If you’ve ever done research, then you know about variability. Probably too much about it, in fact. Variability means your results change from day to day, or from cell to cell, or animal to animal. This does not make us scientists happy. Especially for those of us who study animal behavior, which is particularly capricious, variability is the bane of our existence. Even when we … Continue reading
The fact that men and women tend to behave differently is so widely accepted that it’s become a cliche. The subject of hundreds of relationship books and self-help seminars. The constant butt of lame jokes in second tier Sunday cartoons. So, what makes men and women behave differently anyway? Or perhaps you’re first wondering, are there actually innate, biological differences in the behavior of men … Continue reading
In a recent post I explained why it’s awesome to study the brains of invertebrates, like fruit flies or worms. I bet by now you’re convinced that doing experiments in these tiny creatures can teach us lots of things about the fly or worm brain. But what most people care about is the human brain.1 Can invertebrates really teach us anything about what’s going on … Continue reading
As you guys might know by now, I study fruit flies. When I tell people I study fruit fly brains, the first question I usually get is, “Fruit flies have brains??” Yes, they have brains. Fairly complex ones actually. I challenge the smartest engineers in the world to build a computer that’s half as smart as a fly brain. The second question I get is, … Continue reading
In my previous post I discussed how the Serial podcast reminds me of doing science: starting with an initial straightforward question that rapidly becomes a murky mess, poring over ambiguous evidence that provides few clear answers, and so on (read the post here). Today I’m going to continue with this analogy and discuss what the search for truth in science really means. One of the … Continue reading
Like everyone else in the known universe, I recently finished listening to season 1 of the Serial podcast. Yup, for the first time ever I’ve actually been on the forefront of a viral phenomenon, thanks to the fortuitous intersection of my NPR addiction with a set of long international flights. For those of you who’ve been living under a rock or something (e.g. me for … Continue reading
Note: This post is a modified version of an article that I submitted to the Access to Understanding science writing competition sponsored by Europe PubMed Central, which required writing a summary of a science journal article chosen from a short list. So this post may seem different from usual—more narrowly focused and formally written—though I’ve edited it to fit the style of my blog. … Continue reading
You’ve probably heard that our bodies have an internal clock. That’s why you get tired or hungry at about the same time each day and feel jetlagged when you’ve crossed too many time zones. Our clocks are set by external cues, such as daylight, alarm clocks, or your roommate grinding coffee beans at an ungodly hour each morning. But our clocks can also function completely … Continue reading
In last week’s post about taste and smell I cited a study that estimated that humans can smell over a trillion different odors. That study was published in Science earlier this year by Leslie Vosshall’s lab at Rockefeller University.1 While the paper was a bit controversial from the start, this week I discovered that the controversy has reached a new level due to a scathing … Continue reading
Taste and smell are two senses close to my heart. I mean not literally, I’m not like one of those weird bugs that can taste all over their body (such as with their legs, wings and genitals—perhaps a post for another time?). No, it’s because taste and smell, the “chemical senses”, are what we study in my current lab. The olfactory system was also the … Continue reading