Science 2.0

Radiacode Zero - A Powerful New Radiation Detector

Ionizing radiation is all around us. We do not notice it: we have not developed any sense to detect it. Yet it may affect us in very serious ways, particularly because its effect on living cells and organisms is cumulative: a progressive degradation.

Tommaso Dorigo Tue, 09/15/2026 - 04:13 Categories Physics

MRSA Infections In Hospitals Are A Problem: This Simple Change Can Help

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections in hospitals are a worry but a new program implemented in 106 intensive care units (ICUs) and 87 non-ICUs at 94 hospitals caused cases to plummet.

News Account Mon, 09/14/2026 - 12:29 Categories Public Health

On The Annihilation Risk From AI

The debate on the risk connected with the development of superintelligent systems has been going on for a while now, and in the last few years it has intensified considerably - especially since large language models have established themselves as powerful new oracles, mathematics superpowers, and code-writing wizards.

Tommaso Dorigo Mon, 09/14/2026 - 05:44 Categories Technology

Why Does Anyone Still Get Married?

Marriage for love is essentially a 20th-century convention. It's still financial in most ways. You need a government license to enter a marriage contract and a financial settlement to exit. But it still has religious overtones also. The question now is; why do people get married at all? Professor Devorah Baum has answers.

The Conversation Sun, 09/13/2026 - 04:29 Categories Philosophy & Ethics

Epidemiology Reduced To Sounding Alarms About Fake Eyelashes

A new paper links fake eyelashes to demodicosis - parasites living in your eyes. How worried should you be?

Hank Campbell Sat, 09/12/2026 - 04:29 Categories Science Education & Policy

Why Do Technological Advances Cause A Surge In Folk Beliefs?

Sweden, for example, claims to be a secular, modern country, yet their belief in the paranormal is the same as everywhere else. Dr. Katarzyna Herd has insights.

The Conversation Fri, 09/11/2026 - 17:10 Categories Psychology

Heel-Toe Mobility Separated Humans From Lesser Primates

A new paper posits that we may have taken over the world due to a mobility advantage; heel-and-toe walking.

News Account Thu, 09/10/2026 - 11:28 Categories Evolution

Inconsistency Of EV Battery Pack Performance Remains A Challenge

Electric cars are currently limited in utility, which means continued government subsidies and high cost, because battery technology has not changed in the last 35 years.

Hank Campbell Thu, 09/10/2026 - 10:01 Categories Energy

Climate Change Linked To Greater Arctic Earthquakes

A new paper believes that in an already seismically active Arctic region, permafrost degradation can weaken the ice that helps to bind fractures within rock.

News Account Tue, 09/08/2026 - 13:31 Categories Geology

Why Understanding the Human Condition Remains One of Science’s Great Challenges 

Science has explained an extraordinary amount about the world around us. But one of its most elusive subjects remains remarkably close to home: ourselves.  What made humans the way we are? How did we acquire our extraordinary capacities for consciousness, cooperation, language and culture?

Damon Isherwood Sun, 09/06/2026 - 21:12 Categories Psychology

Epidemiology: Microplastics Cause Lung Cancer

Unless you are a cigarette smoker, you can't be 'inhaling' enough polypropylene and polyethylene to impact your lungs even if you live for 7,000 years. That doesn't stop fad claims that microplastics cause lung cancer.

Hank Campbell Sun, 09/06/2026 - 06:29 Categories Chemistry

Your Smartphone May Be Off On Your Exercise Calories By 25%

Sorry, Apple. Sorry, Fitbit. You're overcounting calories burned and science shows it.

Hank Campbell Sat, 09/05/2026 - 13:28 Categories Technology

When A Bump Gets Greedy: A Connection I Had Missed For 25 Years

Back in 2009 I wrote in this blog a rather technical post about something I had called the “greedy bump bias.” (GBB) The effect I referred to had emerged from a 2003 CDF study of mine, where I considered the extraction of small signals sitting on top of much larger backgrounds.That work went unpublished, but then I took revenge with the blog post...

Tommaso Dorigo Thu, 09/03/2026 - 09:15 Categories Physics

If You Like Stories, Thank The Inventors Of Fire

Gather 'round, listeners, and learn of the storytelling ape.

News Account Wed, 09/02/2026 - 17:53 Categories Anthropology

Rain Gardens: Placement Matters More Than Square Footage

The Canadian capital of Ottawa was bombarded with 167 millimetres of rain in five hours earlier this summer in what the city called a one-in-200-year event. Close to 5,800 basement-flooding reports followed, and the worst of it hit the city’s west end, including the Crystal Beach neighborhood.

The Conversation Wed, 09/02/2026 - 16:18 Categories Environment

The Precedent For Creating A 'Conservative' Science Journal

In 2009, with a Democrat back in the White House, corporate science and medical journal publishers asked Rep. John Conyers, Jr. of Detroit, a staunch ally of President Obama, to get the new president to issue an executive order and undo the work of his predecessor, President George W. Bush.

Hank Campbell Wed, 09/02/2026 - 13:33 Categories Science Education & Policy

Are You Your Brain Or Your Body?

A “racing heart,” “choked up” - language treats emotion and thought as if they inhabit the body. But why are events of the mind felt in the heart or stomach?

News Account Mon, 08/31/2026 - 17:38 Categories Neuroscience

The US Creating Starfleet Academy Sounds Exciting

He didn't call it a Moonshot or a Manhattan Project of Space, that is the kind of language his political opponents use(1), President Trump announcing a U.S. Space Academy invoked something even bolder - Star Trek.

Hank Campbell Mon, 08/31/2026 - 14:59 Categories Aerospace

Dog Aging Project: Humans and Dogs Age A Lot Alike

Metabolites associated with earlier or later death in dogs behave in much the same way they have been shown in humans.

News Account Mon, 08/31/2026 - 14:37 Categories Genetics & Molecular Biology

People Who Appropriate Oppression Are Harming Socialization By Their Kids

Actors are famous for manufacturing traumatic situations about every movie they've done but the public builds that into their psychological makeup. So do their kids, and not for the better. A new paper says appropriated oppression is a cultural legacy.

Hank Campbell Mon, 08/31/2026 - 14:08 Categories Psychology