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
Grand Rounds Vol. 4 No. 26 are up on Polite Dissent
The Gene Genie Blog Carnival is up on DNADirect Talk
The 116th Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Janice Campbell's blog
Hissing Cockroaches Are Popular, But They Also Host Potent Mold Allergens:
Their gentle nature, large size, odd sounds and low-maintenance care have made Madagascar hissing cockroaches popular educational tools and pets for years. But the giant insects also have one unfortunate characteristic:…
My spring traveling schedule has now crystallized. This is my schedule - if you are in any of those places at just the right time, let me know and let's meet.
I'll be arriving in London on April 9 early in the morning. I'd like to have a huge bloggers' meetup that first night, if possible, as I…
Are you Okay?
A Definition of Insanity
Eastern Bunny
Imposter Syndrome and Imposter Syndrome part 2
Why, yes, it IS my job
Frog hot spots
This week's educational rant
Greener Grass
Wireless Balloons
The Problem of Growth
I'm a Wikipedia Inclusionist
KTU 1.114 - A Student Exercise?
Blood transfusion…
Yuri's Night is in 25 days, commemorating the date, April 12, 1961, when the first human, Yuri Gagarin went out in space. There are 12-hour long overnight parties all over the world and you can probably find one near you.
If everything goes as planned, I will be in Cambridge, UK on that day and…
The wilding of the American West is definitely a controversial idea. Josh Donlan provides links to the details of the proposal and asks the readers to do a quick poll about it - go do it!
Loss of Egg Yolk Genes in Mammals and the Origin of Lactation and Placentation:
Egg yolk contains the nutrients required for the development of the nonmammalian vertebrate embryo. These nutrients derive by and large from a single set of proteins, vitellogenins, which are produced in the liver and…
There is an ongoing Journal Club on the PLoS ONE article A Three-Stage Colonization Model for the Peopling of the Americas. You'll see that the first comments there have been posted by people you know - bloggers like Martin Rundkvist and Greg Laden and Kambiz Kamrani. Now it's your turn to add…
Amanda Marcotte's book is (finally) out for sale. As she says:
Titled "It's A Jungle Out There: The Feminist Survival Guide To Politically Inhospitable Environments", and it's about what it seems to be about, a guidebook for those irritating situations that keep cropping up for a feminist in a…
New Bird Species Discovered:
The announcement of the discovery of a new bird comes with a twist: It's a white-eye, but its eye isn't white. Still, what this new bird lacks in literal qualities it makes up for as one of the surprises that nature still has tucked away in little-explored corners of…
Funny...
Facebook: Community for Loners
Would You Prefer Stupidity Or Apathy With Your Incompetence? and Birth Of A Nation
Paralyzed
Bad Science Journalism: The Myth of the Oppressed Underdog and Statisticians are verifiably insane
Do periods of rest improve learning?
Barnacle sex.
Second Life…
Learn everything you need to know about protein structure, explained clearly and as simply as the topic allows:
Beta Strands and Beta Sheets
Loops and Turns
Levels of Protein Structure
Examples of Protein Structure
Evolution and Variation in Folded Proteins
I think these should be included into the…
So, this post is almost ten days old, but I just now found some time to actually read the 35 comments on it as well as what others wrote about it on their blogs. I guess it is time to continue that conversation now.
First, let me be clear about the origin of that rant: I've been teaching for quite…
John Wilkins is in Arizona attending a Philosophy of Biology conference (another one of those "I wish I could be there" things) and liveblogging the whole thing:
When philosophers really embarrass themselves
Liveblogging the conference: Mishler
Liveblogging the conference: Piotrowski
Liveblogging…
The OpenOffice challenge: can you do what needs to be done?
Exploring OpenOffice: what did we learn?, part I
Exploring Open Office: part II, can we have our pie and eat it too?
Will one man's tryst mean a $200-billion heist will go unreported?
Reading Habits of the Liberal Media (via Melissa).
Getting the Politics of the Press Right: Walter Pincus Rips into Newsroom Neutrality
High-level right-wing discourse
Immigration irrationality
What's Wrong With This Broadcast: NPR…
Early Bird Doesn't Always Get The Worm:
Competing against older brothers and sisters can be tough work, as any youngest child will tell you. But new research from a biologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that when it comes to some birds, you should reserve any underdog…
Visualizing biblical social networks (via)
Publishing and blogging pseudonymously.
What to carry with you when you go birding?
What blogs do journalists read? And the Science of Getting Money Out of Rich People
Vibrations make you sleepy (as in a car, on a train or a plane).
When the media boil…
The early orders of the XO laptop arrived quickly. My wife and daughter have been enjoying them for three months now. But the late orders got pretty much stuck - they were overwhelmed with the numbers. We got a couple of apologetic e-mails offering to send us back the money if we are sick of…
