This article caught my eye for two reasons: 1. I am an incredibly nostalgic person and oftentimes will sink into deep rose-tinted reveries for a few minutes every hour or so and, 2. I was a Star Wars kid growing up.



I was among the legions of fans waiting in line for the first prequel to come out to catch it at midnight. I went and saw all three re-releases when they hit the theaters again. I dated a guy in college who had a Count Dooku replica lightsaber and a jedi cloak and I found… Continue

This is absolutely wild.



From a recent article at LiveScience:



Canadian researchers say they can glean simple preferences from a person's brain by shining near-infrared light into the noggin.



The study, reported in the Journal of Neural Engineering, demonstrated the ability to decode a person's preference for one of two drinks with 80 percent accuracy by measuring the intensity of near-infrared light absorbed in brain tissue, the scientists said in a statement… Continue

Today marks Darwin's Birthday Eve, so going down a different vein, I've found an article about why one of the greatest scientists (and adventurer!) has never graced the silver screen... until now!



From the article from the Times Online:



The Darwin we'll see in the film is, says Thomas, “a troubled character who knew that his ideas were going to trigger a profound change of balance in the status quo and it made him ill.” He is a tortured genius, far removed from the… Continue

Today's installment is an article from the NY Times Science section about how Darwin's ideas were so ahead of their time.



From the article:



Biologists quickly accepted the idea of evolution, but for decades they rejected natural selection, the mechanism Darwin proposed for the evolutionary process. Until the mid-20th century they largely ignored sexual selection, a special aspect of natural selection that Darwin proposed to account for male ornaments like the peacock’s… Continue

As many of you may already know, this Thursday is Darwin's 200th birthday! In honor of this great scientist, I will be posting a blog every day that deals with the man, the myth, the legend that was Charles Darwin.



First up is a great post from our very own San Diego Union Tribune: 20 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Darwin



From the article:



5. Darwin loved collecting things, especially beetles. It's said he lost a girlfriend in college because he paid more… Continue