My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. I am not an MD so I cannot diagnose and treat your sleep problems. As well as writing this blog, I am also the Online Discussion Expert for PLoS. This is a personal blog and opinions within it in no way reflect the policies of PLoS. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com
A clock is supposed to tell time. Furthermore, it is supposed to do it accurately and precisely. These days, it is not too difficult to build a mechanical, quartz, digital or atomic clock that is marvelously accurate and precise. But if a clock is not so good, it will have a systematic error, i.…
Just six days after we opened registration for ScienceOnline'09 there are already 52 registrants!
And some more people are blogging about it:
49 percent: Random
Biochemicalsoul: Science Blogging Conference in Research Triangle Park, NC!
Catalogue of Organisms: Open Lab 2008
Deep Sea News: Science…
I have always felt that laughter in the face of reality is probably the finest sound there is and will last until the day when the game is called on account of darkness. In this world, a good time to laugh is any time you can.
- Linda Ellerbee
The North Carolina scienceblogging contingent celebrated the millionth comment at the NC Zoo in Asheboro yesterday.
We met at 1pm and were first greeted by the Executive Director of the NC Zoological Society, Russ Williams, who also runs a delightful blog Russlings.
Then, we were taken on a…
It is great when you write a blog post about somebody, then that somebody shows up in the comments and clarifies his position thus starting an interesting conversation (both in the comments and via e-mail), then you realize that his book-signing tour is bringing that somebody to your town, so you…
You probably know that I am quite interested in the history, current state, evolution and future of the institution of marriage, mainly because it is an important indicator of societal attitudes towards sex and towards gender-relations, which is the key to understanding political ideology. Between…
Political Views Affect Firms' Corporate Social Responsibility, Study Finds:
A new study in The Financial Review establishes a relationship between political beliefs of corporate stakeholders and the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of their firms. Companies with a high CSR rating tend to be…
Corpus callosum: 1st edition of open science round-up is up on I was lost but now I live here
Change of Shift Vol. 3 No. 6 is up on crzegrl, flight nurse
Friday Ark #209 is up on Modulator
You probably remember the wonderful new NIH law that passed last year:
On Dec 26th, 2007, President Bush signed the Bill that requires all NIH-funded research to be made available to the public.
The bill mandates all NIH-funded research to be made freely available to public within 12 months of…
This is not a real review - I never got to writing it - but it is about a book I mention quite often in my blog posts and think is one of the most insightful about the conservative mindset. Written originally on October 21, 2004:
Whenever a big black SUV with a "W" bumper sticker passes me on I-40…
Most people work the greater part of their time for a mere living; and the little freedom which remains to them so troubles them that they use every means of getting rid of it.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
The North Carolina part of the Millionth Comment party is this Saturday at the Zoo! If you intend to come, please sign up here so we can have a head-count and provide you with free zoo tickets, then show up at 1pm at the North America entrance at the left-most cashier and tell them who you are.
The story about Creationist school board in Brunswick Co, NC is now getting some legs:
Brunswick school board to consider creationism teaching:
The board allowed Fanti to speak longer than he was allowed, and at the end of his speech he volunteered to teach creationism and received applause from…
From today's Carrboro Citizen:
Next week, Sep 24-30, is "Take a Child Outside Week," and the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences has planned some specific activities to promote awareness (www.naturalsciences.org).
A visit to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh begins with awareness on…
I wrote this on September 21, 2004, as a reaction to the misunderstanding of Lakoff's term "Nurturant Parent". Slightly edited (eliminated bad links and such).
Discussions of Lakoff's theory are going on in several places in the blogosphere, including on DailyKos and many other places...just…
Hmmm, they did not actually see the blog - if they did they would notice it has been abandoned more than two years ago and that the top post says, in large bold letters: "This Blogs Is Dead!".
And they probably did not see when I hosted Skeptic's Circle (three times). Bwahahahahaha! Anyway, too…
I tend not to delete comments (except for obvious spam) or ban commenters. If you post more than one link, I will rescue your comment out of the Junk Folder once I discover it there, no matter how much I may personally dislike what you say.
I let Creationists' comments stay - nice fodder for my…
So says WIRED:
Barack Obama has established a small but well-regarded inner circle of science advisors that includes a vocal critic of creationism, a Nobel laureate who has championed open-access research, and another laureate who used his prize money to defend academic freedom against the war on…
Write a cool, fun, funny scienc-ey post and send it to SCQ and you can get a kids science book:
The SCQ is pleased to announce that the winner of the last book was Alex Roger's "Astro I Reference Notes." To keep things rolling a little bit, we would like to present the next book up for grabs. This…
A nice article in The Economist today, about science blogging, Science 2.0 and publishing:
User-generated science:
By itself this is unlikely to bring an overhaul of scientific publishing. Dr Bly points to a paradox: the internet was created for and by scientists, yet they have been slow to embrace…
Now that PLoS ONE is publishing daily (OK, not really, only on work-days, i.e., 5 times a week), I have been pointing to my picks every day. Let's look at what has been published there last night and tonight as well as what's new in other PLoS journals. As always, you should rate the articles,…
It's All In The Hips: Early Whales Used Well Developed Back Legs For Swimming, Fossils Show:
The crashing of the enormous fluked tail on the surface of the ocean is a "calling card" of modern whales. Living whales have no back legs, and their front legs take the form of flippers that allow them to…
Here's another topic seen through the Lakoffian looking glass (July 23, 2005):
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Why is there a widespread belief that the difference between patriotism and nationalism is one of degree: loving one's country versus loving it even more? I think that the…
