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
Big Fossil 'Raptor' Tracks Show Group Behavior:
Everyone knows that "raptor" dinosaurs walked with their deadly sickle-shaped foot claws held off the ground and that they moved in packs ... right? After all, it was in "Jurassic Park." But until now, there was no direct evidence of either of these…
If you are a regular reader of this blog, you may have seen this, this and this, i.e., an effort to design an icon that a blogger can place on the top of a post that discusses peer-reviewed research. The icon makes such posts stand out, i.e., the readers will know it is not a discussion of a press…
There are 82 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. There are already 109 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do…
World's Hottest Chile Pepper Discovered:
Researchers at New Mexico State University recently discovered the world's hottest chile pepper. Bhut Jolokia, a variety of chile pepper originating in Assam, India, has earned Guiness World Records' recognition as the world's hottest chile pepper by…
Back at ConvergeSouth, Leonard Witt did several short video interviews with cool participants.
Among others, you should definitely see brief interviews with Anton Zuiker, Kirk Ross and Ruby Sinreich.
Local elections are next week.
This is my official endorsement for Sally Greene for Chapel Hill Town Council.
And not just because she is a blogger.
Or because she was endorsed by The Independent.
But because of what Brian said.
The Triangle Malaria Symposium will be on Thursday, November 15, 2007, at 1-7 pm at the Duke University Searle Center. At first I thought it was this week, but now I see it is the week after, so perhaps I can make it to it. Even if I don't, Anton is going for sure and intends to liveblog it. So…
There are 83 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. There are already 109 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do…
Paul announced it and I will try my best to be there on Tuesday:
Who: Bob Young, founder of Lulu.com, Lulu.tv and Red Hat
Date: Tuesday, October 30, 2007
Time: 3:30pm - 5:00pm
Location: Sonja Haynes Stone Center, Room 103
Mark Patterson writes in Bringing Peer Review Out of the Shadows:
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Hauser and Fehr propose a system for holding late reviewers to account by penalizing them when it's their turn to be an author. A slow reviewer's paper would be "held in editorial limbo" for a length of time…
As usual, some get it, some don't:
Facebook-ing Philanthropy:
Social networks like Facebook that closely resemble users' off-line social life could shake up philanthropy. Even if large organizations don't immediately launch a cause on their own, any Facebook member can start one on its behalf.…
Sceadugenga
Common Sense
Photo of Nature by Kopernik
Star Stryder
Jayne's Breast Cancer Blog
Quackometer
Daisy's Dead Air
Mary Evelyn
Mestarr
Mechanically Separated Meat
TechRivet
The Indigestible
Jasiri
Liz Allen posted this on the Wall of the PLoS Facebook group yesterday:
Here's a fun Friday activity for all of you who like to track the stats of the inevitable rise and world domination of OA!
Heather from SPARC turned me onto this. it's almost as much fun as watching the number of members to…
You have seen the button for the Beagle Project on my sidebar - it will stay there forever! But now, I see, they have opened a CafePress store where you can get yourself t-shirts, coffee-mugs and buttons and the proceeds go towards the rebuilding of the ship and its science/education maiden voyage…
Since I was gone to two meetings and nobody else can walk the dog as regularly as I can, the dog spent the week at Grandma's in Raleigh. Today I went to pick her up (the dog, that is) which placed me in the car at precisely the time of NPR's Talk of the Nation Science Friday (OK, I intentionally…
There are 84 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. There are already 108 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do…
Same-sex Attraction Is Genetically Wired In Nematode's Brain:
University of Utah biologists genetically manipulated nematode worms so the animals were attracted to worms of the same sex -- part of a study that shows sexual orientation is wired in the creatures' brains.
Secrets Behind Butterfly Wing…
Oh-oh! I got tagged by another meme - the Happy HalloMeme! - by Rick. The idea is to highlight a scary marine or SF film!
I was very young, probably around 7 or 8, when TV Belgrade decided to air a weekly series of old Jack Arnold movies, including It Came from Outer Space, Tarantula, and The…
As always on Fridays, there are new papers published in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Pathogens and PLoS Computational Biology. A few picks - but you go and check them all out:
Surveillance of Arthropod Vector-Borne Infectious Diseases Using Remote Sensing Techniques: A Review:
Kalluri et al. review the…
On Monday, the U.S. Senate voted to pass the FY2008 Labor, HHS, and Education Appropriations Bill (S.1710), including a provision that directs the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to strengthen its Public Access Policy by requiring rather than requesting participation by researchers.
The vote…
There are 85 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. There are already 106 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do…
If the scissors are not used daily on the beard, it will not be long before the beard is, by its luxuriant growth, pretending to be the head.
- Hakim Jami (1414-92)
Jim Buie asks:
I received a query from CBS News technology correspondent Daniel Sieberg about "the older generation" on Facebook. Do you have a story to share about your experiences on Facebook, particularly in relation to teens, many of whom call us over-40s "the creepies"? Or do you know teens or…
