Archive for the ‘Blog’ Category
Posted on November 28th 2011 in Blog with no comments
Not many animals could legitimately claim to have a super power. But two little sea creatures, living deep in the dark blue ocean, have an ability many of us have fantasised about possessing – they can turn invisible at will. The heroes of this story are two cephalopods – an octopus called Japetella heathi and a cuttlefish called Onychoteuthis banksii – henceforth known as the supersquid. You can see their near-magical talents in the video below: Why should the supersquid need such an awesome power? Sarah Zylinski from Duke University, North Carolina tested the two squid in conditions replicating their…
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Posted on November 27th 2011 in Blog with 7 comments
My brow begins to sweat. Nervous twitches creep down my back and along my arms. I begin to squirm uncontrollably. My tongue, once capable of creating eloquent and loquacious conversation, now lolls sluggishly in my mouth, arousing only to produce the most embarrassing of squawks . And my brain – supposedly the most complex machine ever to appear in the universe – my brain goes completely numb. Why? Because a pretty girl has just walked by, and I am a man. (Technically.) While men mostly grow out of this awkward pubescent way of interacting with women – able to charm…
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Posted on November 26th 2011 in Blog with 1 comment
One of the greatest insecurities many men have is that their lady might not be as pleased in the bedroom as she actually seems. In essence – she might be faking it. It is the women, however, who are the insecure ones , as new research shows faked orgasms are much more likely to occur when the women is afraid her partner might leave her. Over 50% of women report having faked an orgasm at least once in their life, usually to satisfy their partner. Why should a pretend orgasm be pleasing for the man? The current belief about the…
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Posted on November 14th 2011 in Blog with no comments
As a communicator of science, I have tried to evangelise the ‘good news’ of science whereever I could. That’s why I was pleased to hear of a new online science magazine called Guru, ”a regular magazine that mixes the entertainment of lifestyle writing with the authoritativeness of a science periodical.” I have written for them a number of times now, and am pleased to announce I have been elevated to the status of ‘Evolution Guru’. You can now expect regular articles from me, all naturally selected to have interesting insights into the world of evolution. A short (embarrasing) interview with me is now on…
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Posted on November 7th 2011 in Blog with no comments
Yes, I know its only got 4 legs, but you can’t say it doesn’t look a little bit spidery. Built by scientists from the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology, this quadruped robot scans and analyses its immediate surroundings. Like a daredevil rockclimber, each surface is scrutinised for the potential to be the next foot or handhold. While one wrong move could mean certain death for a climber 1000ft up, the robot’s actions are a little less hardcore. In the video above, you can see it traversing a not-so-dangerous world full of stacks of paper. By tilting its body, and reaching…
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Posted on November 4th 2011 in Blog with 1 comment
Animal behaviours can sometimes jump out at you by their similarity to the kinds of things humans do. Most recently, I came across this video of golden orb-web spiders. Dominating the picture is a large speckled black and white female, confidently waiting for her next unsuspecting meal to arrive. What might not be so obvious is the weedy orange male, running scurrilously on her back. Not exactly a very human-like behaviour, I hear you say. Well, I answer back, you don’t know what he’s doing there. What he is doing, is wrapping her body in the finest silks his…
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Posted on September 1st 2011 in Blog with no comments
Pigeons are smarter than most mathematicians. Well, they are if you look at one specific mathematical conundrum called the Monty Hall Problem. The name comes from the host of an American quiz show, who, at the end of each show, offered a contestant the chance to win a prize. The prize (a new car) was hidden behind one of three doors; behind the other doors lay goats. The contestant first picked one of the doors. Monty, would then proceed to open one of the remaining doors revealing a goat. The contestant then gets the chance to either keep the door they’ve…
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Posted on August 25th 2011 in Blog with no comments
Just a little fact for you that I learnt today. Drinking absolutely pure water can kill you. All the water we normally drink – from taps, from bottles, from the garden hose – contains impurities which affect a property of water called tonicity. This is the ability of a solution to draw or repel water from ajacent solutions when separated by a membrane. Solutions that are hypertonic gain water, while hypotonic solutions lose water. Drinking water, which we usually think of as pure, really contains a whole mess of salts and sugars which make it slightly hypertonic. They also give water its…
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Posted on August 17th 2011 in Blog with 1 comment
Sound, as you probably know, is the result of pressure waves travelling through the air. As the pressure wave enters your ear, it causes the tympanic membrane to vibrate. This, simultaneously, causes your inner ear bones to dance around like a teenager at a rock concert. In turn, this moshing vibrates tiny hairs in your cochlea, creating electrical signals which pass to the brain. This convoluted, dancing procession of movement allows you to hear. The sounds that cause this complicated conga line are, unfortunately, invisible. The beautiful sequence of high and low pressure movements of air molecules that emanates from…
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Posted on August 15th 2011 in Blog with no comments
The birth of a new life, for most of us, is a wonderful thing. For the newborn, it is the first glimpse of our bright, brave new world. What adventures have we set in store? What beauty will we see? A multitude of possibilities are ahead. For a baby giraffe, however, birth must be an incredibly harrowing time. For more than a year, the little giraffe would have been peacefully gestating, growing to an impressive 1.8 meters tall. On the day of its birth, however, it probably didn’t expect to plummet six whole feet (the length of its mothers legs)…
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