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I started ‘CommonScienceSpace’ over 8 years ago, and this will probably be the last post. Of the 66 posts, a number are related to the broad theme of how new stuff is discovered, and the science behind it. In that vein, let me tell you a story.

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The smell of sweet clover

Sixty years ago, back in the last millennium, I was a student at the University of Alberta, finishing up a four-year degree in Chemistry.… Read the rest “Dead rats and a living president”

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How long can you expect to live? The answer to that question is all about statistics and probabilities: some of us will die this year, some of us will live to 100. But what, exactly, do the statistics folks mean by ‘life expectancy’? It turns out to be a little complicated.

‘Life expectancy at birth’, a term we often see, doesn’t represent anything real: it’s a statistical creation. But when you understand it, it makes sense.… Read the rest “life expectancy — what does it mean?”