jtoney
Posts by this author
June 21, 2011
Photo source, San Jose Library Flickr Photostream.
So you're on ScienceBlogs. What interests you, what are you looking for? As a regular blogger, I wanted to know.
One way to explore these questions is to take a random sampling of keywords that readers have used to search this site. I…
June 20, 2011
Philosopher and mathematician René Descartes proposed some curious diagrams in 1644. A biologist looking at these shapes might think of living cells under a microscope:
Source.
Compare these shapes to epidermal cells {in this case, the epidermal surface of lamprey larvae. Note that this image…
June 20, 2011
Miss California Alyssa Campanella wins the 2011 Miss USA Pageant. In preliminary judging, Campenella supported teaching evolution in public schools. In the finals, she gave a complex answer on legalizing marijuana.
Photo Credit: By Valerie Macon, AFP/Getty Images
This is my favorite story of the…
June 20, 2011
Source: Sheep purple Flickr Photostream.
Big Ag and antibiotics are becoming a lightning rod for a culture war of facts. Does agricultural use of antibiotics contribute to their diminishing effectiveness in people?
Liz Wagstrom, Chief Veterinarian of the National Pork Producers Council says no.…
June 20, 2011
On Father's Day, I received an email from the First Lady celebrating an exemplary father giving back to his community. One line at the end of the message struck me, referring to the "Obama Victory Fund, a joint fundraising committee authorized by Obama for America and the Democratic National…
June 18, 2011
Odi Profanum Vulgus Et Arceo
"I detest the common crowd, and I rebuff them."
Bill Keller, Executive Editor of The New York Times, announced that a new section, Sunday Review, will launch June 26, including comics.
In a letter to their readers (June 19):
We're also adding new features, creating an…
June 16, 2011
I have been writing recently about the role of science in advertising as the "new glam." A Yoplait television ad brings a new dimension to this discussion. Is it possible for TV ads to deliver subliminal potentially harmful messages, whether intentional or not?
Ads are everywhere, of course, in…
June 15, 2011
Scientists have evidence that global warming may have occurred more than 65 million years ago. How does this warming compare to modern data?
In this fascinating report, they state: {my emphasis in bold.}
The early part of the Cenozoic era, which started around 65.5 million years ago witnessed a…
June 14, 2011
What constitutes consciousness? How do you define a person? These are deep philosophical questions that I cannot answer, but MSNBC political commentator Rachel Maddow took them on - prompted, surprisingly, by one of my recent blogs "Growing a Brain in a Dish."
My earlier blog was more focused on…
June 11, 2011
Data mining of the more than 24,000 Gov. Sarah Palin's emails released June 10 is an interesting test case in national news media using crowd sourcing to mine a large database. The example I found today is interesting indeed, providing insight into the preparation process of a politician for a…
June 10, 2011
Yes, I know that thousands of bloggers have been mining through the more than 24,000 emails released today from Sarah Palin's time as Governor of Alaska. I could not resist some data mining myself.
Here's my pick, for now:
If you would like to explore the direct source - not through major news…
June 10, 2011
Dear readers,
I am delighted that I have joined journalist Chris Mooney at The Intersection, his blog for Discover magazine as a guest blogger. My first post addresses the question, Sexy Science: The New "Sizzle" in Advertising? I look forward to your comments.
June 9, 2011
Have you ever bought something that contained "no chemicals"? If you have, please let me know and share with Mary Carmichael, a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT.
Here's one example of a product that is "lab-proven to kill the toughest of germs & viruses without the need for soap or…
June 8, 2011
What do Americans regret the most? Regret can weigh you down, leading to focusing on the past rather than a brighter future. Each of us has a bundle of regrets; I will spare you my own list - it is unlikely you have the time or interest to lend a sympathetic ear. What's on your list?
Researchers…
June 6, 2011
This is incredible, from The Wall Street Journal!!
"I panicked and said I was hacked," said Mr. Weiner at the late afternoon news conference at a midtown Manhattan hotel.
What was he thinking?
See my previous post, giving him the benefit of doubt. So much for the dangers of hacking and computer…
June 6, 2011
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Sperm counts declining due to environment and chemical hazards is, seemingly, commonplace knowledge. But a startling study just published in the journal Epidemiology debunks the concept.
Highlighted in The Science Times of The New York Times {June 7 edition}:
But now 15 years of data from…
June 6, 2011
British teenage students have re-discovered a classical physical phenomenon, the Leidenfrost effect that could someday help ships glide through oceans more efficiently.
I'll let these 16 year old students explain it:
One day in Physics class we accidentally discovered you could get beautiful…
June 4, 2011
"An explosive power the size of a Hiroshima bomb - once a week."
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.
Like most Americans, I would love to be able to drive without having to fill up with increasingly expensive gas - costly not only to our wallets, but to the environment and to geopolitics. Why not switch to a…
June 2, 2011
Imagine you have two months to live. What would you do, what would you write to your friends and colleagues? I don't know if I have two months - do you? No one does. Life is an ongoing risk, an opportunity to embrace challenges, to coast, or to be numb.
One of my dear colleagues, Dr. Richard…
June 2, 2011
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The recent news media storm about Rep. Anthony Weiner (D-NY) and the "Twitter prank" highlights the importance of internet safety and security. It is not surprising that someone could hack into a public official's Twitter account and post an embarrassing picture. But online social…
June 1, 2011
According to Fox News:
The World Science Festival is launched today, June 1, in New York City, and:
... promises a number of mind blowing revelations. Just consider these ideas, among the many to be presented over the next few days:
* The first person who will live 1,000 years has already…
June 1, 2011
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This venomous lizard, Heloderma suspectum, harbors a billion dollar secret: a special protein in his saliva and tail. That protein, exenatide, is highly effective in treatment for type 2 diabetes.
As American's girth and weight continues to increase, so does type 2 diabetes. It is a…
May 26, 2011
Figure 4: Synaptic responses of HFF-iN cells.
There seems to be a brain-centric theme emerging this week in groundbreaking science. Scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have reported in Nature the first example of transforming human skin cells into functional nerve cells.…
May 25, 2011
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That doughnut shape decorated with bright green spots, some connected by red pathways, amidst sky blue neighbors could be an artist's creation, but is the result of a creative scientific attempt to grow an active brain in a dish, complete with memories. Really.
Researchers at the…
May 24, 2011
The Rap Guide to Evolution Music Videos, sponsored by the Wellcome Trust.
I've been exploring the use of rap and pop culture to teach science and mathematics, ranging from Lupe Fiasco to Linkin Park, but that topic is for another day. But anyone interested in evolution, whether student or teacher…
May 23, 2011
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Watching the "Pirates of the Caribbean 4 - On Stranger Tides" this weekend with my children reminded me that pursing a "fountain of youth" is a timeless tale that plays out in our lives in many ways. For example, you see this everyday in our grocery stores, in the form of "functional…
May 20, 2011
Online social media played a major role in the 2008 Presidential election and is already looming large in the early stages of the 2012 Presidential bid. Newt Gingrich made a dramatic statement recently about Paul Ryan's Medicare proposal:
"I don't think right-wing social engineering is any more…
May 19, 2011
Figure 1. Miniaturized radio transmitters attached to bumblebees.
(a) Transmitter attachment on a Bombus terrestris individual kept in a glass tube with opened gauze where the transmitter is fixed with superglue. (b) Nectar collecting individual of Bombus terrestris on Phacelia flower having a…
May 18, 2011
Maybe it's just me, but I see beauty in this. Scientists at the University of Manchester have created high resolution images of a 49 million year old spider encapsulated in fossilized amber resin using X-ray computed tomography, typically used in medical imaging.
If the still image doesn't…
May 18, 2011
Last year, I taught a short course at Gilead Sciences in California and was impressed by not only the high quality of their scientific research but their efforts to increase access of their HIV medications to developing countries. Now Gilead has joined a group of pharmaceutical companies to try…