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STEM goes for the state title
There was a lot going on in downtown Des Moines on March 5. At the Wells Fargo Arena, the state boys basketball tournament was attracting droves of fans, screaming at the top of their lungs. Next door,...
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Snail episode illustrates science news’ slow crawl
Since I posted it about a week ago, more than 2,000 visitors have read my report on the conservative criticism directed at University of Iowa professors Maurine Neiman and John Logsdon. Along with...
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Riding a robot to a world title
In the tradition of Gabrielle Douglas and Shawn Johnson, West Des Moines has produced another world champion. This team, however, isn’t receiving nearly the attention or accolades, although the...
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Checking the nursery in a baby star boom
Scorpius is one of the few constellations I can regularly pick out in the summer sky. It often sits low on the southern horizon, with two bright stars marking its pincers and the red multiple star...
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NASA flood study splashes down in Iowa
If you want to study rainfall and floods to help improve satellite predictions of both, you couldn’t choose a better place this year than Iowa. But Witold Krajewski and the researchers at the...
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Roundup: Obsessive mice, strange quasicrystals and the “peckscreen” (with video)
For this post, here’s a roundup of a few interesting Iowa science items over the last couple weeks, including obsessive-compulsive and obese mice, a new family of quasicrystals and pigeons pecking...
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Paper: Too much precaution stilts innovation, could perpetuate hunger
I’m a pretty careful guy. I wear my seatbelt, floss my teeth, and look both ways before crossing the street. These precautions keep me safe and healthy. Precautions are generally prudent, wise and...
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Could Branstad’s task force be a smokescreen to kill new science education...
Terry Branstad and his lieutenant, Kim Reynolds, have been pushing Iowa educators to do more to engage kids in STEM – science, technology, engineering and mathematics. The idea is to have a...
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Roundup: Van Allen belts give electrons a jolt, a super scanner and a flood...
I was in knee pants when I first heard about the Van Allen radiation belts, the donut-shaped rings of charged particles circling the Earth. In the movie (and later television series), “Voyage to the...
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ISU research fraud probe staked out faked results
The investigation into faked AIDS vaccine tests “followed an atypical path compared to most research misconduct cases,” an Iowa State University administrator wrote in a report last October. The case...
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Marker to recognize location of H.A. Wallace’s first corn-breeding experiment
It’s hard to think of it now, but at the turn of the 20th century the area of Des Moines just southwest of Drake University was a largely open field. And on 10 acres at 38th Street and Cottage Grove...
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A brief update: Next Generation Science Standards
Here’s a quick update on Iowa’s possible adoption of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS). You may recall that a task force of educators began considering the standards in October as part of a...
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What’s shaking? At this building, not a thing
It’s not a much to look at from the outside. The long, low building just northwest of the Iowa State University campus could be classrooms or offices, maybe for a small manufacturer or a medical...
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Ames Lab gets small with new microscopes
In 2015 Ames Laboratory scientists who investigate materials’ fundamental properties received their Christmas presents early. In November and December technicians unpacked and installed around $6...
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This Iowa mom uses a scooter. This Olympian vaults hurdles. A rare condition...
The idea seemed ludicrous: A muscle-bound world-class athlete and an Iowa mom with arms and legs reduced to sticks, sharing the same rare muscle condition. When her sister suggested it, Jill Viles...
View ArticleThe woollybear boogie: a fall trek of Lilliputian proportions
If you drive the little-traveled county blacktops of rural Iowa, as I do, you’re sure to notice a slow (and sometimes not-so-slow) march at this time of year. They’re easy to spot in the distance:...
View ArticlePoll: Iowans care about science issues. But do they care enough to push...
Regular readers of this blog (Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?) know I’ve nagged them to push political candidates (for almost any office, dogcatcher included) on science and evidence-based policy. March for...
View ArticleThe mom and the hurdler: an update
I’m behind the curve on this (life, you know), but I have an update on one of my most popular posts – one that still gets regular views, partially thanks to search engines, more than three years after...
View ArticleBig scope in the deep woods: The fate of ISU’s Mather Telescope
The approximately 45 acres of rolling woodland southwest of Boone that Aaron and Melissa Gillett bought last month are a haven for deer, wild turkeys, foxes and other wildlife. Plus one white elephant....
View ArticleIowa company produced first pig kidney grafted onto a human patient
The day is nearing when doctors will safely transplant animal kidneys, hearts and other organs to ailing humans. When they do, there’s a good chance that animals providing those body parts will be...
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