The Blog
Millipede Catalyst
[caption id="attachment_3873" align="alignleft" width="300"] Chamberlinius hualienensis, courtesy of Dr. Yasuhisa Asano[/caption] Swarms of this cyanide-secreting millipede have entered houses, writhed on railway tracks causing delays, and, in short, made themselves a nuisance in Japan, their host country. But Chamberlinius hualienensis, the arthropod native of Taiwan...
Read MoreA rubella-based murder mystery
[caption id="attachment_3801" align="alignleft" width="300"] Gene Tierney -- Actress, Pin-up Girl[/caption] In 1943, while pregnant with her first child, Hollywood actress Gene Tierney came down with German measles (rubella), contracted during her solo appearance at the now-defunct Hollywood Canteen. (It was very early in the pregnancy...
Read MoreThe Naming of Exoplanets
Last September when I was in Oslo, I sat next to Thierry Montmerle at the banquet hosted by the Norwegian Science Academy. He was the general secretary of the International Astronomical Union (IAU) which had just announced the NameExoWorlds contest to crowd-source names for 20...
Read MoreSea Monkeys Churning Waterbodies
When I was a child, I saw these ads for sea monkeys in comic books. I would've liked to have sea monkeys as pets back then. A "bowlful of happiness," that was also easy to care for? What's not to like? There are monkeys in...
Read MorePatna to Poughkeepsie
A while ago, I emailed the writer Amitava Kumar of Patna who teaches literature at Vassar College in Poughkeepsie. When I email a writer, it is because: I like their work, their writing has touched me in some way, and I want to record my...
Read MoreCurtailed Careers of Women in China
Women enter the workforce the same time as men but they typically take some time off during their child-bearing years. Instead of being allowed to stay on longer to compensate, they have to step down sooner in China. Women scientists retire at 55, while men...
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