The SciSchmooze

Lili Galilean
9 March 2025

Greetings science fans!

The international table tennis circuit is currently witnessing a “French Renaissance” at the table. Brothers Félix and Alexis Lebrun—the world’s most exciting duo—have disrupted the global rankings, becoming the first Europeans in years to truly challenge the long-standing dominance of the Chinese national team (Felix Lebrun vs Lin Shidong: spin highlights).

At 19 and 22, the Lebrun brothers are proving that elite technique is as much about the “hardware” as the hand. Félix has revitalized the penhold grip—a style once deemed too delicate for the modern power game—using its inherent wrist flexibility to execute aggressive, close-to-the-table “flicks.” This high-speed tactic is

The SciSchmooze

Dave Almandsmith
2 March 2026

Greetings again, friends of science,
Kwaziwai zvakare, shamwari dzesainzi,
[15 million people speak Shona, one of 16 official languages of Zimbabwe.]

When the Environmental Protection Agency repealed the ‘2009 Greenhouse Gas Endangerment Finding’ in February, it was abundantly clear it was done to favor the fossil fuel industry. That’s hardly surprising since 85% of oil and gas PAC money went to

Bob Siederer
23 February 2026

Hello again Science Fans!

Let’s start with a little biological history. On this date in 1997, scientists in Scotland announced that they had successfully cloned a mammal for the first time. The animal was a sheep named Dolly, shown above with the embryologist who led the cloning research. Dolly was born on July 5, 1996, but public announcement wasn’t made until February 22, 1997. Dolly was cloned using a cell taken from a mammary gland of an adult sheep, and was named after country music singer Dolly Parton, proving the Scotts have a sense of humor. She went on to give birth to six normal lambs and was euthanized at the age of six due to lung disease unrelated to her cloning. Dolly’s preserved body is on exhibit at the National Museum of Scotland since 2003, the year of he

SciSchmooze
Kishore Hari
16 February 202

Hello again, friends of science!

Valentine’s Day was yesterday, but the science of love doesn’t take a day off.

Just in time for the season, UC Berkeley’s Greater Good Science Center launched a wonderful new podcast series: The Science of Love, hosted by Geena Davis. Over three episodes, the series explores how love is expressed through caregiving, friendship, romantic attachment, and shared experience, and how these connections leave measurable effects on the brain, body, and even the microbiome. It’s a beautiful reminder that love is far bigger than romance.

SciSchmooze
Lili Galilean
9 February 2026

I am writing to you today with a mix of excitement and big shoes to fill. I am officially joining the SciSchmooze team, and my first order of business is to say a massive thank you to Herb Masters.

If you know Herb, you know he is the gravitational center of this community. Whether he was engaging the public as a long-time volunteer at the Exploratorium or advocating for critical thinking as a Board Member of the Bay Area Skeptics, Herb has always championed the idea that science should be accessible, rigorous, and—crucially—fun.

In fact, that is exactly how we met. It wasn’t at a stuffy lecture or a

Dave Almandsmith
2 February 2026

Welcome, glad you are reading this.
Mwaniriziddwa, musanyufu nti osoma bino.
[Over 10 million people speak Luganda in Uganda.]

Subscribe to the SciSchmooze at Bay Area Science. Heck, sign up your friends too. It’s free. 

Reid, Christina, Jeremy, and Victor are leaving for the Moon next Sunday. Their spacecraft will loop around the Moon twice and return to Earth on or about February 19th. However, those dates could be pushed back out of an abundance of caution.

Here is a

Bob Siederer
26 January 2026

Hello again Science Fans!

Before we get into the news, here are my recommendations for this week:

1. COP30 Debrief: Reflecting on Belém and the Road Ahead - Livestream, Tuesday 1/27 at 11:00 AM
2. admin's Blog Add new comment Read More

Kishore Hari
19 January 2026

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked this question over half a century ago, and it remains as vital today as ever. Tomorrow, we honor his legacy on ML

Bob Siederer
12 January 2026

Hello again Science Fans!

2026 is certainly off to a wild start. From the kidnapping of Venezuala’s president and his wife by the US Government, to the ICE killing of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis, to the psuedo-science surrounding the new inverted food pyramid, there has hardly been a quiet minute. And, of course, those aren’t the only three things that happened in the last two weeks.

The Christmas Eve rain and wind storm did very signifigant damage to Lick Observatory, a Bay Area landmark atop Mt. Hamilton. Winds that reached 114 mph 

Hello again, friends of science,
Bongu mill-ġdid, ħbieb tax-xjenza,
[Spoken on Malta, Maltese is an Arabic dialect with some vocabulary borrowed from Sicilian, Italian, and English.]

It’s a new year. Our Earth completed another circuit of Sol, our star, the Sun.

The Sun, traveling at 828,000 k/hr around our Galaxy’s center, completed another 0.00000156th of a degree. Since its formation, our Solar System has made almost exactly 20 circuits of the Galaxy; each circuit taking about 230 million years.

Good news:  There are over 250 active lawsuits against the Trump Administration. Many of those aim to counter its assaults on climate initiatives and medical scien