For today’s edition of Anything Can Happen Thursday, I’m welcoming award-winning children’s author, Mary Cronk Farrell. Mary’s passion is little-known heroines of American history, and her newest book is Pure Grit: How American World War II Nurses Survived Battle ... Read More  

By a strange twist of fate, I’ve been reading and watching a lot of stories that feature scientists lately, and I have determined that there are only two types of scientists in fiction: 1) The mostly-harmless/absent-minded professor/mad scientist type ... Read More  

My dad is a baby magnet. Kids absolutely love him. We’ll be out at a restaurant, and every child in the room will stare at him like he’s been dipped in sugar and covered in Tonka Trucks. Which is ... Read More  

Nix Humbolt doesn’t talk much. Though at fifteen he’s taller and leaner than in his "Fatty Humbolt" days, he still lies low at school. At home Nix finds refuge in his father’s workshop where he builds intricate boxes and ... Read More  

Although there were several days when death, or at least, unconsciousness, seemed like a much better alternative than continuing to experience the virus from Hades. This was me for the last two weeks: only I was considerably less attractive, ... Read More  

I can’t post the video here because it was illicitly uploaded to YouTube, but I highly recommend you take 6.5 minutes to watch this Disney Cartoon in which Donald Duck explains some exceptionally cool math relating to the Golden Mean ... Read More  

Deadline on Monday and a field trip for the photography class I’m taking mean something’s gotta give, and this weekend it’s the blog. I’ve got a guest post up at Sci/Why, though, a blog packed full of science geekery, ... Read More  

When Ben Tomlin's mother brings home his "new baby brother," an eight-day-old chimpanzee, Ben is far from thrilled. His father, a renowned behavioural scientist, has uprooted the family and moved them halfway across the country, to Victoria, B.C., so ... Read More  

Instead of Romeo and Juliet, my 10th grade English teacher made us read Shakespeare’s Richard III. These days about all I remember is “A horse, a horse, my kingdom for a horse,” and that creepy Elizabethan belief that wicked ... Read More  

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2k1aoLAMRMc   Instead, I’m up to my neck in revisions and photo research for my next project, I signed up for a web conference that I don’t have time to actually take, and my filing cabinet has exploded all ... Read More  

So Tech Support was working up in Cape Breton and called me while driving* the Cabot Trail. Me: (jealously) Seen any good animals this trip? Tech Support: (ranty) You know, everywhere I’ve stopped people keep saying “Oh, watch out ... Read More  

Many dog lovers are aware of the problems with purebreds. “Pure breeding” involves mating animals with desirable characteristics within the same breed of dog, be they chihuahuas or golden retrievers. These closed gene pools lead to inbreeding, which increases ... Read More  

Three people shared this video with me on Facebook this week, and since I am sick right now, and most of my coherent thoughts are drowning in the sloshiness inside my sinuses, I’m passing it on. This fox is ... Read More  

If you’re sharing my rage over gender bias in the toy industry, you should check out Chuck Wendig’s post on the subject. Be warned: he uses bad words that do not appear on my blog. But he’s also insightful ... Read More  

Here’s a fun fact. When automobiles were first introduced, they were hailed as a solution to pollution – the pollution left by horses all over the streets. Here’s another one. Three types of propulsion were used for early automobiles, ... Read More  

Have you ever had a back spasm so bad you couldn’t stand up straight? I have. I was bent over in an L-shape for about a week, in the kind of pain where you decide it’s better go hungry ... Read More  

Was anyone else infuriated when Lego introduced “Lego for girls”? I was. Original Lego is in bright primary colours, encourages kids to use their imaginations, teaches basic engineering skills, and is filled with characters that storm castles and conquer ... Read More  

  Some seriously cool stuff has been happening in the world of science lately, so instead of listening to me blather, check out some of these stories: Gene therapy restores sight in people with eye disease Found: A lost ... Read More