Neil deGrasse Tyson (and why I love him!)

Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson [1] is America’s nattiest nerd, its chicest geek! He’s a sharp-looking scientist. A trendy twerp. He looks great. He is handsome and well-spoken, funny, witty and charming. And he’s smart. Sweet Lord in heaven, is he ever smart! (America’s most dapper dweeb!) He’s the kind of smart that takes very complicated super-brainy [...]

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Ring Around the Moon

Earlier this month (February 7, to be exact), was the Jewish holiday of Tu B’Shevat. Like some other Jewish holidays, it occurs on a full moon. But unlike Purim (the following full moon), Passover (the next full moon after that) or Succot (either a Harvest Moon or Hunter Moon), the Tu B’Shevat full moon happens [...]

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Partners in Torah

A few weeks ago, I signed up with a program called Partners in Torah. It is run by that fabulous adult Jewish education organization, Aish HaTorah. [1] The premise is quite simple. People who, for various reasons, cannot get together with a study partner to learn Torah, Jewish history, Hebrew, Talmud, Halacha (Jewish law), and [...]

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Rock Paper Scissors Lizard Spock

For those of you unfamiliar with this delightful improvement on the old Rock Paper Scissors selection method, let me quote from Wikipedia: Rock-Paper-Scissors-Lizard-Spock is a five-gesture expansion of the classic selection method game rock-paper-scissors. It operates on the same basic principle, but includes two additional weapons: the lizard (formed by the hand as a sock-puppet-like [...]

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Materialistic Couples Have More Problems!

Several recent studies over the last few years have suggested that money is not the key to happiness. Now while it is admittedly hard to maintain a sunny disposition under conditions of grinding poverty, once basic needs are met such as food, shelter, clothing, and so on, having more and more money and more and [...]

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Bees Use Sign Language to Give Hornets the Finger!

We all know that bees do the most amazing things. They set up intricate societies. They wage war on other bee colonies. They clear their beehives of debris and dead bee bodies. But perhaps one of their most famous talents is the ability to communicate with other bees by means of a ‘wiggle dance’ by [...]

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Nanny Shortage Leads to ‘Nanny Poaching!’

It is a sad day indeed when someone poaches your nanny. Let me say right off the bat that I’ve been extremely lucky with all of the nannies I’ve hired over the years for Exhibits One and Two when they were mere tots. Each one better than the next with not a clunker in the [...]

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Exhibit Two Turns 20 Today (The Big Shot!)

Just when I barely got my mind around the fact that my son, Exhibit Two, was no longer five years old and was, in actual fact, a teenager… he turns 20!! (My son with his sister, the lovely Exhibit One) It seems hardly fair, to my mind. For those of you who think that you [...]

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Just in Time for Valentine’s Day: The Science Behind the Kiss!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Sheril Kirshenbaum [1], science writer and author of the recent book, The Science of Kissing: What Our Lips Are Telling Us, sheds light on exactly what goes on biologically when we lock lips. Kissing basically “acts like a drug by stimulating the natural chemicals in our bodies, yet unlike other [...]

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Cricket Fossil Reveals Jurassic Love Song!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day… Fossil Cricket Reveals Jurassic Love Song Yes, those love-besotted geeks over at ScienceDaily.com have spared every expense in bringing us this heart-warming tale of prehistoric passion. [Present day Katydid (Tettigonia viridissima)] The nerdlings gush, “The love song of an extinct cricket that lived 165 million years ago has been [...]

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