The Science of Why We Watch (Or Don't Watch) Horror Movies
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Why do some people love horror movies, some people stay far clear from them, and some people remain relatively indifferent? A lot comes down to science.
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A Bottle Drifting in a Plastic Ocean
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On November 5, the Bruce Museum will be showing the documentary film A Plastic Ocean at its Seaside Center. At our current rate of plastic dumping, by 2050 we will have more plastic in the ocean than fish. The more we learn about the amount and effects of plastic in the ocean, the more serious the situation appears.
Read MoreHow to Perform Inception: Science on the Silver Screen
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In July, Dr. Hoplight came to the Bruce Museum to lead a discussion on the movie Inception. As it turned out, not only was Dr. Hoplight well versed on the science of Inception, he is an adept practitioner of inception as well. How do you perform inception? It's a lot more easily than you'd think.
Read MoreAlien Entomology: Science on the Silver Screen
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Our expert for Alien in our Science on the Silver Screen film series was Dr. Matt Frye. Dr. Frye is an entomologist, a scientist who studies insects. The alien xenomorphs might be from another planet, but they have a very insect-like lifecycle and many insect-like body features as well. They are also something else that Dr. Frye has experience with: Parasitoids. This article is adapted from his presentation, and discusses the biology of the deadly xenomorph alien.
Read MoreHow to Save the Earth from an Asteroid Without Blowing Anything Up
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Asteroids 10 km (~6 miles) in diameter strike the Earth every 50 to 100 million years. That puts us in the golden window of expecting another extinction-level extraterrestrial impact, though none appear likely in the near future. However, if we did spot a dangerous asteroid, there are more ways to deflect it than nuclear strikes, some of which are quite bizarre and entertaining.
Read MoreThe Power of Placebo: When Surgical Benefits Are All in the Mind
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Thought is a powerful thing, powerful enough to have dramatic effects on our bodies and health. while it’s become commonplace to compare medicines to placebos, there are other medical treatments that usually go forward without this placebo testing. One field that rarely involves placebo testing is surgery. The idea of testing placebo surgeries may seem absurd, but given the risky nature of surgery, it is vitally important to make certain that surgical interventions do what they’re supposed to.
Read MoreA New Bruce Discovery – The Little Morning Bird
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Tsidiiyazhi abini, a fossil bird newly described by the Bruce Museum’s science curator, Dr. Daniel Ksepka, may be only the size of a house sparrow, but it’s making big news. The paper was published a day ago in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, and has since spread everywhere from local Greenwich papers to the BBC.
Read MoreNuisance to Nutrient: The Journey of Saharan dust from Africa to Amazonia
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In the Sahara Desert, dust dominates. From Morocco to Sudan, strong winds continuously pick up dust from the desert floor and loft it into the air, decreasing air quality and exacerbating health problems for millions of people. However, this very same dust that is a detriment to the people of the Sahara is a crucial component to human and ecosystem health in Amazonia. Why and how does this happen? There's something very special lurking in that dust.
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