Nov 16
pic nicked from here It seems that we’ve found a variety of causes of obesity. Viruses, glands, and big bones. Just about everything is to blame except eating too much and not moving enough. You can add the FTO gene (nicknamed the greediness gene) to this ever-growing list of things that cause people surrounded by an …
Sep 21
Who says scientists don’t like to have fun? Einstein was a terrible violinist and Hawking has been known to release the brakes on his wheelchair and go flying down the hills of San Francisco like a madman. Feynman plays the bongos and Dawkins pokes religious people. Some have even been drunks or drug addicts. Now …
Jul 13
Scientists have found a way to turn female mice into lesbians. And it’s not by sending them on a date with me. Deleting the, ahem, FucM gene, which limits the brain’s production of estrogen, caused these mice “ to reject the advances of their male counterparts and attempt to mate with fellow females.” In mice, estrogen masculinizes the brain …
Jun 08
Psychedelic Maize is false advertising. This bio-engineered corn does not get you stoned. It promotes carbohydrate export from leaves, increasing crop yield and the amount of bio-fuel that could be sucked out of each plant. It’s called “Psychedelic Maize” because the process puts yellow and green streaks in the leaves. And why the fuck can’t …
May 20
Scientists have created artificial life. It’s just a simple little thing: A living cell powered by man-made DNA and constructed in a laboratory but it’s a rather large step towards . . . Well, opinion is mixed on that one. It ranges between UTOPIA! and IT’LL KILL US ALL! I don’t think it’s terribly important. …
May 03
That’s an old Soviet cartoon about a baby mammoth who somehow avoids extinction then looks for it’s mom. Worth watching just for the swinging soundtrack. In other wooly mammoth news, scientists have discovered that these ancient beasts had a form of antifreeze in their blood. What’s next? Will they soon tell us what unicorn horns …
May 01
Scientists say that they’re about ten years away from being able to produce meat without slaughtering animals. They can actually do it now but there’s a minor problem: It currently takes about a million dollars to produce a single hamburger. So it’s a luxury item. But improvements in manufacturing should lower the price. The first …
Jul 21
You’ve probably heard of the placebo effect. It’s when scientists prescribe a sugar pill and that sugar pill works just as well as the real one. The reason for this has been pretty mysterious to say the least. But now researchers at UCLA have presented the first genetic explanation for why placebos sometimes work. The …
Dec 22
S. Alexandra Burt, a MSU behavioural geneticist, has found what appears to be a link between popularity and genes. Her research shows that male college students who have a particular serotonin gene linked with rule breaking, were ranked the most popular by students who didn’t previously know them. Burt says: “The idea is that your …
Nov 21
Though it’s been discussed for some time, it’s actually starting to look like scientists might be able to resurrect the long extinct woolly mammoth through the magic of DNA. For a measly ten million dollars, no less. I hope they do. I really want to eat one. And this isn’t just the part of me …
Although Ryan Oakley began his career as a simple rake (drunk) he has since become Toronto’s most renowned flaneur (no car) and notorious dandy (overdresses). A misanthropic composer of psycho-geographical fictions (sci-fi), he is also a server of food, a tender of bar and a washer of dishes. While performing all these functions with efficiency and elegance (disdain and malice), he somehow finds the time to publicly criticize friends, strangers and cultural crap.
