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Apparently undeterred by last week's marijuana misadventure, DaveScot just decided to add another topic to the growing list of things he has absolutely no understanding of but writes about anyway. In today's installment, he joins the growing list of right-wingers who have decided to blame the…

If you have any doubt about how dangerous Hurricane Ike is likely to be, I've got some pictures for you. These pictures were taken within the past two hours, on the shoreline along the grounds of Naval Air Station Pensacola. This is a sheltered shoreline, protected by both barrier islands and…

You have to give Uncommon Descent poster DaveScot credit. He's not one of life's overly specialized intellects. He's a good, old fashioned generalist, able to talk about absolutely any area of science with exactly the same degree of spectacular incompetence. Today, he's turned his attention to the…

Somehow, though, I doubt that there are going to be a lot of scientists who are thrilled with the latest use Henry's found for his iPhone.

Last week, right around the time that Rudy Giuliani and Sarah Palin were mocking community organizers at the Republican Convention, I found myself talking about how community organizing can help us become more effective when it comes to dealing with issues where science and politics intersect. I…

As I write this, I'm sitting bouncing up and down in a sardine can high above the Atlantic Ocean. If I'm lucky, this state of affairs will continue for another few hours, and be followed in rapid succession by two repeats of the experience, a car ride home, and re-familiarization with my own bed…

Ozymandias was a piker. He left us his legs, most of his face, and a clear statement of what he wanted to achieve. When you get right down to it, he's not much of an enigma. The people who built this left an enigma. Stonehenge was constructed to stand proudly forever, a monument to the…

Matt "Framing Science" Nisbit has a post up that asks a somewhat very loaded question: "Did the Far Left Blogs Turn Lieberman Into a Republican?" In fact, now that I look more closely at the question, I'm starting to notice that the question isn't just loaded; it's loaded on multiple levels. I…

I'm sitting in the Faraday Theatre at the Royal Institution right now, at the Nature Network's Science Blogging 2008 conference. There are about 100 people in the room, 90% of whom I don't recognize at all. 90% of the people I do recognize are people I've met for the first time somewhere in the…

The Democratic nominee for President is giving one hell of a kick ass speech at the moment. I really hope this is the Obama we see for the rest of the campaign.

Only now, as I sit here in my hotel room eating a cheddar and roasted tomato sandwich, with a packet of Worcester Sauce crisps on the side, is the fact that I'm in London starting to sink in. In a few minutes, I'm going downstairs to meet up with Mo, and we're going to stroll over to the Jeremy…

Congrats to John Lynch for quickly coming up with the correct answer to the previous picture quiz. The man in the statue is Richard Owen; the statue sits inside the Natural History Museum in London. Since that quiz was taken care of so quickly (and I'm going through pictures anyway), let's try…

Just the statue of some dude.

I went birding again this morning. There's a nice, peaceful nature trail on base that's usually deserted if you're there before 7:30. The trail runs near the shoreline, and there's enough beach access to make it easy to watch the various shorebirds. Anyway, I've been slowly wandering around on…

...and all the whos down in whoville,the tall and the small...

If you're going to read anything today, you should read Amy Harmon's article on teaching evolution in Florida. I haven't taught high school, but I've had similar experiences teaching evolution in an introductory level college course. Evolution shouldn't be this hard a subject to teach, but it is…

I've only recently started birding with any sort of regularity or enthusiasm, and I'm not all that good at it yet. I snapped a couple of pictures of a bird in flight the other day, and I've been trying to figure out what species it is ever since. Despite my lack of expertise, I think I've got it…

I know I'm far from the first to go off on this commercial, but... No, vehix.com commercial lady, you cannot go online and "literally take a test drive". It doesn't work that way. The tubes that connect your computer to the interwebs aren't big enough. The wheels get stuck every damn time. So…

Next week I'll be in London for Nature Network's Science Blogging Conference. It's entirely possible that I'm looking forward to the trip as much as GrrlScientist is, and not just because I'll be hanging out in the UK for a week afterward. Both ScienceBlogs and the Nature Network host groups of…

Seed is trying to figure out who you are, why you read our material, and what you like. If you're willing to help us out, head over to the survey and fill it out. You'll help us, and you just might win a bunch of Apple stuff.

I used to have a hard time explaining the anger, resentment, and hostility that many scientists feel toward the big academic publishing houses. It's been getting easier, though. Recent events have, unfortunately, provided people with an experience that makes it easier to relate to what the…

Update: 13 Aug. I've added a new post that I think provides a clearer explanation for the reason that this sort of behavior is such an irritant when it comes from a company like Elsevier. Like most bloggers, I have an ego. I'm not mentioning that by way of apology, but as an explanation for why…

This should come as no surprise, coming as it does on the heels of last week's revelation that the Bush Administration is planning to change the federal definition of abortion in an effort to make it easier for our homegrown religious extremists to deny women their right to good reproductive…

The initial phase of the California Creationist Lawsuit is over, and quality education is the decisive winner. Kevin Vicklund has Judge Otero's decision, as well as a very nice analysis of the ruling up over at his blog. If you've been following the case closely, you can probably jump right over…

The American Men's 4x100 freestyle relay team just gave the French a very painful lesson in why it's really not a good idea to talk smack: "The Americans?" Bernard recently told the sports newspaper L'Equipe, "We're going to smash them. That's what we came for." Bousquet looked at members of…

The camera at the opening ceremonies just captured our President, sprawled in his chair, binoculars dangling limply from one hand, looking blankly out in space, and generally appearing to be thoroughly bored. That appearance was not dispelled when he looked at his watch. Way to represent us to the…

As I mentioned earlier, the current issue of Nature has a perspectives article by Donald Berry, a statistician at the MD Anderson Cancer Center that addresses problems with the current system for testing athletes. I more or less agree with the overall conclusion of the article - there needs to be…

The latest issue of the journal Nature has two articles (an editorial and a perspectives piece) on the topic of drug testing for athletes. Both the editors and Donald Berry (the author of the perspectives article) argue for the need for both more scientific testing to support standards for…

Sometimes the only thing that separates comedy from tragedy is the involvement of an actual living human being. That certainly seems to be the case where today's military commission verdict in the trial of Salim Hamdan. Despite having the advantages of what we must, for the lack of a better word…

Don't get me wrong. Living on base has some huge advantages for military families. The kids are around other kids who also move a lot. My wife can bike to work (on days when she doesn't walk). There are good recreational facilities available close to the house, both for us and the kids. On the…