At 1:00 PM on New Year's Day, hundreds of people gathered on the beach at Coney Island, NY, and splashed in the Atlantic Ocean despite the below-freezing temperature. It was time for the Coney Island Polar Bear Club annual New Year's plunge. The crowd was diverse: tattooed grandmothers, rosy-cheeked children, nearly-naked frat boys, a scientist from Rockefeller University, a six-fingered Coney Island USA employee on his break from the Freak Show; the director of the New York Aquarium where many animals frolic happily in cold weather and water; a polar-bear ...

Hair can be considered in two separate sections, the root and the shaft. The hair root is located inside of the follicle and exists below the portion of the skin while the shaft is the portion of hair that extends out from the skin. The root of the hair receives nutrients from the blood through the dermal papilla. The nutrients that are supplied to the root of the hair through the dermal papilla, combined with oil from the sebaceous gland, can contribute to hair’s strength. This strength of the hair ...

It has taken me several weeks to post this reply, which Dr. Christakis sent almost immediately after I sent him my email (see previous entry entitled "An Email to Dr. Nicholas Christakis"). During this time I've had the opportunity to learn and think more about Dr. Christakis' work, and was not shocked to discover that my knee jerk response to his NEJM article on the spread of obesity through social networks was premature. However, I was far from alone in this reaction.
Share

By Sam Flatow
So, here we are: back to the evolution debate in Texas. It's kind of upsetting. Just the fact that we are still talking about this issue is upsetting. Just the fact that we are still talking about "still talking about" this issue is upsetting. This argument between theory and fact is upsetting on a personal level because I’m a HUGE fan of theories. The Theory of Relativity is pretty neat, but I’d have to say that Germ Theory and the Atomic Theory are really ...

"Restore science to its rightful place" - President Barack Obama
"Science, science, science, science," - Speaker Nancy Pelosi
When was the last time such public emphasis on science been so much in the news, and coming from such important political people? Change is surely in the air.
But if you really want to restore science to its rightful place, you have to define where that place is. To my way of thinking, it's not just about money for research and technology to help dig us out of this financial hell hole. ...

For anyone who doubted whether the new administration would be savvy of the importance of science in America, Obama's inaugural speech provided a great sense of hope. Ann Marie (the Executive Director of TalkingScience) and I watched the inaugural ceremony with a crowd of women (and even a few men) who packed into The White House Project's brunch at Caroline's comedy club on Broadway.
Share

Virgin Galactic had 10 tickets up for grabs for their future astronauts, and yours truly is one of the lucky recipients of one of them! I feel like I've just bitten into a Willie Wonka bar and found a golden ticket. I'll take lots of photos for TalkingScience Space Cadets, of course.
Share

By Ted Kinsman

Science Photography often takes place outside the light that is visible to the human eye. In this image the light is far infrared. Special cameras lenses involving bizarre materials like Germanium are used.
Share

By Ted Kinsman

I was asked by a medical textbook author to take a few pictures of hollow rattlesnake fangs that were the inspiration for modern medical syringes. Easy to get fresh rattlesnake heads, just call up the biggest supplier of rattlesnake meat. Located in Georgia, the company shipped me several fresh snake heads for a few dollars.
Share

By Ted Kinsman

Many times a research paper will be published that will show a unique scientific experiment. I was reading a technical paper on fluid flow where the research was done with one color light to measure the thickness of the soap film for flow analysis. I modified the experimental setup to use white light, thus showing different thickness of a soap film as different colors.
Share