A field guide to pointless medical research
The ‘race for a cure’ is in many ways a fantasy. If only. Medical research is at best a precarious, plodding mountain climb with many contestants taking dead-end routes. At […]
Monthly Archives: February 2014
Relativity in pop culture: ‘Men of Science More or Less Agog’
This vintage science writing makes me wonder how quaint – or even laughable – contemporary science journalism will look 100 years from now. A total solar eclipse on May 29, 1919 […]
The bouldering addiction test
[With apologies to Dr. Kimberly Young, developer of the IAT, a genuine clinical questionnaire for assessing Internet addiction.] Conceptually, the diagnosis is a compulsive-impulsive spectrum disorder that involves the following […]
Pison eu, Colon grossum!
“No zoologist should propose a name that, to his knowledge, gives offense on any grounds.” – The International Commission on Zoological Nomenclature • • • If you discovered a delicate, […]
Old blue eyes: What ancient DNA reveals about a 7,000-year-old hunter-gatherer
This is the skeleton of the 7,000-year-old hunter-gatherer whose genome was recently sequenced, revealing that he had dark skin like his African ancestors, but blue eyes that would become widespread […]
Uggstep (rhymes with dubstep) & other portmanteaus
“Generally portmanteaus with the greatest sticking power seem to be those which fill an existing gap in our lexicon. They describe experiences for which we lack words.” – OxfordWords blog […]
Food deserts: Just one facet of an obesogenic world
[Re-posting my latest commentary on social determinants for Covering Health, the blog of the Association of Health Care Journalists] ••• It seems pretty far-fetched that bringing a supermarket to a disadvantaged […]
