During World War I, far away from the lines of battle, the UK was faced with a different crisis. As thousands of khaki-clad “Tommies” shipped off to the front, the British economy teetered on the cusp of grinding to a halt. With the men gone, the task of keeping the country’s lights on fell to women. British women…
After long years of research, your efforts have paid off: the archaeological site you’re digging in has turned up a stash of rare, striking bones, no doubt the beginning of a groundbreaking discovery. Only then, you find the KFC wrapper, revealing that this “ancient burial ground” is just the leftovers of someone’s…
We’re only a few days into the Trump era and it’s becoming painfully clear that the new president is mobilizing for a war on science. This situation is eerily reminiscent of attempts to suppress science in Canada during Stephen Harper’s tenure as Prime Minister, from 2006 to 2015. Here’s what Canadians say American…
On Monday, 37 top scientists signed a letter to President-elect Donald Trump imploring him to keep the Iran nuclear deal intact. The pact, said the group—which includes Nobel laureates, various nuclear experts, and the president of the Federation of American Scientists—is a “critical U.S. strategic asset.”
Dozens of scientists have signed a letter to President-elect Donald Trump asking him to honor the Iran Nuclear deal, saying it’s the country’s best chance at preventing Tehran from developing the bomb.
Great works of science fiction can help us become more aware of real science, and more curious about the wonders of the cosmos. But for some people, they can actually help inspire a career in the sciences. The Conversation asked scientists to name their favorite science-fiction stories, and the results are inspiring.…
It’s two in the morning, you’re in a dive bar, and shit, as they say, is about to go down. You needn’t turn to action heroes to find a group that will help you take out the trash. The sciences offer a few heavy hitters. Here are ten scientists you’d want with you in a fight.
When most of us imagine scientists, we picture white lab coats, sparkling work benches, and tidy, controlled experiments. We do not tend to imagine accidentally exchanging saliva with dead animals or gluing oneself to a large carnivore.
The internets are having fun destroying biochemist Tim Hunt’s comments about the “trouble with girls” in laboratories. Using the hashtag #distractinglysexy, people are posting ironic pictures of famed female scientists, while working scientists are taking selfies so hot it’s like they’re saturated with thermal energy.
Neurologist and science popularizer Oliver Sacks — author of such books as Awakenings and The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat — has written a poignant and touching op-ed in the The New York Times to reflect on the recent news that he's dying of cancer.
J.J. Abrams' production company Bad Robot is secretly working away on a Thomas Edison biopic. But will it show him electrocuting an elephant?
Scientists at Swiss fruit company Lubera have created a genetically modified apple that fizzes in your mouth. This new variety, called Paradis Sparkling, has big cells in the flesh that release effervescent juices when you bite into them.
Human girls can be scientist of all stripes, and they should have toys that encourage them to do so. That's why it's awesome that Lego ideas just greenlit three new female Lego scientist minifigs—an astronomer, a paleontologist, and a chemist—for an August 2014 release. Yay!
How many things cause cancer according to science studies? Probably the same amount of things that can make you magically healthy. What is good for you is bad for you is good for you, depending on the day and which scientific study came out recently. There are so many of those studies and they all prove and disprove…
Apparently It's Okay To Be Smart thinks it's okay to be sexist. The science-themed YouTube show is taking a ton of flak after releasing a video portraying Albert Einstein as a lecherous old man who can't keep his hands off Marie Curie during Thanksgiving dinner.
Neuroscientists, along with pretty much everyone else, have long suspected that Albert Einstein's brain was somehow unique. A new study now affirms these suspicions, showing that his genius may have arisen from the way the hemispheres of his brain were so freakishly well connected.
Back in 1952, mathematician and computer scientist Alan Turing was convicted for gross indecency — the standard criminal charge for homosexuality. After his chemical castration, he killed himself by eating an apple laced with cyanide. Now, over 60 years later, he's set to be pardoned.
We've all heard stories about killers in the back seat and puppies that turn out to be rats, but hapless heroines aren't the only ones who spawn urban legends. There are a number of urban legends about famous scientists. Some are funny, some are mere inaccuracies, and some are about committing murder by accident.
Brian Greene (author of The Elegant Universe) just posted this photo on his Facebook wall with the following description:
Recently Neil deGrasse Tyson helped Superman find his home planet, Krypton. Seeing a superhero team up with a superscientist was great, but it got us thinking - what other scientists would make a good sidekick? To many of us, scientists are already superheroes, so pairing them up with comic superheroes isn't combining…
