Skulls in the Stars

• Shaping a stem cell’s future. Most of us are familiar with the idea of stem cells (and the political controversies associated with them): cells which can be chemically manipulated into different types of functionality.  Rob Mitchum at ScienceLife describes research that has shown that this functionality can be controlled by manipulating the shape of the cell!
• On the phenomena of lightning. How much do you know about lightning?  In the course of his radio astronomy work, Alexander at The Astronomist did some investigating and discusses some interesting facts about lightning and its generation.
• Is My Dog Playing or Fighting With That Other Dog? Ever wonder how to tell the difference between rough dog play and a dog fight?  Jason at The Thoughtful Animal describes how dogs work it out.
• Preserving a culture in wild honey. Finally, Alun at AlunSalt provides a thoughtful look at the disappearance of an Aboriginal tribes’ honey-gathering heritage.

As a bonus, if you were intrigued by last week’s description of macroscopic quantum-mechanical objects, Chad at Uncertain Principles provides more details on the experiment and what it actually demonstrated.

Check back next week for more “miscellaneous” suggestions!

• The Irish Diaspora: Why Even Trinidadians Are a Little Irish. On the heels of St. Patrick’s Day, Krystal at Anthropology in Practice tells the fascinating and little-known tale of why there is an Irish influence in the British Caribbean.
• Earth’s forgotten youth – and beyond. Though we know some things about Earth’s early history, geological data from that period is extraordinarily rare.  Chris at Highly Allochthonous looks at and explains a recent attempt to develop a better timeline of events before and after the Earth’s formation.
• Nest making, oxytocin, and social bonding. At her eponymously-titled blog, The Dog Zombie looks at an intriguing paper connecting wound healing, nest building, and oxytocin in rats — and gives some strong criticism of the results.
• Rethinking quantum states and computers. Finally, Greg Fish at weird things discusses an experiment that has put an object large enough to be seen with the naked eye into a quantum-mechanical state!

That’s it for this week — check back next Monday for more “miscellaneous” selections!

The twenty-first edition of The Giant’s Shoulders is up at PACHSmörgåsbord, just in time to commemorate the birthday of   Caroline Herschel!  Many thanks to Darin for assembling it!

The deadline for the next edition is April 15th, and it will be held at The Lay Scientist.  Entries can be submitted through blogcarnival.com or directly to the host blog, as usual!

Incidentally, we still desperately need hosts to fill in over the next few months; if you’re interested in hosting, please leave a comment or send me an email.  You don’t have to be a historian of science to host — just someone with a passion for science and its roots.

• Coca-Cola and Water Use in India: “Good Till the Last Drop”. Eric Michael Johnson at The Primate Diaries describes the shocking and little-heard of  abuse of water resources by Coca-Cola in India.  (I was drinking a Coke when I read the post.)
• Whatever happened to the audiophile? Over at Sciencebase, David Bradley gives us a different sort of history lesson, and describes the evolution of audio formats and the rise and fall of those stalwarts of audio quality.
• A Synthetic Nose for Coffee and Other Highly Complex Mixtures. Michael Long at Phased describes a remarkable accomplishment: an artificial “nose” that can accurately distinguish between different brands and roasts of coffee.  Why would you need such a thing?  Read the post to find out!
• 60,000 year old decorated ostrich eggshell canteens from Diepkloof, South Africa. Actually, the title alone explains why you should look at this post!  By Julien at A Very Remote Period Indeed.