August 5 – 9 Bad news this week: Tom and Erika left us. Erik asked a question we might hear a lot of in the coming years: when is it time to give up on an endangered species? Helen explained why singing in a choir is good for you. Jessa saw surprising parallels in the […]
22 – 26 July The “since-you-live-in-Mexico-you’ll-probably-be-dead-tomorrow attitude” is the most frustrating thing about being a Mexican expat, says Erik. The smoky volcanoes? Not so much. Ann and Abstruse Goose showed us the grave harm that befalls physicists who try too hard to describe reality. Jessa explored the intriguing new science of awe, and how you […]
8 – 12 July This week, Michelle remembered the man who demystified the force running through all of our lives, the source of our power — and very possibly our undoing. “Contagious gasping, spilled drinks, the gripping of tables” — Jessa gave a first hand account of a genetically superior startle reflex. Roberta interviewed the […]
July 1 – 5 This week, Erik traveled to Bolivia in search of water that’s more acidic than battery acid. He succeeds: “Opening my eyes I see that it looks like an orange sort of runny syrup and feels like it’s full of lead.” DNA “rots” in the heat, which is why ancient genomes are […]
June 24 – 28 In light of all that happened this week, Erik looked at what the animal kingdom teaches us about being gay, and wonders why we insist on looking to the animal kingdom for lessons at all. So that mermaids show was a hoax, but Roberta had some good news about real mermaids. […]
Half a lifetime bent over peering into people’s mouths had left Martha Podleschak with spine problems. One of the job requirements for a dentist is a constant, slightly sideways forward tilt. According to her x-ray technician, Podleschak’s particular leftward lean had compressed the discs between her vertebrae, causing a pattern of extreme wear on the […]
June 17 – 21 “I think girls very much do want to be JASONs and they want to be in DARPA, they just don’t always know it, so we need to get them to read about it.” This week, Ann asked defense journalism powerhouse Sharon Weinberger to add her two cents to the ongoing LWON […]
June 10 – 14 This week, LWON got a new PoLWON! (not pictured at left) Her name is Roberta Kwok and you may remember her from her intriguing guest post about how investigators solved a grisly and tragic car crash. Roberta kicked the doors down with with an amazing primer on the history of the […]