Rob and I love “The Walking Dead” and, though the girls cannot under any circumstance watch it, they have also become similarly obsessed with the concept of all things zombies with the help of the video game “Plants Vs. Zombies”. This year’s idea for Halloween costumes was an easy choice: Zombies! There were several reasons I wanted to try zombie costumes: Ease: All t... »
I thought I’d bring a little bit of Halloween to the lab today. Our family loves Halloween; for us, it’s something we all participate in and enjoy. I will reveal our costumes from this year in a future post. Today, I wanted to share the pumpkins our family carved into Jack-O-Lanterns. For a nice bit of history, visit the “Why Do We Carve Pumpkins on Halloween?” page over in... »
Nikon Small World is a website that celebrates the teeny tiny images scientists capture with light microscopes. Just as satellite images of Earth can be as visually stunning as pieces of art, microscopic images of neurons, bacteria, and insect embryos can make a person stop in their tracks and see the world from a different angle. The annual Photomicrography Competition awards up to $3,000 to the ... »
I contemplated my first Mad Art Lab post for a while before putting it up. This is going to be the first in a series of posts centered around photography and the Secular Movement. Specifically, they are going to be posts about photos that I feel represent my experiences in the Movement and the stories that have come out of those experiences. This theme is gigantic. I don’t know how I am goin... »
About a year ago our family went on a Caribbean cruise, and one of the stops was Grand Cayman. At the time my oldest daughter, Zoë, was interested in a career in science but hadn’t yet settled on which field of scientific research to pursue. Once we visited the “Cayman Turtle Farm Ltd.“, her mind was made up and her love for marine biology bloomed. The history of the turtle farm ... »
Did you know that the giraffe’s neck is proof of a god of some sort? Neither did I until a few years ago when I was becoming an atheist. I was surprised by how many times I saw information like the following from Project Creation: “…when a giraffe lowers its head to get a drink of water it would, without its specially designed features, literally blow out its brain because of the... »
Recently, I’ve been hearing more and more about salt therapies, or halotherapy, and its supposed benefits. According to the .pdf I just linked to in my opening sentence, “Salt Therapy is the best known method to detox lungs and remove toxins naturally. It is a drug-free, non-invasive treatment, that alleviates any symptoms of various upper and lower respiratory ailments by drying up an... »
While at the in-laws this weekend, I saw numerous hummingbirds fly to the feeder on the front porch. I happened to have my camera, so I went outside to snap a couple of photos. Unfortunately, every time I opened the door, the hummingbirds vanished. I’d sit on the porch, looking at the feeder through my camera, and eventually give up. Usually when I threw in the towel, I’d hear a buzzin... »
