We just observed Super Bowl Sunday, the culmination of the American football season. There are downsides to having so much of our attention and our culture revolve around the sport. On the plus side, it provides common ground for metaphors. One of the quirks of football is the possibility of offsetting penalties. I'm not sure if we saw them in this Super Bowl; I didn't notice any, but the slow-starting game lost my attention for a while. But if you've watched at least a few football games, you've likely come across … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Multidimensional Justice
Science Corner: Don’t Wanna, Can’t Make Me
After several days at work prodding myself to complete, well let's call it a non-preferred task, and given everything else going on in the world, I was struggling to find a science news story I wanted to write about. An astronomical anomaly? Pretty pictures, as always, but the possible explanations didn't really stir the imagination. Commenting on the latest pronouncements from Health & Human Services? I can only go that well so many times (but please talk to your physician before making medical decisions or diet … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Don’t Wanna, Can’t Make Me
Science Corner: Help from a Little Friend
'Tis the season to rehearse the arrival of a small, unexpected gift. So let's talk about the latest microbe discovery: Solarion arienae. S. arienae is a single-celled eukaryote that was found living in sediment of the Adriatic Sea off the coast of Croatia. It is so named by Valt et al because it has a form which is reminiscent of the sun, a round central body with many protrusions in every direction that it uses for catching bacteria to eat. It turns out to be a distant relative of, well, nearly every other living … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Help from a Little Friend
Science Corner: Something to Celebrate
On Saturday, I had the opportunity to participate in (I believe) a first-of-its-kind event in Pittsburgh: Celebrating Science in the Steel City. Over 40 groups of scientists set up demonstrations and experiments for the general public to come and see, free of charge. The goal was simply to give people an opportunity to meet scientists who live and work in their community. If folks came away from the event discovering that a lot more science than they realized happens right here in their hometown, even better. And if … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Something to Celebrate
Science Corner: Climbing the Fruit Tree of Science
In other universe, the biggest science story of the past month would be the discovery of yet another hint at the possibility of life on Mars. Yes, we've been down that road (and parallel paths for other celestial bodies) before, without definitive results. And this latest find is still far from first contact; we have observed chemical patterns that are associated with life on Earth, but which technically could result from abiotic processes as well. It's another bread crumb, an encouraging sign that we should keep … [Read more...] about Science Corner: Climbing the Fruit Tree of Science