Alan Burdick's Blog, page 3

How to Make a Fruit Fly Orgasm

Alan Burdick on a new study about orgasms in male fruit flies.

The Marriage-Saving Robot That Can Assemble IKEA Furniture, Sort Of

Alan Burdick examines a robot that is capable of assembling a simple IKEA chair in about twenty minutes using a suite of grippers, force sensors, and 3-D cameras to perform ���fast, collision-free motions in a highly cluttered environment.���

Stephen Hawking Was a Living Metaphor for the Scientific Endeavor

Alan Burdick remembers the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, whose decades-long struggle with the degenerative illness A.L.S. shaped not only his thinking but also the public���s reception of his ideas.

Donald Trump���s Know-Nothing Science Budget

Alan Burdick discusses President Trump���s proposed 2019 science budget, which includes cuts to a wide range of government-funded efforts, from disease prevention to climate-change research, and examines the Administration���s poor track record with fact and truth.

Seeing the Invisible World with the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

Alan Burdick discusses the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, which was awarded to Jacques Dubochet, Joachim Frank, and Richard Henderson, for pioneering the technique known as cryo-electron microscopy.

Why the Last Snow on Earth May Be Red

Alan Burdick discusses a recent study in Nature Geoscience concerning ���watermelon snow��� and its relationship with climate change.

The A.I. ���Gaydar��� Study and the Real Dangers of Big Data

Alan Burdick discusses a controversial recent study by Michal Kosinski and Yilun Wang that uses facial-recognition technology to identify people���s sexual orientation.

Saying Goodbye to Cassini, the NASA Mission That Transformed Our Understanding of the Solar System

Alan Burdick discusses the end, on September 15, 2017, of NASA���s Cassini mission to Saturn, which expanded humanity���s understanding of where life might be found in the solar system.

Our Weather-Prediction Models Keep Getting Better, and Hurricane Irma Is the Proof

Alan Burdick discusses how an array of new satellites and advanced computer models has improved the storm-tracking capabilities of the U.S. and other countries.

The Total Solar Eclipse We Deserve

Alan Burdick discusses the so-called Great American Eclipse of 2017���what it will be like, what it means, and why we need it.