature, requesting them […]
‘Turning science fiction into reality’
This is not the act of a magician. British startup Invisibility Shield Co. says it has developed a 6-foot-tall “megashield” and is selling it for $828. The company says it can make multiple people invisible, just like something out of the Harry Potter movies. The shields use a super-large, precision-engineered lens array that forms the […]
Here’s the science behind the vernal equinox
Spring officially begins in the Northern Hemisphere on the vernal equinox on March 19, when the entire world experiences equal amounts of day and darkness. For ease of record, meteorologists and climatologists consider March 1st to be the first day of spring, but astronomically speaking, the Earth’s equator aligns directly with the sun at the […]
Credible science or false claims: calls for more regulation of beauty products | Beauty
JEnnifer Aniston first told us, “There’s a bit of science in there…concentrates,” when she was selling her shampoo in the late 1990s. But with everything from medical-grade serums to gut-boosting yogurt hitting the shelves, “bits of science” are truly coming into their own. But experts warn that more regulation is needed in the beauty and […]
Can you solve it? The word game at the cutting edge of computer science | Mathematics
Today’s puzzle reveals one of the blockbusters of theoretical computer science. Experts in the field are appalled. We arrive at the result ( PCP theorem) later. But let’s try the challenge first! It’s a word puzzle. Each crossword style clue points to a vertical column. The answer to each clue is his 3 letter word […]
âJoyful madnessâ: ANU scientist wins global prize for âdancing his PhDâ about kangaroos | Science
When former Canberra scientist Dr Welliton Menario Costa found out he had won the global Dance Your Doctorate competition for his quirky interpretation of kangaroo behavior, he said, “I won Eurovision.” I felt like that,” he said. His four-minute video, titled Kangaroo Time, features drag queens, twerkers, ballerinas, classical Indian dancers and a host of […]
Tennessee elementary students, teacher, hospitalized after science experiment involving dry ice
A science experiment using dry ice at a Gallatin, Tennessee, elementary school sent 18 students and a teacher to the hospital Friday morning, district officials said. Sumner County Schools Superintendent Dr. Scott Langford posted a video on social media Friday saying an outside student activity group met with third graders at Vena Stewart Elementary School […]
Go with your gut: the science and psychology behind our sense of intuition | Psychology
○On a rainy night in London, a young woman walks toward the entrance of a side street, smiling to herself as she recalls the night she spent with a friend she had just broken up with at the station. She was about to walk down a dimly lit shortcut back to her lodgings when she […]