Author Archives

• Dutch Men and Latvian Women are the Tallest

  By Ron Clouse on Jul 25, 2016, 21:51 • ( 0 )

  

    A new study by an enormous team of scientists, published in the journal eLife, shows that the Netherlands has, on average, the tallest men in the world (a bit over six feet), and Latvia the tallest women (around five feet, seven inches)…. Read More ›

• Who Spends A Whole Day Reading A Dictionary?

  By Ron Clouse on Jun 5, 2016, 21:11 • ( 7 )

  

  Imagine my surprise to see that someone read every page of my invertebrate glossary one day via Kindle. That’s great; I sure hope I helped some student pass his or her final exams. But isn’t it strange to read so many pages… Read More ›

• What Constitutes a Good Story?

  By Ron Clouse on May 16, 2016, 10:44 • ( 0 )

  

  I’ve been doing some research for a project and received two autobiographies in the mail last week. God, they’re unreadable. Both men worked with Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and saw the revolution of the UK economy up close during the… Read More ›

• Shhhh … Secret Citation

  By Ron Clouse on May 4, 2016, 11:53 • ( 0 )

  

  Often when I have a new citation I like to see which of my papers was cited and why. In many cases someone is writing about an advancement to a problem I was working on, so it’s interesting to see the new results…. Read More ›

• Penmanship

  By Ron Clouse on Apr 25, 2016, 09:41 • ( 0 )

  The more I sit at the computer to communicate, the worse my handwriting becomes. I’m buying extra birthday cards now, just in case my signature in one is so bad I can’t bear to send it. And the mortality rate on… Read More ›

• Scientific Paper with a One-Word Title

  By Ron Clouse on Apr 16, 2016, 19:46 • ( 0 )

  What else do you entitle a paper announcing you’ve found a new amino acid? Selenocysteine. Stadtman, T.C. Abstract Selenocysteine is recognized as the 21st amino acid in ribosome-mediated protein synthesis and its specific incorporation is directed by the UGA codon. Unique… Read More ›

• Tim’s Addictive Videos

  By Ron Clouse on Apr 15, 2016, 08:12 • ( 0 )

  Judging from this article, I’m a latecomer to the videos of Tim Rowett of Grand Illusions toy shop, but better late than never!  The faulty calculator reminds me of an early cell phone I had, which I discovered could not accurately… Read More ›

• Attention to Detail: Nightmare Stories

  By Ron Clouse on Apr 14, 2016, 18:05 • ( 0 )

  

  rm -rf If you’ve ever wondered how to destroy an entire company with four letters and a dash, a certain Mr. Marsala will soon be giving seminars on the subject. As someone wrote in response to his technical query on a public… Read More ›