• Science

    The Pros and Cons of Asexual Reproduction

    By Susannah F. Locke Posted on 4.27.2009 7 Comments

    Making babies requires a male and a female, a sperm and an egg, right? Well, the wild world of animals is often more creative than the lot of us humans when it comes to making whoopee. In fact, some animals don't have sex at all, thank you very much. Just this month, bug biologists found the first all-female ant species, Mycocepurus smithii. The queen ant clones herself by making eggs that develop into adult females without fertilization. Some of those females will then become queens themselves. Apparently the species has been sexless for enough generations that the ants might not be able to mate even if they wanted to. Dissections showed that a key female sex part that normally interlocks with a male organ during mating had shrunken to a ghost of its former self.

    5.4.2009 at 07:13pm - Comment by Ampakinewillbemine

    They probably looked at microsatellite DNA. And hopefully there is some mutation. "Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow" - T.S. Elliot

  • Science

    The Science Behind Unseen Phenomena

    By Catherine Schwanke Posted on 3.20.2009 47 Comments

    During the early 1930s, Duke University went against the grain and opened a parapsychology lab. J.B. Rhine, who actually coined the term parapsychology, along with his colleagues sought to uncover the truth about various phenomena using scientific methods. In Unbelievable, author Stacy Horn chronicles the decades of research done in the lab. PopSci.com's Catherine Schwanke recently spoke with Horn by phone to discuss her new book, and the unbelievable. Plus: Got a question for Stacy Horn? Ask away! We've devoted a forum to your queries here. Ms. Horn will answer as many of your questions as possible, also in the forum, during the week of March 22-27. Feeling lucky? Leave a comment (any comment) below. Ten commenters, randomly chosen on March 31st, will win a free copy of Unbelievable

    3.19.2009 at 09:00pm - Comment by Ampakinewillbemine

    Is the data from this Duke lab available to the public? Do they publish results? "Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow" - T.S. Elliot

  • Science

    Is That Your Final Answer?... Really?

    By Joel Barnard Posted on 3.16.2009 19 Comments

    How long does it take the Earth to revolve around the sun? Did the earliest humans and dinosaurs live at the same time? What percentage of the Earth’s surface is covered with water? Think you know the answers? Well, if you’re an American adult you may be frighteningly alone.

    3.16.2009 at 10:48pm - Comment by Ampakinewillbemine

    Ok, I just took the survey and got all the questions right. And most people only missed one or two out of 6. The article makes the results seem worse than they actually are. Some people just are not going to know what percentage of Earth's water is fresh water or to be able to approximate the percent of Earth's surface covered with water to within 10%. I am sure most people know that most of Earth's surface is water and that only a small amount of that is fresh. "Between the conception And the creation Between the emotion And the response Falls the Shadow" - T.S. Elliot

  • Technology

    Today's Bomber Fleet

    By Dawn Stover Posted on 1.9.2009 7 Comments

    3.7.2009 at 04:07pm - Comment by Ampakinewillbemine

    @ejmfoley What we really need is a solid eugenics program complete with well-reasoned population controls, but that ain't going to happen either. See the movie Serenity. People need to have the freedom to blow each other to bits. It's only ethical.

  • Science

    Cramming: Not A Long-Term Study Strategy

    By Laura Allen Posted on 11.20.2008 5 Comments

    I challenge you: Name one fact you still remember from the last test for which you crammed. Anyone? Any fact?

    3.7.2009 at 03:36pm - Comment by Ampakinewillbemine

    Ok, I am not sure if everyone here is bragging, or just not taking hard classes. The end-result is the same. You are all wrong. Maybe I believe this because I do not learn very fast, but people who just pay attention in class do not really care about what they are learning, and they forget almost everything. While I am taking a class with them one year, they beat me mercilessly. But as soon as that knowledge needs to be applied in a new situation a while down the line, I am the go-to man. This study shows that studying in advance is superior to cramming, in an attempt to guide people who do not care towards greater learning. Did they forget that those people do not care? If you want to learn, study hard and study often. If you do not want to, then don't.

  • Science

    Crack, Rats, and T Cells, Oh My!

    By Julia Wallace Posted on 2.3.2009 3 Comments

    Good news, crackheads! You can now smoke, snort, or freebase with impunity while pregnant, and your baby will probably only turn out a little weirder than it would anyway.

    3.7.2009 at 02:37pm - Comment by Ampakinewillbemine

    That is certainly an interesting experiment. Although, I think any number of factors could contribute to sexual orientation. I believe a previous rat experiment, in particular, dealt with the stress pathway, specifically the HPA axis. Rats that were handled more ended up better able to diffuse a stressful situation. Does this mean that homosexual men, assuming this situation is conserved, are less able to handle stressful situations? Are women, for the matter, less able to handle stress (certainly would explain a alot ;).



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