Science Matters, Tom Siegfried
RSS feed for Tom Siegfried's columns.
Tom Siegfried is a science journalist who lives in Los Angeles. From 1985 to 2004 he was science editor of The Dallas Morning News, where he trained some of the nation's top science and medical writers. He is currently on the board of directors of the Council for the Advancement of Science Writing and is a contributor to the National Association of Science Writers' Field Guide for Science Writers.
Tom was born in Lakewood, Ohio, and grew up in nearby Avon. He earned an undergraduate degree from Texas Christian University with majors in journalism, chemistry and history, and has a master of arts with a major in journalism and a minor in physics from the University of Texas at Austin. He began his journalism career as a business and science writer for the Fort Worth Press and later served time on the journalism faculty at Texas Christian University before joining the Morning News. He is the author of The Bit and the Pendulum, from John Wiley & Sons (2000), and Strange Matters, from the Joseph Henry Press of the National Academy of Sciences (2002). His next book, A Beautiful Math, will be published by Joseph Henry Press in the fall of 2006.
Tom's work has earned various awards, most recently the American Geophysical Union’s Robert C. Cowen Award for Sustained Achievement in Science Journalism. Other awards include the Science-in Society award from the National Association of Science Writers, the American Association for the Advancement of Science-Westinghouse Award and the American Chemical Society's James T. Grady-James H. Stack Award for Interpreting Chemistry for the Public. He has also received awards from the Associated Press Managing Editors Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the Texas Headliners club. He is among the writers whose work was included in The Best American Science Writing 2004.
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Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: In science, beginnings never end up ending
[27 Sep 2007]
All good things must come to an end, they say, but it isn't true. (More...)
For nuclear waste help, call on gulls, fish, mussels and kelp
[13 Sep 2007]
Some people find sea gulls annoying, but they have their uses. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: With eating, sleeping and aging, timing is everything
[30 Aug 2007]
Life is all about three things - eating, sleeping and getting old. Think about it. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Celebrating science’s grandest discoveries before they’ve even happened
[16 Aug 2007]
Scientists are always celebrating past accomplishments. And why not? They've got a lot to celebrate. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: To conquer cancer, merge Chinese herbology with Western molecular magic
[2 Aug 2007]
All things considered, the war against cancer is going better than that other war in progress at the moment -- even though cancer research gets a lot less money. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Chemical clues to evolution’s mysteries make uncommon sense
[19 Jul 2007]
Evolution is complicated. That's why it took a genius -- namely, Charles Darwin -- to figure out how it happened. And that's also why so many people today have a hard time believing that it happened at all. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Wondering where the future comes from
[5 Jul 2007]
A question from a very young reader, as relayed by his mother: "Where does the future come from, mommy? I don't understand. How does it get here?" (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: ‘Unparticle’ matter may be the stuff that glues physics together
[21 Jun 2007]
In many ways, science is all about finding the meaning in the mysteries of math. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Avandia reveals risks when mixing math with medicine
[7 Jun 2007]
If you take Avandia for diabetes, or any medicine approved for anything, you perhaps have been alarmed when the media reports some previously undetected danger that might turn a life-saving drug into a killer. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Other science questions the candidates should be asked
[24 May 2007]
Applicants for George W. Bush's job have to go through a grueling process, such as being subjected to quiz questions during media events disguised as debates. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Languages survive by evolving to be learnable
[10 May 2007]
Over the years, the mysteriously rapid way in which humans learn language has given scientists a lot to talk about. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Shining light through sun and Earth would make axion a powerful particle
[26 Apr 2007]
Imagine what you could do if you could shine light through a wall. OK, maybe not much, unless you're a stage magician. But suppose you could shine light all the way through the Earth. Now you've got a communication system that would make WiFi seem like tin cans and a string. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Today’s fascinating universe faces a boring future
[12 Apr 2007]
Seeking immortality, as many writers have warned, is not such a good idea. There are too many negatives. Your friends will all die, you'll have to cope with global warming, and your Social Security payments will surely run out sooner or later. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Physicist finds way to escape from a universe trapped in time
[29 Mar 2007]
Time is nature's way of keeping everything from happening all at once, as Woody Allen became famous for saying. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Mystery of evolution’s origin may turn out to be a cosmic question
[15 Mar 2007]
For evolution to produce complicated forms of life, offspring must resemble their parents. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Experimenting with drugs reveals diversity of dangers
[1 Mar 2007]
Experimenting with drugs is bad, of course -- unless you have a control group and conduct a proper statistical analysis. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Mental magic comes from molecules, not mushrooms
[15 Feb 2007]
Not so long ago, college students used to think that the way to understanding the mind more deeply was with the famous hallucinogenic drug LSD. And maybe they were right. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: For safer cars and smarter robots, try insect mentality and slimy amoeba
[1 Feb 2007]
Insects are not very good at avoiding collisions with cars. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: 2007’s anniversaries celebrate science’s celebrities
[18 Jan 2007]
Before getting too deeply into the new year, it's always a good idea to look ahead and prepare for remembrance of deserving events. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Figuring out how brains became more important than brawn
[4 Jan 2007]
Human brains are capable of amazing things, including, perhaps, figuring out why human brains are so capable. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: In science, wonderful weirdness deserves its just awards
[21 Dec 2006]
The time has arrived to establish the weird idea awards. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Wormholes bring real science to fictional time travel
[7 Dec 2006]
If you've been to the new Denzel Washington movie DéjàVu, you probably had the feeling that you'd seen it before. Or at least that you'd seen one very much like it. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Beware the science news that’s not in the headlines
[24 Nov 2006]
If you've been living in a cave the last few weeks, you've been missing some amazing news from the world of science. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Grammar of genetics may help spell end of cancer
[9 Nov 2006]
The cause of cancer lies not in the stars (of that or any other constellation), but in the genes. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: As the worm turns, scientists learn about learning
[26 Oct 2006]
You can learn a lot about learning by learning how worms learn. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Physics Nobel celebrates the fireworks of cosmic origins
[12 Oct 2006]
It's too bad they don't celebrate the Nobel prizes with fireworks. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: For computing in the nanoworld, you need the magic of math
[28 Sep 2006]
From the math-actually-is-important department, here is today's problem: How do you program a computer if you're clueless about its innards? (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: A hundred years ago this month, Ludwig Boltzmann killed himself
[14 Sep 2006]
His death was a shock to science, as Boltzmann was one of the giants of physics. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Sensor molecules satisfy hunger for knowledge of body’s networks
[31 Aug 2006]
Hungry? Then it's time to eat. But how do you know the time is right? (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Life’s story starts with chemistry of the stars
[17 Aug 2006]
Physics is the flashy science, the stuff of stars and galaxies, the stuff of quantum mysteries and black holes, the stuff of, well, stuff in general. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Live, from the Web, it’s Saturday Night Science
[3 Aug 2006]
It will never make it as a live network TV show, but there is such a thing as Saturday Night Science. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: When seeking alien life, look for post-biological brains
[20 Jul 2006]
Communicating with extraterrestrial civilizations has always been a far out idea. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: For scientific status, consciousness needs numbers
[6 Jul 2006]
When scientists describe what they know about consciousness, their knowledge of the mysteries of the mind often seems rather meager and unsatisfactory -- which would not have come as a surprise to Lord Kelvin. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Deciphering matter’s strangeness is science’s strangest achievement
[22 Jun 2006]
If you're a devotee of vacationing in strange places, you'll surely want to visit the volcanoes in Hawaii, the Grand Canyon in Arizona, and the canals of Venice, Italy (or, for stranger still, spend a day people-watching at Venice Beach in California). (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Laws of power suggest that math can fight terror
[8 Jun 2006]
Ask a historian about the laws of power, and you'll probably hear two: 1. Power corrupts; 2. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. Ask a physicist, though, and you'll get some equations depicting what scientists refer to as "power laws." (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: For a religious conspiracy, Design beats Da Vinci
[25 May 2006]
When you get tired of all the flap over The Da Vinci Code, you can always return to biology. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Monkeys see and think, so humans see and speak
[11 May 2006]
Whoever said "monkey see, monkey do," wasn't watching monkeys very closely. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Astronomers are moonstruck over life on other worlds
[27 Apr 2006]
People hoping to find life on distant planets might as well be asking for the moon. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Assumptions are repulsive, especially about gravity
[13 Apr 2006]
It's a terrible mistake, journalists are taught from their youth, to assume anything. If somebody says "what goes up must come down," you should check it out. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: The Big Bang’s Big 5 Mysteries
[30 Mar 2006]
For a patient that is 13.7 billion year old, the universe is in pretty good health. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Magnetism enhances attractiveness of nanoscience
[16 Mar 2006]
Size does matter, and smaller is better. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Math finally counts for something on TV
[2 Mar 2006]
ST. LOUIS - David Krumholtz is not a real mathematician, he just plays one on TV. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Sex appeal of humor is no joke
[16 Feb 2006]
Evolution's mantra has always been "survival of the fittest," not "survival of the funniest." In humans, though, a sense of humor seems to have evolved anyway. For some reason, funny is fit. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Who says physics is boring?
[2 Feb 2006]
Physicists commonly embark on fantastic adventures, exploring the inner complexity of the atom, the vastness of the cosmos, even parallel universes or undiscovered dimensions of space and time. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Testosterone on the brain means smarter living through chemistry
[19 Jan 2006]
To hear some women talk, you'd think testosterone makes men stupid. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Secret of sleep may solve mysteries of life
[5 Jan 2006]
Scientists have long dreamed of discovering the reason why animals need to sleep. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Don’t throw the stem cells out with the fraud
[22 Dec 2005]
If you think the news media don't cover science enough, now is the season to rejoice. Stem cells have been in the headlines lately almost as much as torture and Tom DeLay. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Sleeptime songs suggest that brain is wired for musical sound
[8 Dec 2005]
Popular music has always been obsessed with dreams. Since dreams turn up in music all the time, it's only fair that music should sometimes entertain the sleeping brain by intruding into dreams. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: With countless universes, you can dispense with designer definitions
[24 Nov 2005]
If you call a tail a leg, Abraham Lincoln once asked, how many legs does a dog have? Five? No, said Lincoln. Four. Calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg. It's still a tail. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Failure at math is a disaster for society
[10 Nov 2005]
For some reason, 2005 has been the year of living dangerously. Or maybe for no reason at all. Maybe it's just bad luck, with random earthquakes and hurricanes just striking with more power and ferocity than usual. Bad things happen. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Thought’s super powers emerge from teamwork in the brain
[27 Oct 2005]
When Superman needed time to think, he retreated to his Fortress of Solitude. Thought, after all, is a solitary activity. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Einstein’s sensational science showed imagination exceeds sensation
[13 Oct 2005]
Anyone who pays attention to science is probably tired of hearing that 2005 has been denoted the World Year of Physics. Please try to stay awake a little longer. The year is almost over, and the real message hasn't quite gotten through. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: Communication skills make it a dog’s world
[29 Sep 2005]
Apart from tricking dogs into salivating when a bell rings, scientists have not generally paid much attention to man's best friend. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: The Truth is, Science Has Its Limits
[15 Sep 2005]
For millions of Americans, the "doctor's office" is the emergency room. But most problems can't be solved at the first visit, and those patients are "referred" to clinics for necessary follow-up care. (More...)
Science Matters, Tom Siegfried: In science, common sense is not a golden rule
[1 Sep 2005]
Which weighs more, an ounce of gold or an ounce of lead? (More...)
