explainer

Mar 30, 2012

Ticks and Mosquitoes: What the Mild Winter Really Means

There has been a lot of discussion about how a mild winter, an early spring and a bumper crop of acorns might affect the number of mosquitoes and ticks we’ll see this spring and summer. Will there be more blood suckers out there? Will we be at higher risk of Lyme disease? Like many things… 

Mar 28, 2012

Know Your Enemy: Fire Ants

No series on arthropod pests would be complete without fire ants. They are violent. They are deadly. And they’re seemingly out to conquer the world. I’m exaggerating on that last point, but not by much. There are over 20 fire ant species around the world, including at least four species that are native to the… 

Mar 23, 2012

Know Your Enemy: Japanese Beetles

Last year I wrote a series of posts about critters we love to hate: mosquitoes, ticks, horseflies, black widows and carpenter bees. With the arrival of spring, I decided to pick up where I left off. First up: Japanese beetles or, as rose-growers call them, #@!*ing Japanese beetles. As the name suggests, Japanese beetles –… 

Feb 7, 2012

The Science Of A Good Pour

I love writing about science. I also enjoy a good beer. I’ve decided to marry these two interests and write a series of posts about the science of beer. It’s not much of a stretch, since brewing is an intensely scientific art. I requested, and received, a lot of questions about the science of beer.… 

Jan 30, 2012

What’s A Genotype? What’s A Phenotype? And Why Do I Care?

Genetics research is interesting stuff, and news stories about exciting new findings seem to crop up almost daily. But many people simply don’t have the vocabulary to understand what’s going on. “What is a genotype anyway?” you might ask. “What’s a phenotype? And why should I care?” Good questions! Let’s talk about this a little… 

Nov 22, 2011

How Does Faster-Than-Light Quantum Communication Work?

Every so often, I ask readers to submit their sci/tech questions, so that I can go pester people until I have some answers that I can share with the rest of the class. One  recent question was: “How does faster-than-light quantum communication work?” Short answer: it doesn’t. But of course there’s more to it than… 

Oct 27, 2011

Flu Version 2.0

Every year, it seems the CDC warns us about a new flu variety, bandying about names that seem more like grid locations in a game of Battleship than actual descriptions:  H1N1, H2N1, and now H5N1 – or technically, H5N1 2.3.2.1. This new form of so-called “bird flu” is a highly pathogenic and dangerous strain of… 

Jul 27, 2011

What Do Bees See? And How Do We Know?

I was reading a children’s book about insects to my daughter recently, and it said that bees see colors differently than humans do. My daughter immediately asked, in short succession: “What colors do they see? Why? How do we know?” I did some homework to find out, and discovered that bees see flowers much differently… 

Jul 11, 2011

Why Does Water Freeze Before Alcohol Does?

We recently explained that one reason wine’s freezing point is much lower than water’s is because of its alcohol content. But we didn’t explain why alcohol has a much lower freezing point than water. Let’s explain that now (hint: water molecules are “stickier.”) A substance freezes when its molecules become “stuck” in a fixed array… 

Jul 6, 2011

Why Doesn’t Wine Freeze? And Do Vacuum-Sealing Stoppers Keep Wine ‘Fresh’?

I set out to learn why wine doesn’t freeze. But while I was questioning a wine researcher, I thought I’d also find out whether those vacuum-sealing wine stoppers are worth it. Here’s what I found out. Question 1: Why Doesn’t Wine Freeze? Wine will freeze, it just has a much lower freezing point than water… 

Jun 30, 2011

How Does My Dog Always Know When I’m Coming Home?

When I get home from work my dog is always at the door, waiting for me. Friends of mine report the same phenomenon. Do they spend all day at the door waiting for us? Maybe, but probably not. It’s probably the result of associative learning. Dogs and humans have been a double-bill for tens of… 

Jun 21, 2011

Concrete: It’s Everywhere, You Probably Don’t Understand It, And It’s Changing

We are always surrounded by things we don’t really understand, but there are few man-made substances as common, but little understood, as concrete. We walk on it, drive on it and live in buildings built on it (or even from it). And, while most people hardly ever think about it, there are researchers who think… 

Jun 15, 2011

What Is 3D Printing? And How Does It Work?

Three-dimensional (3D) printing holds promise for a wide variety of applications, from biomedical implants to space exploration. But when a friend asked me how it worked, I had no idea. It was a perfect excuse to learn something new. And now, dear reader, I can explain it to you. 3D printing is exactly what it… 

Jun 1, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Horse Flies

Mosquitoes and ticks are nasty, but no family of blood feeders can compete with horse flies. They’re the most diverse group of blood-feeding animals on Earth (and, as far as we know, in the entire universe). Whether you call them horse flies, greenheads, deer flies or bloodthirsty so-and-sos, these insects are all part of the… 

May 23, 2011

Bad Bugs of Summer: Black Widows

It’s hard to think of an arthropod with a worse reputation than the black widow. Heck, the term is even used to describe serial killers – and it doesn’t get much worse than that. We’ve already covered mosquitoes, ticks and carpenter bees in our “bad bugs” series, but any conversation about bugs people hate has…