The Beginning of the End of the Republican Congress: Chaffetz vs. Allen

In Health Care Insurance Reform We See The History of the Republican Party Very few American policy initiatives have been as popular as Obamacare. The fact that several years of Republican opposition to the Affordable Care Act did not result in any alternative policies or specific revisions to the law suggest that Republicans were aware…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/03/09/jason-chaffetz-vs-dr-kathryn-allen/

How Does the Asian Fruit Fly Ruin Crops? And How Do We Stop It?

There is some interesting new research out on the Asian Fruit Fly, Drosophila suzukii. The short version: This sort of fruit fly ruins fruit crops because it prefers to, and is able to, lay its eggs on harder, firmer, unrotten, and, essentially, ripe fruit, thus ruining it. Regular fruit flies focus on rotten fruit such…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/03/09/how-does-the-asian-fruit-fly-ruin-crops-and-how-do-we-stop-it/

Earliest Tornado in Minnesota

It is now verified that the earliest 2017 tornados — first tornados of the season — struck several communities in east-central Minnesota (a few miles north and south of me). So what you say? Especially because it was a mere F1 and didn’t hurt anyone! This is an important event because the earliest recorded tornado…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/03/08/earliest-tornado-in-minnesota/

How the nose knows: Neurobiology of odor detection

How doe a mammal know what a smell is, and more importantly, how does a mammal learn new smells? Recent research suggests that different kinds of neurons reorganize in novel ways in response to olfactory signals to produce an olfactory memory. Below is a video made by the research team that explains this. If that…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/03/08/how-the-nose-knows-neurobiology-of-odor-detection/

I’m 100% certain this is the way Trump’s presidency will end

The Crisis We Await The exact way the Trump presidency ends is not clear. Anything could happen. Trump had zero idea of what he was getting into with this president thing, and the stresses must be amazing. Clearly, he is being driven over the edge by relatively minor day to day events. Nothing has yet…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/03/07/im-100-certain-this-is-the-way-trumps-presidency-will-end/

End of Nature, First Americans

Book note: There are two books you may want to check out because, for the moment (Tuesday, March 7th is the moment), they are deeply discounted at Amazon: Kindle version for two bucks: The End of Nature Kindle version for three bucks: The First Americans I also want to note that Shawn Otto’s book, “The…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/03/07/end-of-nature-first-americans/

Reconnecting with an old friend on Facebook. Or not.

When I was a little, there was this older kid that lived down the street, and he was shunned by all the other kids. He was shunned because he went to a special school for smart kids. Most everyone else went to either the local Catholic school (as did I) or the public school several…

source http://scienceblogs.com/gregladen/2017/03/06/reconnecting-with-an-old-friend-on-facebook-or-not/