Philippe Matthews Show Guru Advice, Author Reviews, Tech Reviews, Entertainment News

This Friday (Nov.

Male nursery web spiders often woo potential lady-friends with gifts wrapped in silk. Mating may ensue, during which a female unspools the present, expecting to find a tasty treat

Climate change can influence how infectious diseases affect the world, particularly illnesses spread by vectors like mosquitoes. Now scientists have developed some understanding about how rainfall and temperature can influence malaria, dengue and West Nile virus infections as well as ways to combat them

By Meredith Wadman of Nature magazine The largest and most high-profile chimpanzee research centre in the United States has acknowledged to Nature that 137 infant chimpanzees have been born to federally owned animals under its care since 2000, despite a government moratorium on such births. [More]

A new network of observatories aims to take ecological science to the continental scale in the next 30 years. The National Science Foundation–sponsored network, called the National Ecological Observatory Network , or NEON, will link 20 field stations selected to provide data from 20 distinct U.S. biomes as well as 40 portable stations that can be moved from site to site

By Ivan Semeniuk of Nature magazine The most fractious and combative US Congress in recent memory is getting on with approving a 2012 budget--although perhaps only so that it can move more swiftly to the next battlefield. [More]

* Amount of CO2 rose by 2.3 ppm to 389 ppm in 2010 * Fossil fuel use, agriculture main drivers [More]

By Charlie Dunmore BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union's executive Monday proposed a blanket ban on shark finning, in which the fins are sliced off sharks, often while they are alive, and their carcasses dumped in the sea. [More]

courtesy of iStockphoto/zanskar Weakening eyesight can be sharpened with lenses, and impaired hearing can be improved with aids. What about a failing sense of smell ? [More]

Naomi Oreskes is a science historian, professor at the University of California, San Diego, and co-author (with Erik Conway) of "Merchants of Doubt," a book that examined how a handful of scientists obscure the facts on a range of issues, including tobacco use and climate change.

One hundred years ago, an American pharmacist named Wilbur Scoville developed a scale to measure the intensity of a pepper s burn. The scale as you can see on the widely used chart to the left puts sweet bell peppers at the zero mark and the blistering habanero at up to 350,000 Scoville Units

Michael Rooker only needed a handful of scenes to turn Merle Dixon into a fanboy favorite. But it was his real-world commitment to bringing the character to life that gave the AMC series its watercooler buzz.

Are we biologically inclined to couple for life?

Strong interpersonal relationships have been shown to ward off drug addiction, and new clues as to why come from prairie voles--rodents that form long-term, monogamous bonds with their mates. [More]

By Eric Hand of Nature magazine It is sometimes said that Mike Malin knows Mars better than anyone else on Earth. [More]