Stop Worrying About Being Clean, Just be
We are obsessed with cleanliness in he developed world and it is likely killing us. The over use of cleaners in the built environment and the use of biochemical cleansers…
biology
New ‘Tipping Point’ Model Could Help Predict Species Extinction
Species may be more adaptive to environmental changes than we thought, but small shifts can still be enough to cause extinctions. Snowshoe hares are facing increasing challenges as snow patterns…
Crazy Cats and Brain Parasites
It reads like a script for a scary movie: an alien parasite invading our brains, taking control of our minds, changing our behaviour silently, secretly; making us do what it…
Gut instincts
A story on Science Daily says research suggests our so-called “free will” may be less free than we ever imagined. We may, instead, be meat puppets ruled by the desires…
Does BC’s Neglect of Poverty Constitute a Eugenics Plan?
There has been a great deal of talk in recent decades about the cycle of poverty, how it’s a vicious circle that children have difficulty getting out of. Human chromosomes…
In Plant Photosynthesis, Scientists See Clues for Improving Solar Energy Cells
Solar cells optimized to suit local light conditions, or made more efficient by using a broader part of the solar spectrum, are among the imaginative applications foreseen from ground-breaking new…
Molly’sBlog 2013-11-17 21:46:00
EVIDENCE ON THE EVOLUTION OF SNAKES Snakes belong to the suborder Serpentes in the order Squamata (the scaled reptiles). There has been a considerable controversy over their evolutionary origin. The…
Molly’sBlog 2013-11-17 21:46:00
EVIDENCE ON THE EVOLUTION OF SNAKES Snakes belong to the suborder Serpentes in the order Squamata (the scaled reptiles). There has been a considerable controversy over their evolutionary origin. The…
Molly’sBlog 2013-11-17 21:46:00
EVIDENCE ON THE EVOLUTION OF SNAKES Snakes belong to the suborder Serpentes in the order Squamata (the scaled reptiles). There has been a considerable controversy over their evolutionary origin. The…
Molly’sBlog 2013-11-17 20:46:00
EVIDENCE ON THE EVOLUTION OF SNAKES Snakes belong to the suborder Serpentes in the order Squamata (the scaled reptiles). There has been a considerable controversy over their evolutionary origin. The…
Infestations, Microbes & Parasites
Staphylococci, Corynebacteria, Actinobacteria, Clostridiales, and Bacilli. They’re the most common, but they’re not the only ones. Bacteria. Microbes. Yes, even parasites. Living in your belly button. And on your skin.…
New studies show generosity and cooperation are both natural and intelligent
A new study shows a mathematical proof that generosity leads to evolutionary success. Biologists offer a mathematically based explanation for why cooperation and generosity have evolved in nature “Ever since…
Love, sympathy and mutual aid are natural – we have to be taught to be greedy little narcissists
During a California wildfire rescue workers ran out of crates to place rescued animals, forcing them to put a fawn and a bobcat kitten in an office together. When they…
Paging Dr. Freud…
Logged on to desktop-Facebook recently. Was greeted by these ads. They were… disturbing. I don’t even want to know what photos they used for the female or gay audience! Perhaps…
Software updates are flu shots
A nice metaphor for software updates. Flu shots attempt to immunize people from the influenza virus, by exposing their immune systems to small doses of weakened or dead virus molecules.…
The surveillance state is an autoimmune disorder
Autoimmune disorders (Wikipedia prefers autoimmune diseases) occur when the body’s defenses — antibodies — no longer distinguish between healthy tissue and harmful cells. Instead of focusing on the dangerous antigens,…
The colonization of land by life pushed back in time
A recent story on Science Daily made me stop and read with fascination. It’s about the discovery of fossils that showed life colonized land more than two billion years ago.…
Understanding The Mechanics of Human Nature
In regards to defining who we are, for all the importance we place on immaterial feelings, it is ironic that what is thought to make us human is that what…
Mitt’s bad day (wasn’t nearly as bad as the dinosaurs’)
As expected by everyone outside the American right-wing echo chamber, Obama handily defeated Romney in the US election. In the weeks leading up to the election, pollster Nate Silver (who…
The biology of phishing
Some nefarious group recently made a phishing attempt against me, trying to lure me into providing bank account information in response to an Official Looking email. Presumably, the combination of…