Why so quiet lately? . . . . . Well, nowforthesciencebit.com may have been quiet, but our offices certainly haven’t. We created a life, a miniature male human*. The experiment ended 64 days ago, and we’re happy to say it was successful. However, additional work is underway (every 2-3 hours, day and night), and followup analyses are being performed. Results [...]

  Reference: Prothero D.R, Schoch R. M (2003). Horns, Tusks, and Flippers: The Evolution of Hoofed Mammals. Johns Hopkins University Press.  

  Reference: New Scientist, Vol 2607 p93 (June 2007)  

Last week, Gillian Tett of the Financial Times wrote an opinion piece titled, ‘Why doesn’t America like science?’ mentioning the amazing fact that only three of eight Republican candidates believe in evolution. I will keep political opinions out of this piece, but I have to put some interesting points from this article before you, regarding science, politics and belief (and [...]

  Reference: Science 16 September 2011: Vol. 333 no. 6049 pp. 1590-1591 DOI: 10.1126/science.1212049

  Reference: Bat Conservation Trust    

Forgive the tardy posting of this article. I’ve been swept up in all things autumn, baby, and American. It’s autumn, or more popularly ‘fall’, in Baltimore, and at 7 months pregnant, I’m finding it hard to keep up with the sweeping of incessantly falling red leaves. But writing I can do, so let’s explore some of the science topics that [...]

Anna Bågenholm froze to death under an icy lake in Norway, but she is now working as a radiologist: a competitive medical speciality. Why is she alive, and how is her brain still in such good condition? Your brain is about 5% of your weight, but needs 20% of your blood supply to get enough oxygen to keep those neurons [...]

There’s never a good time for a cardiac arrest, but they always seem to happen at bad times. The TV resuscitation is far from the real thing. Have you ever seen a TV a cardiac arrest on a ward during which two surgeons open up the abdomen while the patient is getting chest compressions? This was the scene unfolding when [...]

Faith Hill’s take on a kiss: It’s centrifugal motion It’s perpetual bliss It’s that pivotal moment It’s unthinkable This kiss, this kiss  Personally I wouldn’t like to feel centrifuged when I’m kissing someone, but that’s poetry (kind of). Let’s answer the question: why do we close our eyes when kissing? Scientists have been trying to figure this out. Yau Che [...]

1. Placenta to the rescue; Nature News “New research in mice shows that when calories are restricted, the placenta steps up to the plate – actively sacrificing itself to protect the fetal brain from damage.” When mice were starved over 24 hours, the placenta ‘fed’ the babies itself.   2. Ancient Moves for Orthopedic Problems; NY Times While I’m not [...]

  Water is a pale blue because of absorption of the red part of the visible spectrum of light, so we see blue. Reference: Braun CL, Smirnov SN (1993). “Why is water blue?” J. Chem. Edu. 70 (8): 612. doi:10.1021/ed070p612. (Full text only for subscribers).