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
I may be a little late to this, but better late than never. Laelaps has penned one of those rarities - an exceptionally detailed historical summary of the way people's understanding of human origins changed over time. Bookmark and read when you have time to really focus.
No, not the novel by Frank Herbert, but a couple of recent carnivals:
Encephalon #29 is up on Memoirs of a Postgrad
Carnival of the Green #90 is up on Miss Malaprop
The last week's conversation about an icon that bloggers could use to indicate they are writing about peer-reviewed research has progressed towards something closer to implementable. Pitch in over there in the comments.
Tonight is the last pre-scheduled ClockQuote and there are no more re-posts in the pipeline! Does this mean I have to start blogging again? But when? I am working now!
Checking out hundreds of pictures from Scifoo that people have uploaded on Flickr and their blogs, I found a couple of more that have me in them:
In this one, I explain to Greg Bear that Open Access is not Science Fiction any more:
[Photo: Simon Quellen Field]
In this one, I tell Sara Abdulla (of…
NBM found an excellent online article (which I have seen before but I forgot) depicting Phase-Response Curves (PRC) to injections of melatonin in humans, rodents and lizards.
Note how the shape is roughly opposite to that of a PRC to light pulses, i.e., at phases at which light elicits phase-…
Lisa Junker of Associations Now interviewed Patrick Brown, one of the founders of the Public Library of Science:
Into the Great Wide Open
A very clear explanation of what Open Access is all about. Obligatory Reading of the Day.
(Via via)
Want it shorter? Here is a five-liner by Jonathan Eisen.
Last week I had lunch with a good old friend of mine, Jim Green. He got his degree in Zoology, then a law degree (patent law) and is now coming back for yet another degree in biological and chemical engineering. He did his research on snakes, so we reminisced and laughed about the time several…
Why are all the cool meetings happening all in the same week? On top of three I will attend, there is another one I just heard of that sound really cool:
The fourth Image and Meaning workshop, IM2.4, part of the Envisioning Science Program at Harvard's IIC will be held Oct. 25 and 26, 2007,…
From June 26, 2006....
In the beginning, there was period.
Before 1995, the only known circadian clock genes were period (Per) in Drosophila melanogaster (wine fly) and frequency (Frq) in Neurospora crassa (bread mold). Some mutations, though not characterized at the molecular level, were also…
I have linked to and posted pictures of Eva Vertes from SciFoo before and you may ask: "Who is she? Why was she invited there?" The Wikipedia page I linked to earlier is a short stub and full of errors. So, to make it clear, see this page as well as comments on this talk she gave two years ago…
Since I came back from California, I've been trying to get Time Warner to remove one of the firewalls from my cable connection so I can get into the belly of the beast of PLoS. The wifi in the apartment complex is pitiful. I also tried at Town Hall Grill, but the loading of every page was very…
Much of the biological research is done in a handful of model organisms. Important studies in organisms that can help us better understand the evolutionary relationships on a large scale tend to be hidden far away from the limelight of press releases and big journals. Here's one example (March 30…
Sometimes a metaphor used in science is useful for research but not so useful when it comes to popular perceptions. And sometimes even scientists come under the spell of the metaphor. One of those unfortunate two-faced metaphors is the metaphor of the Biological Clock.
First of all, there are at…
Why are Orli and Joseph thinking about this in the middle of the summer? I am happy (and South enough). I am wondering if people with SAD living in the high latitudes either moved South or, being all gloomy, had a lower reproductive rate in the past, thus lowering the rates of SAD in the…
The 14th Edition of the International Carnival of Pozitivities is up on Straight, Not Narrow.
Space Carnival #15 is up on Star Stryder.
The Friday Ark #151 The Modulator.
Writing a chronobiology blog for a year and a half now has been quite a learning experience for me. I did not know how much I did not know (I am aware that most of my readers know even less, but still....). Thus, when I wrote about clocks in birds I was on my territory - this is the stuff I know…
As I predicted, bloggers have waited a day or two before they wrote much of substance abour Scifoo. First, you don't want to miss out on any cool conversations by blogging instead. Second, the experience is so intense, one needs to cool down, process and digest everything. Before I write my own…
Earlier today I had coffee with Anton Zuiker so we could catch up on everything, e.g., my new job, his new job, scifoo, etc.
So, the news to watch out for regarding local blogging events:
On August 31st, we will start the new blogging year with a party, of course, so come and eat and blog about it…
It is Marine Megavertebrate Week right now, so why not take a look at one of the most Mega of the Megaverts - the grey whale (Eschrichtius robustus):
Do whales sleep? You may have heard that dolphins do - one hemisphere at the time, while swimming, and not for very long periods at a time. A…
I And The Bird #55 is up on Birdfreak
Change of Shift: Volume II, Number 4 is up on Emergiblog.
The 131st Carnival of Education is up on Education in Texas
Carnival of Homeschooling #84 is up on Nerd Family. Pro-Nerd. Pro-Family.
I am not sure if blogging about it is enough - in this case a very strong Resume may be more important - but if you think you have sufficient experience and expertise to be a Managing Editor of a major biology journal, PLoS Biology (and are not too intimidated to be stepping into Hemai's shoes),…
