Sciences

Climate Change, a Hard Fact for European Winemakers

My wife, daughter, and I are on the last leg of a road trip that has taken us through ten of Italy's 20 regions, from the far northeast to Mt. Vesuvius on the western coast of the south, to the tip of the heel of the boot in Lecce (Apulia [Puglia]). Today we're in central Italy, along the Adriatic s ... More >>

Where Are We Drinking? Clue: Coffee and Cajeta

This photo was snapped during a recent coffee crawl around town, during which I felt as if I could conquer the world with my left hand and reconcile quantum mechanics and general relativity with my right. Afterward, however, I crashed for three hours and felt at least 1,000 of my brain cells quietly ... More >>

Hey, Look, It's Summer! Houston's Normal Summer Weather Has Finally Arrived

Stephen Colbert described Houston weather as a combination of the heat of Texas and the humidity of New Orleans. That's actually not far off in the summer. We are a fairly tropical climate. For the past couple weeks, however, it's felt more like a jungle during monsoon season. Now that Mother Nature ... More >>

Heat? Check. Rain? Check. Hurricanes? Maybe Not. Summer in Houston, 2012

If you don't like Houston, probably at the top of your list of reasons why is the summer. For those not accustomed to the -- let's call it "sticky" -- weather the Bayou City offers from July through September each year, it can be a brutal three or four months. Of course, for people like me who have ... More >>

Science Cafe — Science and Religion: Angels and Demons?

The Best & Worst-Case Scenarios For The Future Of Musical Holograms

Like most night owls, I spent early Monday morning watching YouTube clips of a holographic Tupac Shakur playing Coachella with his friends Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg nearly 16 years after his death. It was at once creepy and crass, but altogether interesting no matter how you sliced it, and not just bec ... More >>

Emancipation Proclamation

Will Houston Get Its First Real Cold Front This Weekend?

Courtesy of Accuweather.comThose 80-degree days are in our not-too-distant future.​Last week, I brought up the fact that our weather should be moderating as the days grow shorter and cool fronts begin pushing southward. Well, looks like we might not have to wait as long for our first blast of ... More >>

Comment of the Day: Animal Experiments Aren't All Bad

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Comment Of The Day: Don't Mess With Lunar-Eclipse Fans

​We have some great commenters here on Hair Balls, and it's time we paid some damn attention to them. So we'll be highlighting a Comment of the Day each morning, from the previous day's work. Maybe two comments, even. This will all be determined by a highly rigorous scientific formula involv ... More >>

Marfa Lights Solved!! It's A Giant Bird!!

Headin' for Marfa, no doubt​You may have thought that the mystery of the Marfa Lights had been pretty much settled with scientific research showing that the eerie illuminations are just far-off car headlights bouncing off thermal layers. WRONG. Now comes a creationist scientist who has a new ... More >>

"DINOSAURS! At the Houston Zoo"

Take a walk on the wild side

"Archaeopteryx: Icon of Evolution"

Look, it's a bird, it's a fossil, it's Super Lizard

Smaller Than Life: The Lure and Lore of Amazonian Shrunken Heads

Admit it, you want to look

What If Swine Flu Got Turned Into a "Song"?

librarystorytime.wordpress.comSo it turns out the best way to prevent swine flu is to wash your damn hands, and to make sure you do a nice thorough job. A former member of the Texas Medical Associaton's Committee on Infectious Diseases suggests you sing or hum songs you probably learned in kindergar ... More >>

Scientists Love The Muck Outside Houston

Photo by JublinSomewhere, a little outside Houston, recently existed a massive colony of creatures that astounded scientists with their sheer size and intrigued them with their behavior. The creatures even engaged freely in "suicidal altruism," in which some would sacrifice themselves for the ... More >>

Jurassic Jackpot: Massive Dinosaur Graveyards

Web exclusive!

Children’s Classes at the Houston Arboretum and Nature Center

Web exclusive!

The Evolution Vs. God Debate Is Being Renewed In Texas

Just in case you were worried that Texas hadn't made an embarrassing spectacle of itself lately, you need fret no more.Once again the State Board of Education is coming to your rescue.The SBOE is holding a public hearing January 21 on science standards, and the people at the Discovery Institute, who ... More >>

Polar-Palooza

Web exclusive!

Marine Biologist/Zoologist for a Day

Web exclusive!

"CSI: The Experience"

Exhibit inspired by CBS series puts you behind the evidence

“GENOME: The Secret of How Life Works”

What do you get when you cross a human, a fly and a banana? Matching genes

The Future of Food

If you are what you eat, then you might be a genetic freak

Paco Ahlgren

Debut novelist reads from Discipline

It's Getting Hot in Heere

We Are Scientists

We Are Scientists appear Sunday, September 24, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-5483.

Monkey Business

Primates -- destined for laboratory research -- are being brought into a compound in Houston so carefully and quietly that no one knows they're here

The Gospel of Grant

We Are Scientists

Thursday, June 8, at Warehouse Live, 813 St. Emanuel, 713-225-LIVE

Fahrenheit 2050

Al Gore takes on the other imminent threat to America

What a Dromaeosaur

Bones of Contention

Scientists fear that Lucy might be a crack exhibit for Houston

Exploding the Canon

"Inverted Utopias" helps rewrite the story of modernism

Space Center & Me

Or, how I learned to stop caring and accept the dumb

Thrown for a Loop

Plus: Hot Topic, Shooting Fish?, Sympathy - Not

All That Glitters...

Prison's in the past. Joe Champion's chasing after alchemy again.

How Now Mad Cow?

Europe has a problem with diseased cattle. Should Texans be wary?

All Systems Go

Despite its flaws, Unhinged's ambitious Code adds up

In God's Country

William Dembski thought Baylor University would be the perfect place to investigate a scientific alternative to Darwinism. Little did he realize he would be crucified for his cause.

Best Museum Gift Shop

Houston Museum of Natural Science

The ABCs of DNA

Robert Del Grande

Later, Floyd

Laser rock shows at the Museum of Natural Science go the way of the dinosaurs

T-Rex in Mouse Ears

The Mesozoic Era undergoes the Disney treatment in Dinosaur

Cloning for Cash

A&M's pet project spawns a company to mix DNA with possible IPOs

The Man Who Knew Too Soon?

Eight years ago Tom Curtis reported that AIDS could have been spread by an experimental polio vaccine grown on monkey kidneys. Scientists sniffed. Journalists scoffed. The story died. Now, a new book says the theory wasn't so stupid after all.

Night & Day

December 10 - 16, 1998

Biological Disaster

Zonagen Inc. took its name from Bonnie Dunbar's groundbreaking research into contraceptive vaccines. Then, when she wasn't looking, the company took her research.

All Climax

Feeling is forgotten in hard-sell Armageddon

Living by the Numbers

Breaking the Code delves into the mathematics of the human heart