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
Imagine: An Interview with Svante Paabo:
Svante Paabo works on the edge of what's possible. He ignites our imagination, unlocking tightly held secrets in ancient remains. By patiently and meticulously working out techniques to extract genetic information from skin, teeth, bones, and excrement,…
Reason For Almost Two Billion Year Delay In Animal Evolution On Earth Discovered:
Scientists from around the world have reconstructed changes in Earth's ancient ocean chemistry during a broad sweep of geological time, from about 2.5 to 0.5 billion years ago. They have discovered that a deficiency…
There is no well-defined boundary between honesty and dishonesty. The frontiers of one blend with the outside limits of the other, and he who attempts to tread this dangerous ground may be sometimes in one domain and sometimes in the other.
- O. Henry
Living Upside-down Shapes Spiders For Energy Saving:
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from Spain and Croatia led an investigation into the peculiar lifestyle of numerous spider species, which live, feed, breed and 'walk' in an upside-down hanging position. According to their results, such '…
The Four Stone Hearth #37 - The Pulp SciFi Edition - is up on Hot Cup Of Joe
The Skeptic's Circle - Every One Of You Is Expelled! - is up on Mike's Weekly Skeptic Rant
Grand Rounds Volume 4 No. 27 are up on monash medical student
165 Carnival of Education-Teachers Gone Wild Spring Break Edition -…
The force of the blow depends on the resistance. It is sometimes better not to struggle against temptation. Either fly or yield at once.
- Francis H. Bradley
Scared publishers ask for a hearing and get an earful:
Librarians and educators, meanwhile, strongly defended the NIH policy-and spoke of the lengthy process of consideration it has already gone through, urging that implementation now proceed as planned. In its comments, SPARC reiterated that all…
From the Library Journal:
The Triangle Research Libraries Network (TRLN) pioneered the nation's first consortial online catalog back in the 1980s, and this week, took that legacy a step further with the launch of "Search TRLN", which officials say adds "next-generation search capabilities" to the…
Some people only know the language of power. They see conciliation and compromise as weakness. Show strength. If they are sissies hiding behind machismo, slam them hard. You have nothing to lose. Some will convert and come to your side. Some will go cower in the corner. None will hang around…
While I don't think there is such a thing as Internet Addiction, doing this quick test is fun:
"Your Internet usage is causing significant problems in your life. You should evaluate the impact of the Internet on your life and address the problems directly caused by your Internet usage."
Elephants avoiding mines:
Eliminated from Angola during more than two decades of civil war, herds of African elephants are crossing heavily mined fields as they recolonize Angola from neighboring Namibia and Botswana.
But miraculously, they are avoiding the mines entirely, according to researchers…
Americans Sleeping More, Not Less, Says New Study
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Americans average as much sleep as they did 40 years ago, and possibly more, according to University of Maryland sociologists.
Yes, when you suddenly start including the unemployed in the study.
Mantis Shrimp Vision…
Bunch of new, cool stuff in PLoS ONE today - here are the titles that piqued my curiosity (and you know the spiel: rate, note, comment, trackback):
Australia's Oldest Marsupial Fossils and their Biogeographical Implications:
We describe new cranial and post-cranial marsupial fossils from the early…
The function of a briefing paper is to prevent the ambassador from saying something dreadfully indiscreet. I sometimes think its true object is to prevent the ambassador from saying anything at all.
- Kingman Brewster, Jr
New Zealand's 'Living Dinosaur' -- The Tuatara -- Is Surprisingly The Fastest Evolving Animal:
In a study of New Zealand's "living dinosaur" the tuatara, evolutionary biologist, and ancient DNA expert, Professor David Lambert and his team from the Allan Wilson Centre for Molecular Ecology and…
Circadian Remodeling of Neuronal Circuits Involved in Rhythmic Behavior:
Circadian systems evolved as a mechanism that allows organisms to adapt to the environmental changes in light and dark which occur as a consequence of the rotation of Earth. Because of its unique repertoire of genetic tools,…
Next Triangle blogger meetup is this Wednesday at 6pm at Milltown (307 E. Main St., Carrboro). It is organized by our friends at Orange Politics, for several years the model for local political organizing online. It is likely some of the local politicos and candidates will show up. It is free…
My SciBling Mike the Mad Biologist will speak tonight at the Boston Skeptics meeting. The title of the talk is "Defending Evolution the Right Way: As a Fundamental Part of Biology and Biomedicine, Not as a Cultural Icon." so it is bound to be interesting. If you are in Boston tonight at 7pm, go…
When nothing seems to help, I go and look at a stonecutter hammering away at his rock perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it. Yet at the hundred and first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not that blow that did it, but all that had gone before.
-…
Teaching Your Spouse or Lover to Speak Serbian
It literally rained mud here last Tuesday
Tales of buffoonery, keys
Can Technology make us Happy?
I will never watch The Simpsons again
The stupid, it burns
EMAIL I wish I had sent
Seminar thoughts
But you punch above your weight and you're stronger…
Space. The continual becoming: invisible fountain from which all rhythms flow and to which they must pass. Beyond time or infinity.
- Frank Lloyd Wright
Ancient Lemur's Little Finger Poses Mystery:
Analysis of the first hand bones belonging to an ancient lemur has revealed a mysterious joint structure that has scientists puzzled.
Impaired Sense Of Smell May Be Early Indicator Of Parkinson's Disease:
Impaired sense of smell occurs in the earliest…
