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.
If confirmed, a recent finding may be one of the more interesting outcomes of cosmological research in quite some time. Possibly interesting enough to keep everyone busy while they are retooling the Large Hadron Collider.
First a bit of background. Assume the big bang happened. When we look out…
The file drawer effect works like this: Numerous studies are done and the results are random. But because they are random, a small number have, randomly, strong effects that are interesting and that in isolation support some interesting hypothesis. All the results that fail to confirm the…
And YOU are invited. Click here to find out where your nearest Barack Obama Kicks Ass in the Debate Party is and crash it! Seriously!
Oh, and here's Michelle:
And this.... seriously ... do this. After the debate, click Here to send a message by sending Obama ten bucks or so.
And even if…
There are several areas of controversy emerging in the discussion of Minnesota Science standards, but almost none of this controversy has to do with Evolution and Creationism. Amanda and I attended a public meeting on the issue last night, and I felt at the end that a kind of victory had been…
Last night, gunfire was exchanged between Pakistani and American troops (and Afghani troops as well). This may not have been a particularly big deal, but minor incidents like this can turn into decades of strife and warfare when people like George Bush, Sarah Palin, and that selfish addled moron…
... according to a recent study funded by ... oh, never mind. Funded by Microsoft. OK, skip that, but there is some other interesting tech news.
Here's a piece on how Linux is better than Windows. I don't know where I find these things. Have a look:
Microsoft encourages us to think of Linux…
This is the CERN press release regarding the status of the Large Hadron Collider. The bottom line: There was a release of helium leak inot sector 3-4 (which I'm pretty sure is next to sector 7g). They thik they know what caused the leak but they are not sure.
In order to investigate, they have…
The fact that this is an astrobiology rap is a good thing. Like the recently memed-out Large Hadron Collider Rap, the Astrobiology Rap places important and difficult to understand science on the pop cultural smorgasbord, and that is good.
But this isn't the Large Hadron Rap. It is simply, IMHO,…
Save all important documents and bookmark essential web pages, because this might crash your computer. But don't worry, a reboot will fix it.
Go here, click "here" and then stay there for the whole thing. You will need about two minutes.
Have duct tape (or as we call it in Minnesota, Duck Tape…
I have received this message from the InterTubes:
I am contacting you on behalf of the Blog Monkey Initiative. The Blog Monkey Initiative is an attempt to get to get a monkey species named after the blogosphere and at the same time help renowned biologist and ... [so called] "Hero of the Planet"…
Is John McCain a Coward?
John McCain has apparently suspended his presidential campaign, in an effort to either a) bring more focus to the impending collapse of the world's economy which he helped cause problem or b) get out of Friday's debate which could not possibly come at a worst time for him…
... say the athesists of Louisville, Kentucky.
Since she was a teen, she had harbored growing doubts about the conservative Christian faith, "but I was so programmed against the word atheist," she said.
When she eventually decided she was one, a "feeling of almost euphoria" descended upon her, said…
If we replace every standard light bulb with an energy efficient light bulb, we'll save enough electricity to go to the moon and back 11 times. Everybody knows that, of course. But what you may not realize is that if you use the commonly available shortcut keys that were designed into your…
We're talking about the Minnesota Science Standards and we're talking about nothing less than the Pope Mobile.
Consider the following statement currently part of the proposed Minnesota Science Standards:
The student will be able to explain how scientific and technological innovations as well as…
A vocational college student in Finland, named Matti Juhani Saari, has murdered nine people at the college he attends in Kauhajoki. He nearly botched his own suicide but is not dead in hospital. He was a licensed gun owner, who recently posted video of himself firing his gun on the internet.…
Good morning! I have important news, and COOKIES!
First, the cookies:
These are serious cookies. These are Ana cookies. If you want one, you better hurry, because they are NOT going to last long.
Now on to the important news: Melanie Reap has dropped something in my inbox indicating that the…
At 1st Ave. (Twin Cities Area)
On September 23, First Avenue/7th Street Entry nightclub in Minneapolis will be the venue for a star-studded musical and dance benefit for Cuban hurricane relief.
In the past weeks, Cuba has suffered tremendous damage from Hurricanes Gustav and Ike. Close to one…
Check it out:
I attended the Welcome Home rally for Sarah Palin this morning. ... about a thousand (maybe) hard-core Palin supporters showed up ...
After shaking it off with a good double shot of espresso, and a brisk walk back to my car, it was time to head to the Alaska Women Reject Palin…
Codeweavers has got a Linux 'version' of Chrome!!! (And a Mac version too.)
Chromium is the new Google browser. It is good because it is open source. (Yes, Virginia, that is one criterion for being 'good'). Also, it might be good for other reasons. My friend Gayle really likes it, for instance…
I'm calling in from the Saint Paul Campus of the University of Minnesota, and we're goin' down. Mayday Mayday Mayday.
We are having some kind of "meet the student group" day and it is not going well. Booths are set up in front of the Student Center. The biggest single category of student group…
This is from Jeff Rosenberg:
Norm Coleman has run a nasty campaign, full of personal attacks, half-truths, and ridiculous claims about Al Franken. Why would he do that? you may ask. The answer is simple: he knows that if this campaign comes down to issues, he'll lose. He was never elected for…
