The Scopes Monkey Trial – new insights (for me)

I recently came across a site that contains rather a lot of details about the famous Scopes Monkey Trial that took place in 1925. The site is a legal one and contains all the details of the scopes trail itself and also insights into what happened and why it happened, stuff I quite frankly never … Read more

Virtual Zooarchaeology of the Arctic being created by Fairbanks university

While on the road in Alaska one little project I tripped over was the creation of a virtual zoo of bones or Virtual Zooarchaeology as they called it. Herb Maschner and a team of researchers are busy creating an online database of bones from every known Arctic bird, mammal and fish. So when something interesting is found, … Read more

Daft Claim: vi-aqua is a Device that makes water wetter and increases the output of vegetables and fruits by up to 30 per cent

The Irish Independent ran a story a couple of days ago that makes some rather outrageous claims … A GROUNDBREAKING new Irish technology which could be the greatest breakthrough in agriculture since the plough is set to change the face of modern farming forever. It is talking about a product called Vi-Aqua that has been … Read more

The Brain Drain in Spain: Open letter to the Spanish prime minister reveals a rather dire climate for researchers

Over at Pharyngula, PZ writes about the brain drain and how bad things are in the US … The brain drain is beginning. Nearly 20% of American scientists would like to get out of this country. New data compiled by a coalition of top scientific and medical research groups show that a large majority of scientists … Read more

On the road to Alaska: Why are the forests in British Columbia dying?

As I drive north, one big surprise has been the sight of dead trees … not just the odd one or two, but entire forests, mile after mile after mile … millions. Why … what is going on here? Two words sum it up … “Climate change” … or to be more precise, “spruce beetles”. … Read more

Antibiotics … the shelf is empty

Nature reports a rather scary story. It is an item of news that many have known was coming … bacteria have now become resistant to the powerful carbapenem antibiotics — one of the last drugs left on the shelf. The article starts with a rather stark warning … …it was worrying to hear Thomas Frieden and … Read more