sarahdasher
Posts by this author
January 18, 2007
There are two more doctors in the house. (Okay, a doctor and a doctoral candidate.) Go check out Signout and Science to Life for tawdry tales of medicine, biochemistry and the life of a first-year resident.
Welcome!
January 17, 2007
Just ask the French: plants don't actually need soil.
This was botanist Patrick Blanc's conceit when he began growing Vertical Gardens on the indoor and outdoor walls of some of Paris' most design-forward museums and ateliers.
Unlike, for example, the temples of Angkor Wat (left), Blanc's…
January 16, 2007
According to a new University of Delaware survey, wind power has a strong base of support in our nation's second-smallest state.
Of the 949 Delaware residents surveyed, more than 90 percent reported that they would support an offshore wind project in their home state, even if wind power were to…
January 15, 2007
Troy Hurtubise--the inventor who achieved minor fame, and personal bankruptcy, as a result of his bear-protection suit--is at it again. This time, however, he is doing it for the soldiers. Pictured here is his newest invention, The Trojan, which draws design inspiration from Star Wars, RoboCop,…
January 11, 2007
Power Washing 188 Suffolk Street, East Village, New York, NY. Captured by Trevor Little.
(Source).
Hat-tip, Seth.
January 11, 2007
ScienceBlogs went live for the first time on January 11th, 2006. The Way Way Back Machine recalls our very first (full) day.
Thanks, everyone!
January 9, 2007
Andromeda's halo, and other galactic marvels, brought to you by Dynamics of Cats.
January 8, 2007
There's a new Clive Owen movie out called Children of Men. It's based on the book by P.D. James, and although the two have little else in common, they do share the same basic premise: humankind suddenly becomes infertile and is faced with its own slow, inevitable extinction.
According to United…
January 5, 2007
Since moving to New York, I've been having trouble breathing. Is city air pollution to blame?
Source: European Space Agency.
The above image shows atmospheric nitrogen dioxide concentrations worldwide. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is a mainly man-made gas, produced by the usual suspects: power plants,…
January 4, 2007
Calculate your CO2 emissions by plane, train, or automobile.
Here's a puzzler for the greenhouse gas enthusiasts among you:
According to this calculator, car and airplane emissions even out over progressively longer trips, despite the obvious weaknesses of an as-the-crow-flies methodology (see…
January 3, 2007
From Doc Bushwell's Chimp Refuge, Hypermiler or Hyperdumb?.
"Some hypermilers have managed to get very impressive figures out of their vehicles, in excess of 100 miles per gallon, but the way some of them go about it is downright crazy. Techniques used include over-inflating tires, tailgating…
January 2, 2007
Ring in 2007 with manna for the science-starved.
From Mike the Mad Biologist, So This is What Theistic Geology Looks Like.
"You might not know this, but, due to pressure from Republicans beholden to batshit lunatic creationists theological conservatives, park rangers at the Grand Canyon are not…
December 29, 2006
There's a high probability you'll learn something.
From Evolution Blog, not to be mistaken for evolgen, A Probability Puzzle.
"A shopkeeper says she has two new baby beagles to show you, but she doesn't know whether they're both male, both female, or one of each. You tell her that you want only a…
December 28, 2006
Hand-picked for your delectation.
From Cognitive Daily, Casual Fridays: Christmas Procrastinators' Edition.
Christmas is over, but there's still time for holiday faux-pas. CogDaily readers weigh in on last-minute gift giving: "Are gift certificates appropriate? What about cash? Everyone can use…
December 28, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle.
What's your name?
Shelley Alyssa Batts. I feel like you should now be asking me my favorite color and then the air-speed velocity of an unladen swallow.
What do you do when you're not blogging?
Working on my doctoral thesis, re-…
December 27, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Bora Zivkovic of A Blog Around The Clock.
What's your name?
Bora Zivkovic, better known online as "Coturnix" (the Latin name of the genus of my favourite lab animal model).
What do you do when you're not blogging?
I am a stay-at-home Dad and also an adjunct…
December 26, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Mark Chu-Carroll of Good Math/Bad Math.
What's your name?
Mark Chu-Carroll
What do you do when you're not blogging?
Chase my children around.... (I've got a 6 year-old girl and a 3 1/2 year-old boy.) Cook. Chase my children some more. Make bizarrely elaborate…
December 25, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Jake Young of Pure Pedantry.
What's your name?
I have many names: Satan, Asmodai, Beelzebub, Lucifer, Mephistopheles, He Who Must Not Be Named, He Who Steals Paper Clips and Other Tiny Metal Things, etc. But my favorite is "James Jacob Young" or "Jake" for short…
December 24, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Carl Zimmer of The Loom.
What's your name?
Carl Zimmer
What do you do when you're not blogging?
Write magazine articles, books, and various other pieces of dead-tree media. Or investigate anthills with my daughters.
What is your blog called?
The Loom
What's up…
December 22, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Janet D. Stemwedel of Adventures in Ethics and Science.
What's your name?
Janet D. Stemwedel. But you can call me Dr. Free-Ride, since that's the pseudonym I used when I launched my blog. (It came from a discussion with my ethics in science class about whether…
December 7, 2006
Sir Karl Raimund Popper (1902-1994) was a professor at the London School of Economics and among the most influential philsophers of science of the 20th century. Among his other projects, Popper dealt with the question of what is, and what is not, science.
Popper proposed that what separates…
November 30, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Jonah Lehrer of The Frontal Cortex.
What's your name?
Jonah Lehrer
What do you do when you're not blogging?
I pretty much live inside a gaggle of words. I spend my entire day either writing or reading so I can write more. HBO and Netflix are my main escapes.…
November 17, 2006
Who would you nominate for Scientist Laureate, if such a position existed?
November 10, 2006
What are the best pickup lines for scientists and science-savvy folk?
November 6, 2006
The North Carolina Science Blogging Conference will be held Saturday, January 20, 2007 in Chapel Hill, NC. This is a free, open and public event for scientists, educators, students, journalists, bloggers, "and anyone interested in discussing science communication, education and literacy on the Web…
November 3, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Craig Hildreth of The Cheerful Oncologist.
What's your name?
Craig Hildreth
What do you do when you're not blogging?
I enjoy assassinating cancer cells that have taken nice people hostage. I also read, lift weights, hang out with the family, walk the dog, peruse…
November 3, 2006
What's the most important local political race to you this year (as a citizen, as a scientist)?
November 1, 2006
This time around, we're talking to Mike of Mike the Mad Biologist.
What's your name?
Mike the Mad Biologist.
What do you do when you're not blogging?
Science. For fun, well, I live in Boston. Museums, great restaurants, beautiful neighborhoods (and people, excepting yours truly). After four…
October 30, 2006
Image: Chuck.
There's nothing festive about a past-its-prime jack-o-lantern accruing mats of vegetable mold in the the driveway. At this weekend's 2006 Punkin' Chunkin' World Championships in Millsboro, Deleware, a few resourceful folks will pronounce a nobler, or at least more spectacular, good…
October 27, 2006
When Tungurahua erupted earlier this month, three hundred local people were forced to evacuate. Tungurahua is the most active volcano in Ecuador, which is itself a volcanically active region.
This image, captured by NASA's Terra satellite on October 25, shows Tungurahua mid-eruption; a plume of…