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
Douglas Kell: The Matthew effect in Science - citing the most cited:
The Matthew effect applies to journals and papers too - a highly cited journal or paper is likely to attract more citations (and mis-citations), probably for the simple psychological reasoning that 'if so many people cite it, it…
Asks Nachiket Vartak:
Twitter doesn't need an introduction. The microblogging service is widely popular, and most Twitter users swear by its wonderful utility. It is a "Social Commons", as one enthusiastic web junkie put it. But a few months into using Twitter, I realised that there are very few…
Jay Rosen, on Twitter:
"Hey @Boraz: Scientists (mainly, me) are close to announcing a branching off from the curmudgeons, a new species, almost. The Replacements."
My response on Twitter:
@jayrosen_nyu I am all ears! The Replacements! Sounds like a superhero comic strip, a movie one day!
Jay, on…
A few days back a paper came out (not OA, sorry), with a keen grasp of the obvious: Open Access is useful for those living in countries where they do not have much access. Duh! Furthermore, those who barely do any science at all, i.e., in the least developed countries, don't cite, so there is no…
A Hurdle for Health Reform: Patients and Their Doctors:
Dr. Harold Varmus, the president of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and a former director of the National Institutes of Health, said increasing public access to the findings of medical research would be important for health…
Senator Tom Harkin luvz him some alternative medicine. And he hates when the studies demonstrate those things don't work, so he tries to push them into the Obama Administration's health care plan by force. Read Orac, PalMD and PZ for details (and for info what you can do). This administration is…
Archy does an amazing detective job on who stole what from whom in the old literature on mammoths, going back all the way to Lyell!
Then, as much of that literature is very old, he provides us with a history and timeline of the ideas of copyright and plagiarism so we could have a better grasp on…
But there is plenty of digital evidence it really happened!
Check out the #CISB hashtag on Twitter, the CISB'09 room on FriendFeed, and the blog posts:
Cromer Is SO Bracing '09 - Day One
Cromer Is SO Bracing '09 - Day Two
Cromer is SO Bracing - Friday Lunchtime update
Cromer Is SO Bracing - Pier…
Pros and cons of your audience at a conference following you live on microblogging services:
How to Present While People are Twittering
Project Management helped by MicroBlogging
Conference technology planning
Discussion on FriendFeed
A voice from Latin America:
Many scientists use science blogs to post information on their work and receive comments from other scientists and from people outside the usual circle of readers. Some authors even suggest posting in blogs part of their works before publishing them, in order to exchange…
Circus of the Spineless Issue 36 is up on Invertebrate Diaries
Encephalon Edition 65 is up on PodBlack Cat
Berry Go Round #14 is up on Gravity's rainbow
Four Stone Hearth #61 is up on Moore Groups Blog
Carnival of the Liberals LXXXV is up on The Lay Scientist
Underlying Sleep Problem Linked To Attention-deficit/hyperactivity Disorder In Children:
A study in the March 1 issue of the journal SLEEP suggests the presence of an intrinsic sleep problem specific to attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and supports the idea that children with ADHD…
History teaches that grave threats to liberty often come in times of urgency, when constitutional rights seem too extravagant to endure.
- Thurgood Marshall
You have been Expelled.
No, not by me, by your own party.
The Republican party is now a clown car.
The sane, thoughtful conservatives have left it over the years, some prominent ones quite publicly last year, either more openly by stating they are leaving GOP, or a little more carefully, by…
From SCONC:
Thursday, March 5
7 p.m.
What Good is it to Feel Good? The Science of Positive Emotions
From our "what the world needs now" file, Dr. Barbara Frederickson, head of the Positive Emotions and Psychophysiology Lab at UNC will share thoughts from her new book, Positivity. You can strengthen…
Carnival of Evolution #9 is up on Moneduloides
March Scientiae: Role Models is up on Liberal Arts Lady
Festival of the Trees #33 is up on Local ecologist
Skeptics' Circle #106 is up on Disillusioned Words
Friday Ark #232 is up on Modulator
In February I posted 166 times. This includes two BPR3-icon-worthy posts about science! The first was on Circadian Rhythm of Aggression in Crayfish with the longish addendum on citing blog posts in scientific literature. The second was An Awesome Whale Tale, and, related to this paper, I announced…
Desert Ants Smell Their Way Home:
Humans lost in the desert are well known for going around in circles, prompting scientists to ask how desert creatures find their way around without landmarks for guidance. Now new research shows that Desert Ants input both local smells and visual cues into their…
So much of our time is preparation, so much is routine, and so much retrospect, that the path of each man's genius contracts itself to a very few hours.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Actually, Journalists do take some of the blame for the death of newspapers:
But why is the business model dying?
Competition is a factor, and blogs are obviously part of that mix. But again, if I'd started a business and someone else opened up down the street and offered a more appealing product,…
Babies Learn Music While Sleeping:
Early screening and treatment for infants with hearing problems, and the ability to computer-generate musical scores, are two very different possible outcomes of some "off-the-wall" research. Until recently, little has been known about the perceptions humans have…
Sometimes you are overwhelmed when a thing comes, and you do not realize the magnitude of the affair at that moment. When you get away from it, you wonder, did it really happen to you?
- Marian Anderson
You may be aware that PLoS ONE has started making Collections of papers in various areas of research. The older PLoS journals have been making collections for a long time. PLoS ONE is just starting. Last month we put together the first such collection - Stress-Induced Depression and Comorbidities:…
