Greg Laden is a biological anthropologist and science communicator. His research has covered North American prehistoric and historic archaeology and African archaeology and human ecology. He is an OpenSource and OpenAccess advocate. Greg's wife, Amanda, is a High School biology teacher, his daughter Julia is a world traveler and his son Huxley is 2.
That's "lesbian" as in "a lesbian person" not a lawyer who specializes in "lesbian law," whatever that might be.
Most people think Obama will pick a woman, in part because only one of the nine seated justices is female at present. But it appears that at least one short list is forming up that…
Which is great, because I understand we have LOTS of neutrinos here ....
The University of Minnesota and the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory plan to break ground south of International Falls today on a multimillion-dollar project designed to help understand the universe.
The NuMI Off-Axis…
An interesting take on the Merk Maneno:
It's a safe guess that somewhere at Merck today someone is going through the meeting minutes of the day that the hair-brained scheme for the Australasian Journal of Bone and Joint Medicine was launched, and that everyone who was in the room is now going to be…
Congressperson Keith Ellison has endorsed Matt Entenza for Governor of Minnesota.
This is of general interest because of the role of the current Minnesota governor on the broader national scene, and of course, it is important to us Minnesotans.
Here's Enteza's web site.
Russia is planning a fleet of floating and submersible nuclear power stations to exploit Arctic oil and gas reserves, causing widespread alarm among environmentalists.
A prototype floating nuclear power station being constructed at the SevMash shipyard in Severodvinsk is due to be completed next…
I just watched a movie that made me ROFLMAOOL about fifty times. Maybe a hundred times. You'll not want to miss this...
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There are a lot of reasons that I love my friend Ana, and I fully admit that one of them is that she give me things now and then that make me happy. Like cookies…
Is software support that you pay for better than software support you get for free? Are you going to do better, for instance, with Microsoft Office vs. OpenOffice.org Office when you need to fix something?
The answer is obvious. But still, many of you manage to not understand. But this can be…
The podcast for today's radio discussion with Fellman, Scott and Laden is available.
A bit about the history of the NCSE; cultural relativism in the science education movement; Greg disses bench scientists again; The appeasement question; A phone call from a famous Pharyngulistum; Science…
Lithium has long been used as a psychotherapeutic drug, and treatment with lithium demonstrably reduces incidence of suicide. Lithium also occurs naturally in groundwater to varying degrees. This study explores the relative amount of Lithium in groundwater and suicide in 18 municipalities in Oita…
...the Minnesota Supreme Court has upheld the right of drunk-driving defendants to request the source code for the breathalyzer machines used as evidence against them, but only when the defendant provides sufficient arguments to suggest that a review of the code may have an impact on the case.
...…
... In public schools. According to one Federal Judge in the US, not much.
A Mission Viejo high school history teacher violated the First Amendment by disparaging Christians during a classroom lecture, a federal judge ruled today.
James Corbett, a 20-year teacher at Capistrano Valley High…
UPDATE: Confirming that four Cowboys staff members were injured, the extent of the injuries not established. No players or coaches injured. A quick flyby shot of the facility shows a big white and very flat building.
The Irving Texas Cowboys training facility was hit with a tornado and…
Or, really, it is going to me more like a three way conversation. Maybe we can get Stephanie Zvan involved too, because she's going to be right there. This is not the official announcement... I expect to get the press release tomorrow and I'll post it. But I thought some of you would like to…
Michele Bachmann wanted to make sure ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) did not receive any fund related to home foreclosure relief. So she pushed through an amendment in the House Financial Services committee that would disallow funding to any organaztion facing federal…
I have a handful of comments, mostly about how what you are seeing on the news is unimportant, and one comment about why you actually should worry. Within reason.
The new Swine Flu has now been verified in nineteen US states, with 141 cases. Technically there is 1 death, but since the young…
US Supreme Court David Souter will retire at the end of the current court term.
Amerians: THIS is why we needed to elect a Democrat to office.
NPR has learned that Supreme Court Justice David Souter is planning to retire at the end of the current court term.
The vacancy will give President Obama…
Head First Physics: A learner's companion to mechanics and practical physics I have been watching these Heads Up guides for some time now, mainly in the context of computer software and development. I have not tried any of these guides in IT because, so far, I've felt that while they may be…
It is theoretically impossible to observe all of the different aspects of state of matter at the subatomic "quantum" level. This means that at the tiniest level of spacetime, bits and pieces of stuff and action can only be vaguely known, and therefore, if you wanted to build a quantum computer you…
As long as we are on the subject (this week) of field guides, I thought I'd go ahead and suggest what guides you might take if you happen to be planning a trip to Central, East or southern Africa1
But since we are doing Africa, we need to do mammals as well as birds. But let's start with the birds…
photograph of some grapefruit Grapefruit juice contains enzymes that break down common types of compounds of which pharmaceuticals are made. This means that if you drink grapefruit juice along with some drugs, the effect of the drug will be enhanced.
(That was a slight oversimplification.)…
The swine flu maneno in the 1970s was actually a key moment in the history of epidemiology politics. It also relates to the history of anti-vaccine activism in important and interesting ways. I should probably write a whole post about it. For now, suffice it to say that the government reaction…
