Science Book Wins a Pulitzer Prize
I am always thrilled when a science themed book wins the General Non-Fiction Pulitzer Prize. Some of my favorites from previous years include the following: 2011 Siddhartha Mukherjee “The Emperor of All Maladies: A Biography of Cancer” 1998 Jared Diamond “Guns, Germs and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies” 1995 Jonathan Weiner “The Beak Of [...]
Offshore Drilling Exhibit Opens at George Bush Presidential Library
The George H.W. Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University has a new exhibit that tells the story of offshore drilling and the 41st President’s previous life as an oilman.
How to Solve Global Warming: It's the Energy Supply
Carbon storage has to expand rapidly, or coal burning has to cease, if the world is to avoid dangerous climate change
How Colors Revolutionized Geological Mapmaking
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.
"Gospel of Jesus's Wife" Shown to Be Authentic in Tests
Testing of a scrap of papyrus, which bears words suggesting that Jesus had a wife, points to the document's authenticity
Google Doodle Honors Chemist Dr. Percy Julian
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.
Does Growing Time Lag for Nobels Portend End of Fundamental Discoveries in Physics?
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.
Your Inner Fish Swims onto the Small Screen
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
Frustration of the day: unclear article numbers
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.
What is philosophy of science (and should scientists care)?
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 War: How Chemists Revealed Germany’s Secret WW I Writing [Excerpt]
Invisible ink was a key method for spy communications throughout history
Why I don’t buy print reference books
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.