What on Earth is Trump doing to Ukraine?

  It looks like classic Donald Trump negotiating strategy: hardball Realpolitik

Science, bad statistics, and mismatched socks

Scientists warn not to put periods in text messages. Also, how to pick up socks in a drawer to get a matched pair

Microplastics in the brain are likely laboratory contamination

There's good evidence it's not a health crisis at all, just an artifact of sample processing

Human brains contain a spoonful of microplastics, scientists say

  From the Journal of Preposterous Results . . . No wait, it's Nat. Med.

Computer fever dreams

  Computer predictions about global warming are risking the wrath of the God of Modus Tollens

Make NIH-funded research great again (updated)

NIH study sections are just the tip of the iceberg. We must overhaul the reward system in science

Why climate models are not science, v2

Many people don't realize that it's impossible even in principle for a model to prove that something exists

Open science: any progress yet?

Science need not go full metal open science, but it must become more open in order to survive

Do humans have immortal souls?

What is a soul, anyway, and how long do they last? A new book on Aquinas speculates that humans have them

Nitrites are great again

Bovaer cures global warming, nitrite is safe, air pollution causes autism, glyphosate causes Alzheimer's. Are any of these things remotely true?

The Bad Seed 2018: movie review

A remake of an old movie from the 1950s has some amazing acting but raises many scientific questions

Fall: The worst movie ever made (Updated)

If you're going to get stuck on a 2000 foot microwave relay tower, at least bring some microwavable dinners

What are your odds of getting Alzheimer's disease?

Latest research shows that the risk of late-onset Alzheimer's disease is 75% genetic

Stop picking on the cows

Global warmers want to stop cows from producing methane by eliminating cows. But it is anaerobic bacteria that are to blame

Time and space don't exist, scientists say

Why space is probably quantized and elementary particles may have incredibly complex structure

What does the Y chromosome do?

Is it really possible for a person to change sex? Do other animals have Y chromosomes?

Tutorial on image densitometry in Imal

  How to get scientifically accurate data from Western blots

Metaphysics of causal sets

A model for quantum gravity is remarkably similar to neural networks—and may resolve the multiverse question

Is string theory background independent?

  Maybe, maybe not. But we can change it if you insist. Who wants ta know?

Space is quantum entanglement

Many physicists now say that spacetime is quantum entanglement. Does that mean it's a neural network?

Could the universe be eternal after all?

  String theory may overthrow everything we believe about the Big Bang

Poison ivy

How to identify it, how it affects the immune system, why only humans are affected, and how it differs from giant hogweed

Build an infrared fluorescent Western blot imaging system

You can build a high quality fluorescent infrared imaging system for the lab. But it's not as easy as it looks

How to Photograph a Solar Eclipse

Without burning up your camera sensor, blinding yourself, and setting your dog on fire.

How to photograph Mars and other planets

  It's not too late to get your azz to Mazz.

Are those inexpensive USB software-defined radios any good?

They're getting cheaper and more powerful than ever. Just our luck now that radio is almost obsolete

Photographing Radioactivity with a Webcam

You can use a webcam to photograph radioactivity.

Ultraviolet photography

  The ultraviolet world is gloomy ... and pink.

Infrared photography

It's not difficult to modify a digital SLR camera to take pictures in the near-infrared.

Astrophotography Without a Telescope

You don't need a lot of equipment to take spectacular pictures of the stars.

Fireflies

Firefly biology and tips on photographing fireflies. Movie of fireflies flashing in synchrony.

Build an Ultraviolet Zoom Lens, Part 1: Design

Design and plans for a fused-silica zoom lens.

High-resolution compact spectrograph, Part 1

Design and plans for a compact spectrograph suitable for astronomy.

Astrophotographs

  A collection of astrophotographs.

The sound of freedom

  Technological sounds are drowning out the quiet music of nature.

Argumentation in a post-logical world

We must become more analytical in detecting and refuting hidden assumptions in the debate.

Atheism, Ducks and Bananas

Atheists and religious people both need to work on their sense of humor.

Eight myths about libertarianism

  Libertarianism is not what many people think.

The inability of our radar tracking systems to detect Santa's sleigh is no accident

Why your Earth stores are still doomed

It's not just the coronavirus panic. Your Earth store clerks are making things tough for us Martians again

The Blogger's Code of Snark

Some rules handed down to me by my old Grandma Blogger, who knitted them into a seven-foot-long tea cosy.

Fundamentals of Reindeer Aerodynamics

How did reindeer evolve the ability to fly?