The Crocodile and the Human Heart
In “Hot-blooded crocodiles?” (Tuesday, April 19, 2005), Mr PZ Myers writes: Crocodiles are beasts with an odd mix of features: they are ectothermic (meaning that …
Biology
Birds, Brains, and Brahms
Some birds can move/”dance” to music, like the cockatoo Snowball, who can “dance” to Stevie Nicks. Birds seem to have some neurological precursor to music …
Monkeys & Music
In “Play that monkey music: Tunes inspired by tamarin calls seem to alter the primates’ emotions” (Science News, Tuesday, September 1, 2009), Jenny Lauren Lee …
The Fastest Muscles Alive
In “The Evolution Of Super-Fast Muscles” (Scientific Blogging, July 8, 2008, 12:00 AM), they write: [Coen] Elemans, the study’s first author, now is a postdoctoral …
The Integration of Biology With Chemistry and Physics: Anecdote 2
Isaac Asimov tells us another fascinating, intriguing scientific anecdote in A Short History of Biology: If a protein solution is placed in an electric field, …
The Integration of Biology With Chemistry and Physics: An Anecdote
Isaac Asimov writes, in A Short History of Biology: Meanwhile, those steps in the breakdown of glycogen that lay beyond lactic acid and that did …
Vitamin D & Atherosclerosis
In “Cholesterol Buildup in Diabetes Patients Deficient in Vitamin D,” ElementsForHealth.com writes: Researchers believe they have found out why low levels of vitamin D are …
Life in Space
In “Building block of life found on comet” (Tue Aug 18, 2009, 9:37am EDT), Steve Gorman writes: LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The amino acid glycine, …
The Function of the Appendix
In “The Appendix: Useful and in Fact Promising,” (LiveScience; posted: 24 August 2009 07:05 am ET) Charles Q. Choi writes: Parker and his colleagues recently …
Fats, Rats, and People
In “High-Fat Diets Are Bad For You? I Smell A Rat” (“Fat Head” Blog, August 20, 2009), Tom Naughton writes about a recent pseudo-scientific study: …