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#Weird Science

Blog / How Evolution Gave Us Dragons

July 26, 2017July 26, 2017 / Julia DiFiore /

Whether our favorite characters are trying to train them, ride them, or simply escape from them, there is no denying the prevalence of dragons in popular culture. Dragon myths have existed…

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Biology Evolutionary Biology Weird Science

Blog / Synthetic Chimeras: Separating Science from Science Fiction

May 3, 2017May 3, 2017 / Nicholas Tay /

Earlier this year, scientists from the Belmonte lab at the Salk Institute (La Jolla, CA) reported the first successful grafting of human stem cells into pig embryos. In other words, they were…

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Biology chimera ethics Science News Scientific Communication stem cells synthetic Weird Science

Blog / When Science Meats Fiction

March 31, 2017March 31, 2017 / Amala John /

In Vitro Meat (IVM), or lab-cultured meat, aims to transform the livestock industry into a more sustainable and ethical enterprise, but it will have to get through a few hurdles…

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Food Food Science In Vitro Meat science communication Science Controversy Weird Science

Blog / Toad-ally Accurate Predictions?

February 2, 2017January 31, 2017 / Julia DiFiore /

Today, groundhogs tell us if there will be six more weeks of winter or an early spring. Soon, puppies will be unleashed to help predict the Super Bowl winner. But…

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Environmental Science Weird Science

Blog / The Science of Spice

December 12, 2016 / Sarah Vick / 1

I watched the man at the table next to me begin to sweat profusely. I was enjoying wings with my family, and he had clearly chosen one of the spicier…

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Everyday Questions Weird Science

Blog / Lacking Nobel-ity

November 3, 2016November 3, 2016 / Kaylee Helfrich / 1

Do you want to learn about how the material of pants affects the sex life of rats?  Or about the different personalities of rocks? How about someone who invented prosthetic…

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Events Funny Nobel Prize Science News Weird Science

Blog / In Your FACE! The Science Behind Resting B Face

April 11, 2016April 12, 2016 / Zan Isgett / 3

Kristen Stewart. Her Majesty the Queen. The cartoon character Daria. Yours truly. What do we all have in common?

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Everyday Questions Psychology Weird Science

Blog / Puff, Puff, Pass the Pufferfish: Drug Use in the Animal Kingdom

March 30, 2016 / Deirdre Sackett /

Drug use is a fairly common, oftentimes problematic issue among humans. However, Homo sapiens isn’t the only species that likes to experiment with mind-altering substances. In the animal world, many…

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Animal Behavior Drug Abuse Weird Science

Blog / Horny Frogs and the Fungal Love Potion

March 21, 2016 / Melissa Plooster / 1

Imagine a pathogen that makes its host more sexually active. It may not kill its host right away. It may not kill its host at all. It is easy to…

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Biology Scientific Communication Weird Science

Blog / The Scientific Chronicles – Dream decoded

February 29, 2016March 1, 2016 / Aatish Thennavan / 1

“Dreaming is an act of pure imagination, attesting in all men a creative power, which if it were available in waking, would make every man a Dante or Shakespeare” –…

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Everyday Questions Neurophysiology Not so Frivolous Psychology Weird Science

Blog / Underfoot, but not to be underrated: how tiny soil creatures influence survival, growth, and communication of plants

October 26, 2015February 16, 2016 / Alissa Brown /

Traditionally, plant ecologists seeking to better understand plant communities looked up (at light availability or precipitation patterns), across the landscape (at elevation or topography), and down (at leaf litter depth…

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Environmental Science Microbiology Weird Science

Blog / The Quantum Mechanics Behind Biology

October 23, 2015January 25, 2016 / Nicole M. Baker /

If you have any interest in science and have ever contemplated your existence within the confines of this universe, chances are that you’ve come across an interactive Flash-based animation called…

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Quantum Biology Quantum Mechanics Weird Science

Blog / The 2015 Ig Nobel Prize in Medicine: Kiss me for science!

October 20, 2015February 16, 2016 / Bailey Peck /

This year’s Nobel Prizes in Medicine were awarded to William C. Campbell, Satoshi Ōmura, and Youyou Tu whose work to develop novel therapies for the treatment of globally devastating parasitic…

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Everyday Questions Immunology Science News Scientist Weird Science

Blog / Need a Mental Incubator? Try your shower!

June 4, 2015March 1, 2016 / Chris Givens /

I am not a morning person. Often, rising from bed seems like harder work than any experiment I will do in the coming day. Coffee helps, but my morning shower…

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Everyday Questions Personal Hygiene Psychology Weird Science

Blog / Move over, Mendel

May 2, 2015February 2, 2016 / Chris Givens /

Recently featured in Science, Valentino Gantz and Ethan Bier have developed a novel genome editing method that subverts traditional heritability. Termed the mutagenic chain reaction, this process  can insert new…

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Biology CRISPR Fruit Flies Genetics Science News Weird Science

Blog / Zombieism’s closely related cousin

April 29, 2015January 27, 2016 / Bailey Peck /

Most people would presume the safest place to survive the imminent Zombie apocalypse would be in an underground bunker. This erroneous conclusion has led to the untimely death of a…

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Cancer Genetics Not so Frivolous Weird Science

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