Just as altruism isn’t unique to humans, neither is taking advantage of another’s altruism. In any given group dynamic, there will be those who would try to game the system to their advantage—and they would be wise to do it. Social slime mold such as D. purpureum and D. discoideum are prized for their role as [...]
When it comes to the Hygiene Hypothesis, my knee-jerk reaction is to be sympathetic to the explanation. Mainly because it rings anecdotally true. I mean, have you ever heard anyone mutter words like ‘rub some dirt on it’ who was frail, sickly or grasping a bottle of hand sanitizer? Your answer is No. They look [...]
Scale is an interesting thing, especially when related to human perception of scale. This happens a lot with numbers. For most people’s frame of mind, the difference between a million and a billion is negligible. They’re just “big numbers.” But the difference is incredible. To put it one way, a million seconds is almost 12 [...]
Your best friend, your wife, your brother, your husband, your mother. Anyone could be a potential carrier. Who might infect you? Don’t be caught off guard. Educate yourself on the signs and symptoms: Have you noticed fatigue, excess stress, or lack of interest in your immediate environment? Have you seen considerable articulation in the atlanto-occipital [...]
[Before I begin I'd like to make it clear that I'm not poo-pooing on the use of social media for activism, but rather the passive (see: slacktivist) use of it to feel like one has made a difference even though they have just hit the "share" button on a viral video.] If you’ve never taken [...]
PINK If I’ve learned one thing from color theory it’s that when presented with options it is notoriously difficult to agree on which shade of red is ‘primary red’. Red-purple, red-pink, pink-purple (magenta) follow similarly. So if you think my Magenta is off, perhaps a discussion on the qualia of pink is in order. Or [...]
Given that all life evolved in the presence of the Earth’s gravity, it is unsurprising that removing that element has some curious effects on our physiology*. Our bodies compensate for fluids being pulled downwards; our bones actually grow stronger from the normal stresses put on them by exercise; and is the definition of physical strength [...]
I’ve seen some people pull off bangs, but as a general rule if you ask me about your hair I will lie. Unless you have awesome hair. In which case I won’t have to. But you won’t know which is which unless you ask my opinion before you get the cut. That’s how I roll, [...]
Short on ideas and needing a break, I decided to work on some graphic design pieces. The bad news: no real comic. Good news: I accidentally came up with my favorite logo ever (some of you have already noticed that I changed the banner). Let me tell you, when I flipped that Neon upside down, [...]
A lifetime ago by internet reckoning and two weeks ago via calendar, news came of the faulty cable/GPS-sync connection as a possible reason for the Faster-Than-Light Neutrino scandal of late 2011. This is not yet completely confirmed but I won’t say I’m not going to be disappointed if this is verified as the cause, though [...]