History of Science

The first maps used symbols to characterize single outcrops; later maps introduced shaded areas to display the distribution of specific rock-types, but due the high printing-costs these maps were printed only in black & white, making them hard to read.

Testing of a scrap of papyrus, which bears words suggesting that Jesus had a wife, points to the document's authenticity

April 11, 2014 would have been Dr. Julian Percy’s 115th Birthday and it was a beautiful site to behold – seeing today’s Google Doodle honoring the man and his science.

Some idiot over at National Geographic just wrote a column titled “Science Is Running Out of Things to Discover,” and the commenters are hammering him.

Paleontologist Neil Shubin's 2008 book Your Inner Fish: A Journey into the 3.5-Billion-Year History of the Human Body comes to PBS in a three-part series airing April 9, 16th and 23rd. Steve Mirsky reports

 

Over the past couple of days, I have been reviewing some citations for student projects.  Several of the students submitted citations in which they expressed confusion over what page numbers to include.

Just about 20 years ago, I abandoned a career as a physical chemist to become a philosopher science. For most of those 20 years, people (especially scientists) have been asking me what the heck the philosophy of science is, and whether scientists have any need of it.

Invisible ink was a key method for spy communications throughout history
 

Last week, I was asked by an acquisitions editor at a publishing company to review a 2 page proposal for a new reference work that would be available in print and electronically.

From March 20-23, Atlanta attracted hundreds of people with diverse backgrounds who communicated in the lingua franca of Martin Gardner. Perhaps the last true polymath, Gardner has inspired so many people over the last five decades that they are almost compelled to seek each other out and share their latest discoveries.

New genome sequencing recommendation will enable patients to opt out of testing 

The man who piloted the first submersible to reach the deepest point in the ocean—in 1960—recounts the excitement and tension he experienced diving to 35,846 feet