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
Tyrannosaurus Rex And Mastodon Protein Fragments Discovered, Sequenced:
Scientists have confirmed the existence of protein in soft tissue recovered from the fossil bones of a 68 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus rex (T. rex) and a half-million-year-old mastodon. Their results may change the way people…
Sperm Cells Created From Human Bone Marrow:
Human bone marrow has been used to create early-stage sperm cells for the first time, a scientific step forward that will help researchers understand more about how sperm cells are created.
Gives a new meaning to the word "boner", doesn't it? OK, too…
After the Easter break, TTHT is coming back. Next edition of the Tar Heel Tavern will be hosted this weekend by Bharat of Olive Ridley Crawl (the turtle-friendly blog). Send your entries by Saturday night to: theoliveridley at gmail dot com
I made only a brief mention of the study when the press release first came out, but the actual paper (which is excellent) is out now. It is on PLoS so it is free for all to see: Mania-like behavior induced by disruption of CLOCK:
Circadian rhythms and the genes that make up the molecular clock…
Misclassified For Centuries, Medicinal Leeches Found To Be 3 Distinct Species:
Genetic research has revealed that commercially available medicinal leeches used around the world in biomedical research and postoperative care have been misclassified for centuries. Until now, the leeches were assumed…
Died at the age of 84. One of the best of the best. One of the 2-3 people in the world whose ALL works I own and have read at least once. He'll be missed.
As you know, the last several days saw quite a flurry of blog posts about framing science. I posted my thoughts here and I keep updating my post with links to all the new posts as they show up (except the expected drivel by William Dembski, some minor creaitonists and Lubos Motl). Some of the…
How did I miss this!?
Knut Schmidt-Nielsen, one of my personal scientific idols, died on January 25th, 2007at the age of 92.
He has re-invented, or perhaps better to say invented, the field of comparative physiology (now often refered to as 'evolutionary physiology'). He wrote the standard…
Strange Maps
Dingo's Kidneys
Jim Davies: the Blog
Stranger than you can imagine
Omniorthogonal
Metroblog
The Anterior Commissure
Everything and more
Rabett Run
Only In It For The Gold
Evolution Of Symbiosis:
The aphid Acyrthosiphon pisum depends on a bacterial symbiont, Buchnera aphidicola, for amino acids it can't get from plants. The aphid, in turn, provides the bacterium with energy and carbon as well as shelter inside specialized cells. Such interdependent relationships are…
When my 'Scientific American' arrived the other day, I was excited to read the article about ravens by Bernd Heinrich, as I loved his book Mind of a Raven. I was also glad to see that new cool experiments have been done since the book came out. But I wondering how to blog about an article that is…
As you may have noticed, there is a vigorous debate going on in the blogosphere about framing science (all the links to all the relevant posts can be found if you click on that link).
For the uninitiated, this may look as a big dust-up and bar-brawl, but that is how blogosphere works, ya know,…
...or blog post, or any non-fiction for that matter. Dave Munger explains. As one of his commenters notes: "
Actually, this fantastic post is like a DSM entry for diagnosing crappy science writing. "Must exhibit 7 of 9 symptoms for 200 pages."
Print it out and put it next to your computer. Check…
Some Bottlenose Dolphins Don't Coerce Females To Mate:
Mating strategies are straightforward in bottlenose dolphins, or are they? Much of the work carried on male-female relationships in that species to date show that males tend to coerce females who are left with little choice about with whom to…
Real Life (as well as the framing science debate) took too much of my time and energy and attention so I never got to posting this very inportant notice. I will just copy what Sharp Brains put up, but feel free to write your feedback both to me and to Alvaro:
What is the Brain Essay Student…
Do the survey for this week and let me and John know how you answered and why:
Most likely reason a scientist will leave research?
Can't find a permanent position
Desires to earn a higher salary
Sees no correlation between hard work and eventual success
Wants to make a greater impact on society…
