clock | June 28, 2006* Best way to build children's brains: play with them
Love beats trendy toys, classes or music as brain food for preschoolers, a report says.
* Radioactive scorpion venom deemed safe cancer treatment:
Scientists are exploring an unusual new treatment for an aggressive brain cancer.
* Human-dolphin partnership inspires gov't protection:
The government of Myanmar has moved to safeguard a dolphin-fisherman collaboration.
* The science of sniping on eBay:
A despised practice of placing last-second bids is actually the best strategy in online auctions, according to scientists.
* Startling variety…
clock | June 28, 2006Spanish Parliament Supports Rights for Apes
Spanish MPs push for apes' rights
What do you think?
clock | June 27, 2006A bunch of updates are in store. First the DonorsChoose update. Let's look at the whole SEED scienceblogs action first (thanks Janet for all the information):
Total raised so far: 13,535.14Total donors so far: 170
Excluding Pharyngula (because Pharyngula is done), the top 5 in terms of ...
Amt/donor:
Stranger Fruit ($132.64)
A Blog Around the Clock ($116.50)
Good Math, Bad Math ($110.34)
Terra Sigillata ($86.35)
The Scientific Activist ($86.25)
Donors per 1000 hits:
Terra Sigillata (4.96)
Evolgen (2.35)
Stranger Fruit (2.02)
Afarensis (1.89)
The Questionable Authority (1.74)
$ raised per…
clock | June 27, 2006Check out the Brief Look at the Life of Nikola Tesla on Strange Culture.
The Genius Of Persistence
What is Tesla Press?
If you are in Burlington, VT on July 9th, you can go to the mad Tesla birthday party. It's at this guy's place.
Carnegie Mellon University unveils bust of great inventor Tesla.
And at UWA, they are putting on a play.
Another person is going to read the Five Fists of Science.
And another one.
Here's another fan.
This ie very interesting about Mark Twain, including a photo of him playing with electricity in Tesla's lab.
This cats' name is Tesla.
Getting Acquainted with the…
clock | June 27, 2006IAMB of Pooflingers Anonymous is celebrating his first blogiversary today. So, go there and say Hello and check out the Achives if you have not done so before.
clock | June 27, 2006
The origin and early evolution of circadian clocks are far from clear. It is now widely believed that the clocks in cyanobacteria and the clocks in Eukarya evolved independently from each other. It is also possible that some Archaea possess clock - at least they have clock genes, thought to have arived there by lateral transfer from cyanobacteria.[continued under the fold]
It is not well known, though, if the clocks in major groups of Eukarya - Protista, Plants, Fungi and Animals - originated independently or out of a common ancestral clock. On one hand, the internal logic of the clock…
clock | June 27, 2006
Thsi post (and you can always click on the icon to check out the original) was written on April 29, 2005. Those are my observation about the in-class science fair in my daughter's classroom.
Yesterday morning Mrs.Coturnix and I went to Coturnietta's school. Her class had a Science Fair! You can just imagine my excitement - a scientist's daughter's first venture into science!
For two weeks she pestered me to help her with her project, and I did a little bit here and there (using sharp objects when neccessary, for instance, or going to the store and buying supplies she ordered), but in…
clock | June 27, 2006The article I linked to in my previous post on the topic of having sex while asleep (or is it 'being sleep while having sex'?), e.g., the one I got pointed to by someone (e-mail?), is actually, quite terrible. So, instead, if you are interested in the topic, you should check out a much more serious website - Sleepsex.org, which focuses entirely on the phenomenon of sexsomnia.
I need to thank Karmen for pointing out that site to me. The site has extensive links to other sources of information, including links to all of Dr. Shapiro's papers on the topic. For instance, this paper (pdf)…
clock | June 27, 2006I am glad I am not alone! There are other Tesla fans in the blogosphere. Jennifer Ouellette (of the wonderful Cocktail Party Physics blog) has also read the comic strip "Five Fists of Science" with Tesla and Twain saving the world from the evil Edison and J.P.Morgan, and wrote a review (much better than mine, of course - she is a writer!) which you can...er, should, ...er, MUST read here.
clock | June 27, 2006Carnival of Bad History is back from hiatus and will, under the new management, become a monthly carnival. Excellent new issue, number 6, is now up on Frog In A Wall - Japan. Enjoy!
New Grand Rounds are up on Medview.
Carnival of the Green #33 is up on Jen's Green Journal.
clock | June 26, 2006There is a whole slew of responses to this silly post by Comissar/
It is a typical effort to make "balance" between Left and Right in order to make the Right appear more palatable, ...or palatable at all. The typical He-said-She-said approach that tries to equalize the enormously dangerous policies of the Right (see my previous post below) with follies of some powerless, silly people on the fringes that nominally belong to the Left (and vote Nader when it really matters!).
But, since when was Astrology part of the Democratic Party platform, even at state level, like Creationism and Global…
clock | June 26, 2006Bush Is Not Incompetent by George Lakoff:
Progressives have fallen into a trap. Emboldened by President Bush's plummeting approval ratings, progressives increasingly point to Bush's "failures" and label him and his administration as incompetent. Self-satisfying as this criticism may be, it misses the bigger point. Bush's disasters -- Katrina, the Iraq War, the budget deficit -- are not so much a testament to his incompetence or a failure of execution. Rather, they are the natural, even inevitable result of his conservative governing philosophy. It is conservatism itself, carried out according…
clock | June 26, 2006
In the beginning, there was period.
Before 1995, the only known circadian clock genes were period (Per) in Drosophila melanogaster (wine fly) and frequency (Frq) in Neurospora crassa (bread mold). Some mutations, though not characterized at the molecular level, were also known in Chlamydomonas, Euglena as well as the famous Tau-mutation in hamsters.
I still remember the strained mathematical models attempting to account for a 24-hour rhythm with just a single gene controlling its own expression. We now know that multiple genes are involved in circadian function in invertebrates and…
clock | June 26, 2006
This is the second in the series of posts designed to provide the basics of the field of Chronobiology. See the first part: ClockTutorial #1 - What Is Chronobiology and check out the rest of them here - they will all, over time, get moved to this blog.
Here is a brief overview of the concepts and terms used in the field of chronobiology. I will write much more detailed accounts of various aspects of it in the future.
Seasons of the year, phases of the moon, high and low tides, and alternation between night and day are examples of cyclic changes in the environment. Each presents a different…
clock | June 26, 2006
The persistence of circadian rhythmicity during long bouts of hibernation in mammals has been a somewhat controversial topic in the literature. While some studies suggest that circadian clock is active during hibernation, other studies dispute this. Apparently, the truth is somewhere in-between - it differs between species:
Not all hibernating animals retain apparent circadian rhythmicity during the hibernation season. Whereas some species, such as bats and golden-mantled ground squirrels, maintain circadian rhythmicity in Tb throughout the hibernation season when held in constant…
clock | June 25, 2006Paul has the scoop on the WaPo article I quoted earlier, about a new study on social isolation. Check it out.
clock | June 25, 2006OK, my car won't start. Here is the information that may be relevant:
- It is a 2000 Ford Winstar minivan.
- It never happened before - not even close.
- It is used every day.
- On most days it covers only a couple of miles. Once or twice a week, it may go to Raleigh (28 miles one way) or to my school (16 miles one way).
- It appears to have plenty of electricity, oil and gas.
- When the key is turned, all the lights come on, radio comes on etc.
- Nothing in the engine appears to move when the key is turned - I cannot see any movement or light anywhere.
- When the key is turned it makes a…
clock | June 25, 2006The Synapse, new carnival of neuroscience - from molecules to cognition and everything in-between - is the first carnival that originated here on SEED scienceblogs.com. Today, the first edition saw the light of day, so you should go over to Pure Pedantry to check it out. The homepage of the carnival, with archives, instructions for submission, etc., can be found here.
In two weeks, on July 9th, 2006, the carnival will be held here, on A Blog Around The Clock. Please send your entries to me by July 8th at midnight (Eastern Time). You can send your entries to: the DOT synapse DOT carnival…
clock | June 25, 2006Want this badge?
Carnival of the Godless #43 is up on Silly Humans.
Want this badge?
The Tar Heel Tavern #70:qualities of life, is up on Another blue puzzle piece.
Radiology Grand Rounds Volume-I are up on Sumer's Radiology Site.