Full moon eclipse photo

During last night’s full moon (lunar) eclipse, most of Hawaii and California was socked in under heavy rain clouds caused by a major storm on the Pineapple Express. The best photo I’ve seen of the eclipse comes from NASA. A lunar eclipse occurs when the earth moves between the sun and the moon and casts [...]

A liver attack leads to a simpler life

What happens when an otherwise perfectly healthy woman suffers near liver failure? Find out in this essay published today the New York Times Science Times. It’s entitled “The night my liver started running my life and was written by former Maui-based science writer Genevive Bjorn, who is also the main author of this blog and [...]

Now reading The Daily Smell

No, it’s not a fart, but it feels just as good. The Daily Smell is a fun new blog about the sense of smell written by my alter-ego, the Scentinelle, who has a secret power to smell all kinds of crazy stuff. The first post sets up the story. A sneak preview of tomorrow’s post [...]

Observing around Keck’s laser beam

The dome of the WM Keck Observatory, located atop Mauna Kea on Hawaii’s Big Island, opened just past sunset yesterday for a night of routine observing. Part of the nightly routine for some Keck astronomers is aiming and shooting a laser beam into night sky. The laser shoots high into earth’s upper atmosphere, creating an [...]

Fake journals and copyright takeover: Why the public should care about open access to published scientific results

Open access week” sounds suspiciously like a boondoggle, not unlike “dairy week” or “safety week”. Is this just another excuse for meetings, punch and cookies, or is there something more to the issue?