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
The August blogger BBQ traditionally kicks-off the new blogging season (see the pictures from the BBQ on Flickr). So, we now have a new schedule for the 07/08 meetups. Instead of having all the meetups in Carrboro, we will rotate between two venues each month: the second Wednesday of the month in…
One Species' Entire Genome Discovered Inside Another's:
Scientists at the University of Rochester and the J. Craig Venter Institute have discovered a copy of the entire genome of a bacterial parasite residing inside the genome of its host species. The finding, reported in Science August 30,…
Chaoslillith alerts:
Environmentalists Challenge Political Interference With 55 Endangered Species in 28 States, Seek to Restore 8.7 Million Acres of Protected Habitat Across the Country:
The Center for Biological Diversity today filed a formal notice of intent to sue the Department of the Interior…
Scientiae #12 is up on Thus Spake Zuska
Circus of the Spineless #24 is up on Naturalist Notebook
Boneyard #4 is up on When Pigs Fly Returns
Bio::Blogs #14 is up on My Biotech Life
What's Up, Postdoc? #7 is up on The Ways and Means of the Immune System
Carnival of Mathematics #15 is up on johnkemeny…
Late last night we opened the registration for the 2nd Science Blogging Conference, to be held on January 19th, 2008 on the Sigma Xi campus (publishers of 'American Scientist') in the Research Triangle Park which is officially on the territory of Durham, NC.
To register, go to the registration…
Naomi Oreskes, the author of the 2004 paper in Science about the scientific consensus on global warming, recently had her work attacked by regressive denialists (including on Senator I-hate-science-Inhofe's blog). Her full response is now available on Stranger Fruit. Go and read it. Now.
If you were amazed the other night to find I was not online for a long time, not blogging, not commenting, not responding to e-mail, not on Facebook, now you know where I was - spreading Brotherhood and Unity in the Triangle area blogging community. And if the same phenomenon happens tonight, here…
In a commentary and a blog post, the editors of PLoS Medicine ask:
....is there still a reluctance to accept that anything useful can be learned from research without numbers?
An old question that tends to generate a lot of heat. Where do you stand on it, within medicine or within your own area of…
As you may have heard, the public rollout of SciVee was inadvertent and premature - seen by everyone at the time there were only one or two movies up and not all the capabilities in place yet. It is nice to hear that more functionalities are about to go up later today:
In response to all your…
Today is the third annual BlogDay. Pick five blogs and tell your readers why they should check them out. It is nicely undefined, i.e., what constitutes "new", but I guess DailyKos is out of the running. Also, instead of pointing you to any of my Sciblings, just go to the scienceblogs.com front…
Skeptics' Circle #68 is up on Aardvarchaeology
Carnival of Space #18 is up on Out of the Cradle
Carnival of the Liberals #46 is up on Truth in Politics
The next journal to be launched by the Public Library of Science is PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
To whet your appetite, two papers were published in advance, both on the cause of River Blindness and the evolution of resistance to the anti-parasitic ivermectin: a research paper Genetic…
Geologists and other Earth/planetary science bloggers have gotten together and started The Accretionary Wedge. First edition will be this Sunday night so send your entries. Spread the word on your blogs. Also, think about the logo and make one if you have artistic talents.
I went to my old blog to see if and what I blogged about during and after Katrina hit the Gulf Coast two years ago. I was astonished at just how much I posted! My blogging style is, like, so different today.
Of course, I made a big linkfest of the best that was written on blogs at the time, a…
Mystery Of A Third Olfactory System Unlocked:
Researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine have found a "nose within the nose," a unique olfactory system within the noses of mice that is able to "smell" hormones involved in regulating water and salt balance in the body. This…
Tangled Bank #87 is up on Balancing Life
Four Stone Hearth #22 is up on Hominin Dental Anthropology
The 134th Carnival of Education is up on Matthewktabor.com.
The latest Carnival of Homeschooling is up on The Common Room.
If by the time we are 60 we haven't learned what a knot of paradox and contradiction life is, and how exquisitely the good and bad are mingled in every action we take, and what a compromising hostess Our Lady of Truth is, we haven't grown old to much purpose.
- John Cowper Powys
One cool thing about being a blogging biologist is that one can write every day about sex with a straight face and then blame readers for "having a dirty mind". But sex is so interesting - life would cease to exist without it and it is a central question in biology, so we have a license, nay, duty…
I mentioned that I met Tanja and Doug on Sunday. They just sent me some pictures from the meeting (under the fold) and you can also see their wildlife pictures here.
There are 32 new articles on PLoS ONE this week. Here are some titles that caught my eye - go read, rate, annotate and comment:
Why Men Matter: Mating Patterns Drive Evolution of Human Lifespan:
Evolutionary theory predicts that senescence, a decline in survival rates with age, is the consequence…
Super Spiders Make Bolder Birds:
Recent research has revealed that by feeding spiders to their chicks, birds can manipulate the personality and learning ability of their young. In a report recently published in the journal Proceedings of the Royal Society B, University of Glasgow researchers reveal…
The Molecular Anatomy of Spontaneous Germline Mutations in Human Testes:
The frequency of Apert syndrome mutations is 100-1,000 times higher than expected from average mutation rates, and it is due to positive selection in the testis increasing the frequency of germ cells carrying the defect.…
If we are not there at the moment of birth, how come we can bond with the baby and be good fathers or good adoptive parents? Kate explains. Obligatory Reading of the Day.
Update: Related is this new article by former Scibling David Dobbs: The Hormone That Helps You Read Minds
Update 2: Matt…
