The Scientific Blogging headquarters in Folsom, California, was raided by police Wednesday after an apparent feng shui violation.

Federal law prohibits the 'feng shui jam factor' from being under five out of ten on the electromagnetic spectrometer thingy.

The surprise visit by undercover feng shui police to the Scientific Blogging wing of the ION offices resulted in their grading the violation as an obvious science 2.0. Fearless leader of the science media revolution Hank Campbell is under investigation for his role in significantly lowering the feng shui standard.

When asked if he felt bad killing the hundreds of oysters he serves daily at the popular Brophy Brothers Seafood Restaurant in Santa Barbara 28 year-old Andy Vogel, an employee for ten years, said the thought hadn't crossed his mind.

Oysters are not just something made into a shooter and served at a bar. Scientifically they can change sexes multiple times during their life, historically they have been consumed since prehistoric times, commercially they produce a tiny and valuable thing called a pearl and nutritionally they are one of the healthiest foods around.

In the beginning of his career at Brophy Brothers Vogel said acquiring various nicks and cuts while learning how to shuck an oyster was common. Luckily, he has never been injured badly which is good since the hundreds of oysters sold daily are lucrative.

If Leopold de Rothschild, Sir Winston Churchill, or the 5th Earl of Lonsdale were alive today their supreme goal would be to eliminate stress from the world with a nice smoke.

At the Tobacco Republic, in Loomis, California, such a place exists.

In this sort of separate universe where the motto is "Every cigar is like a mini vacation," one of the owners, Ron, tells the story of his first experience with cigars, in his usual calm demeanor, which can be fittingly compared to the alluring effect of cigar smoke.

"I stood there and watched them roll the cigar," Ron reflected on his monumental cigar experience in Florida where he grew up. "I was always an anti-smoker," something that he based on his perception of cigarettes.

If the "Book of Science" were written by a kid it would start by answering some basic questions:

1) How was the universe started?

2) Why do girls put on make-up?

3) Where and when was science first used in the world?

Just as the world keeps spinning, so does the list of questions about science from kids, in this case, one seventh-grade science class taught by Kim Swayze who teaches middle-school science at E.V. Cain in Auburn, CA.

Her students questions reflect concepts and emotions that many other teachers have seen their students grappling with as well.

The popular phrase, "I have nipples, Greg, could you milk me?" from the 2000 movie "Meet the Parents", is similar to the widely held belief that tomatoes, because of their seeds, are really fruits instead of vegetables.

Botanically, tomatoes are fruits but cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkins, nuts, corn, peppers, peas, and other vegetation that may not seem like it also fit into this fruity category.

Botanists define fruit as any part of a plant that contains both its seed and the ovary that produce that seed. However, of all the botanically fruity plant pieces we commonly call 'vegetables', tomatoes are one food with an especially controversial history of classification.

Five years ago, Edith had a problem: Her goldfish of 25 years, Mr. Fish, had dropsy, a disease characterized by a swollen or hollow abdomen and in most cases fatal. In her last attempt to save her pet, on a whim, Edith wrote a message on GoldfishConnection asking for help.

Rick G. Copeland, the specialist at the goldfish site, recommended some Medi-Gold pellets. Two years later, at age 27, Mr. Fish swam around his tank as if his close call with death never happened.

Mr. Fish may not have the 49 year-old record of the oldest goldfish ever, but he's working on it. In the meantime, Mr. Fish is competing with the millions of other pet goldfish around the world.

It’s almost as if the grape varietal known in the U.S. as Isabella is being hidden, protected, or that the E.U. ban on Fragolino, made from Isabella grapes, is a hint that this North American grape said to have transported the phylloxera to Europe in the early 1800’s, is cursed.

Also known in over 50 aliases including Raisin De Cassis, Fragola, Framboisier, Alexander and Black Cape, it is many times mistaken in Italy for the Clinton grape for a variety of reasons, most importantly having to do with its strawberry oriented taste and immunity to the grape killing pest phylloxera.

All Native American vitis labrusca species are immune to the pale yellow phylloxera insects. The dark purple skinned Isabella grape, necessary in the creation of Fragolino wine, was born out of its cross with an unknown European vitis vinifera. It has a powerful strawberry taste, hence its name Fragolino—fragole meaning strawberry in Italian.

In a perfect zoo there is Zoo Doo.

Some zoos in the U.S. offer an exotic way to fertilize their gardens through a unique method of recycling waste from zoo animals.

At the Louisville Zoo in Kentucky where the mix is called Zoo Poopy Doo, the product consists of hoof stock manure from animals including elephants, rhinos, camels and giraffes. This is blended with hay, straw and wood shavings.

The product was first introduced at the Louisville Zoo by Assistant Director Mark Zoeller. Experts at the zoo say it gets its appeal by improving the aeration of the soil and increasing root penetration and water retention, which together reduces crusting of the soil surface.

Last April the Zoo celebrated its novel recycling technique in the form of Zoo Poopy Doo by holding festival sale Saturdays honoring the exotic fertilizer. The sale Saturdays that extended into May were held in the parking lot of the zoo where interested persons could support the zoo and recycling for $30 a scoop.

On the 17th of June 2008, The Richard Green Library, a collection of rare scientific books was put up for bid by Christi’s Auction House.

Of the 289 lots sold totaling $11,019,688 the most notable was De revolutionibus orbium coelestium libri V, 1543 (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres), the seminal work, by Nicolaus Copernicus, in which he explained his theory of heliocentricity.

The book, which is often referenced as the beginning of modern astronomy was sold for $2,210,500, the most expensive of the lot.

A $2500 bottle of Château Latour wine that scored a 98 on the Wine Spectator point scale is not for amateurs. The sobering business of the high end wine trade involves scientists on a variety of different levels. One big problem is that wine—especially superb wine—goes bad. A chemist at U.C. Davis has found a way to tell if a bottle is fit for the Queen of England, or for the Queen of Wishful Thinking.

In the basement of the chemistry building at U.C. Davis, associate professor Matthew Augustine works with a unique nuclear magnetic resonance device of which there are only two in the U.S. Besides being able to do things like locating liquid explosives in sealed containers such as turpentine and nitro glycerin, Augustine has used the NMR to test the quality of wine.

A middle school in East Harlem recently implemented a new invention in the area of rules. It can be described in two words—attendance court. In the area of tardiness, truant individuals may be able to add science as another excuse to their ongoing list.

“Telling a late person just to be on time is a little like telling a dieter to simply stop eating so much,” is a widely used quote from the San Francisco time management consultant Diana DeLonzor’s book "Never Be Late Again: 7 Cures for the Punctually Challenged." It is so simple that it’s a concept easily overlooked.

In her book DeLonzor attacks the issue of what she calls a "lifelong habit" as more than just a matter of poor time management, or rudeness.

Being late is something that DeLonzor suggests has a sort of appeal. “Repetitive lateness is more often related to personality characteristics such as anxiety or a penchant for thrill-seeking,” she writes. “Some people are drawn to the adrenaline rush of that last minute sprint to the finish line, while others receive an ego boost from over-scheduling and filling each moment with activity.”

One way to help save the world is to buy a Prius for $20,000 but the fact remains that it still uses gas.

The next vehicle in line, which crosses the half-way point between gas and electric, is the PHEV. The vehicle has a bigger electrical engine meaning it is more efficient because of its capability to use more electricity. In addition, the consumer will have the option to choose not to use gas.

The unexplained bee disappearance known as Colony Collapse Disorder, CCD, is a problem that affects more than just honey producers. It may not seem like it, but bees play a big role in ice cream making. The domino-like process begins with the pollination of seeds for hay in order to feed the dairy producing cows for this internationally beloved dessert.

California has one fifth of the nations honey bees. More specifically, the state’s honeybees account for $6 billion of the $15 billion in commercial crop pollination value.

The CCD problem, involves the abandonment of the hive by adult bees. “The bees are not fleeing because of lack of food, but the ones left behind are dying because of lack of food and no other bees to keep them warm,” said Eric Mussen who is the extension apiculturist at U.C. Davis.

For dogs, just as for people, the saying “you are what you eat” applies. But modern pet foods are a far cry from the old fashioned chicken-bone based foods of yesterday.

Many of today’s pet foods are a combination of meat protein mixed with grains and most are mixed with flavor enhancers. Leading flavor enhancement companies including AFB International and the French based company SPFare continually doing research into what makes dogs go bow wow.

At AFB International experts have been testing flavors of ingredients that go into pet food in order to ensure companies that these household friends will find their food appetizing.

It’s been used as a cleaning solution, as an antidote for gonorrhea, a sterilizer during surgery and now is used to fight off bacteria and halitosis. The oxidation of bacteria though the use of a rinse is one of the easiest ways to sterilize an environment, which is why the method has been used for odor control in the mouth since the naissance of Listerine in 1879 as a surgical antiseptic.

Mouthwash has grown from its humble origins to a product that fills a variety of needs. With it carries a variety of consequences. Dr. Philip M. Tierno, Jr. Director of Clinical Microbiology and Diagnostic Immunology at Tisch Hospital, New York University Medical Center surmises on some emerging issues having to do with mouthwash, including alcohol versus alcohol-free washes.

When mouthwash first came into existence there was no non-alcoholic variety. Even today many mouthwashes contain alcohol. However, continual use of a mouthwash containing alcohol can bring about some negative effects as well as positive—including cancer. Similar to those who contract mouth cancer associated with an over consumption of alcohol, riding oneself of bad breath with wash containing alcohol may also be a cancerous trigger.

Adults tend to think about the future to the point of insanity. Children on the other hand can exist in the moment, according to studies published in the August issue of Current Directions in Psychological Science.

Studies conducted by psychologists Cristina Atance from the University of Ottawa and colleague Andrew Meltzoff from the University of Washington demonstrated that children may be too preoccupied with the present to have much capability to comprehend the future.

In one study, the scientists divided preschoolers into four groups. Two groups were fed pretzels to the point of thirst. The other groups were not given any.

It may not be an ever popular artificial sweetener like NutraSweet, or have the crystalline texture of pure sugar, but the herb, which is commonly found at Trader Joes when it isn’t in its natural South American setting is sweeter than its sweetener counterparts—and calorie free.

The once banned herb stevia, which is 300 times the sweetness of sugar, is safe to consume in the U.S. as a dietary supplement, but pronounced unsafe by the Food and Drug Administration if used in food.

A bottle of Chateau Neuf De Pape wine from the Rhone region in France may include constituents of up to 13 grape varietals. Time-zones away, olive oil experts at U.C. Davis work with 100 olive varietals to create cutting-edge olive oil. After all, like wine, olive oil can be made up of multiple varieties of its base fruit.

While olive oil consumption has steadily increased over the past 30 years due to its healthful properties and popularity among celebrity chefs like Rocco DiSpirito, in California producers make keeping up-to-date into an art form.

With respect to binge-drinking, “shot-gunning” a beer involves inserting a hole in the beer can and drinking it FAST. The game is so popular that a shotgun beer opener is even available to interested enthusiasts through the "liquorsnob" website. Similarly, too much of this kind of consumption may eventually lead to a hole in the heart.

Drinking more than one or two drinks per day for women and men, respectively, excessive drinking, as defined in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dietary Guidelines, may cause a debilitating condition involving the heart known as “metabolic syndrome.”

If you're happy and you know it, you're probably a man.

Statistics revealed in the next edition of the Journal of Happiness Studies found that, on average, by the time men reach their 48th year of life their happiness exceeds that of women.

Century-long, nationally-based data on unfulfilled desires were analyzed by University of Cambridge expert Anke Plagnol and University of Southern California Economist Richard Easterlin.