Comma Dot Comma

At the liberal arts school where I got my BA, they had two versions of their required science courses: the regular kind, for future majors, and the dumbed-down kind, which could be recognized by their titles: “Chemistry for Poets,” “Biology for Poets,” and so on. Perhaps a more apt, and less insulting name, would have been “Chemistry for Dabblers.” I number myself among the dabblers: hungry for good stories but often impatient with the methodical detail that good science requires. Once again, hooray for the World Wide Web!

Science Blogs — a daily round up of science commentary that can be searched by author or topic. The big news today is that they’ve discovered evidence of dark matter.

A few things I found: my favorite science writer, Carl Zimmer, talks about parasitic cancers that perpetuate themselves through centuries. And here he talks about suicidal slime molds.

A neuroscience student explains the techniques for inducing depression in mice, and then trying to treat it.

And this comes from nerdygirl: the strongest jaws in the world belong to an ant. It can use them to strike prey faster than any living thing, or fling itself high in the air to escape danger. With video to prove it!