This Side of Science

The frogs of the Calaveras County Fair jumping-frog competition, regularly out-jump those in laboratory tests. So a group of researchers studied footage from the event to better understand the bio mechanics of a jumping frog. Below is a link to the full story on ScienceNews, which unfortunately failed to mention the participation of Larry the [...]

Around 70 percent of the stars in our Galaxy are classified as M dwarfs, which are slow-burning stars that last for 40-100 billion years (compared to our G-class Sun’s 10 billion year lifespan).  So chance would have it that our galactic neighbors are circling around an M dwarf.  But since M dwarfs burn cooler than [...]

The New York Times recently published an article in its “Findings” sections that tells how researchers are finding out not only how common stray thoughts, mind wanderings, and daydreams are, but how beneficial this brain activity is to creativity.  Though once harassed by psychologists and neuroscientists, day dreamers now have something to be proud of. [...]