clock | February 3, 2009There are 13 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites. The Big One today, I'll cover in a separate post a little later, but here I also want to point out a paper by my good friends Elsa Youngsteadt and Coby Schal, back from my NCSU days (Dr.Youngsteadt now works for…
clock | February 3, 2009From SCONC:
Even if you haven't heard of Bisphenol A (BPA), you've likely been exposed to it. The endocrine disrupting compound is common in plastic infant bottles, water bottles, food cans and lots of other products. Scientists debate its dangers but the National Toxicology Program (based in RTP) acknowledges BPA as a source of "some concern" due to its possible harm to the brains and behavior of fetuses, infants and children.
On Wed. Feb. 18, at noon, come hear NCSU assistant biology professor Heather Patisaul share what she's finding about BPA's potential permanent effects in a talk…
clock | February 3, 2009Grand Rounds - Vol 5, no. 20 are up on Not Totally Rad
Gene Genie #43 is up on Pharmamotion
The 162nd Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Dewey's Treehouse
clock | February 3, 2009
Mammals That Hibernate Or Burrow Less Likely To Go Extinct:
The best way to survive the ill-effects of climate change and pollution may be to simply sleep through it. According to a new study published in The American Naturalist, mammals that hibernate or that hide in burrows are less likely to turn up on an endangered species list. The study's authors believe that the ability of such "sleep-or-hide" animals to buffer themselves from changing environments may help them avoid extinction.
Ten New Amphibian Species Discovered In Colombia; Secluded Safe Haven For Frogs As Global Extinctions Rise…
clock | February 2, 2009Civilization is a stream with banks. The stream is sometimes filled with blood from people killing, stealing, shouting and doing the things historians usually record, while on the banks, unnoticed, people build homes, make love, raise children, sing songs.
- Will Durant
clock | February 2, 2009This shows how waves of humans spread throughout the world from their origins in Africa over a period of some 50,000 years. The video was created by geneticist Daniel Falush of University College Cork in Ireland and colleagues. For more info, go here: http://www.plosgenetics.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pgen.1000078
Soundtrack courtesy of Garageband
clock | February 2, 2009Hop over to The Other 95% and dig into all the invertebrate bloggy goodness!
clock | February 2, 2009Comment threads on blogs are an important aspect of the blogging culture. But I disagree that it is a defining aspect - there are many excellent blogs out there with no commenting allowed. Such blogs usually have a prominently displayed contact information for direct e-mailing to the author. One can always link to and trackback on one's own blog in response: blog-to-blog conservation is just as important to the blogosphere as a whole, if not more, than comments on any individual post. Other blogs have their feeds exported to LiveJournal or FriendFeed where one can post comments as well.
See…
clock | February 2, 2009There is some interesting stuff published in PLoS Medicine and PLoS Biology today:
What Should Be Done To Tackle Ghostwriting in the Medical Literature?:
Background to the debate: Ghostwriting occurs when someone makes substantial contributions to a manuscript without attribution or disclosure. It is considered bad publication practice in the medical sciences, and some argue it is scientific misconduct. At its extreme, medical ghostwriting involves pharmaceutical companies hiring professional writers to produce papers promoting their products but hiding those contributions and instead naming…
clock | February 2, 2009February Scientiae is up on Fairer Science
Carnival of the Blue #21 is up on The Oyster's Garter
The Accretionary Wedge #16: Pondering the geological future of Earth, is up on Clastic Detritus
Festival of the Trees #32 is up on Treeblog
The 73rd History Carnival is up on Diapsalmata
clock | February 2, 2009From the Regulator Bookshop:
Time: Tuesday, February 3, 2009 7:00 p.m.
Location: Regulator Bookshop
Title of Event: Rob Dunn
NCSU ecology professor Rob Dunn will discuss and sign copies of his new book, Every Living Thing: Man's Obsessive Quest to Catalog Life, from Nanobacteria to New Monkeys. Dunn, an engaging science popularizer, tells the exhilarating story of humanity's quest to discover everything about our natural world from the unimaginably small in the most inhospitable of places on earth to the unimaginably far away in the unexplored canals on Mars. For more information see the…
clock | February 2, 2009
How A Brain Chemical Changes Locusts From Harmless Grasshoppers To Swarming Pests:
Scientists have uncovered the underlying biological reason why locusts form migrating swarms. Their findings, reported in today's edition of Science, could be used in the future to prevent the plagues which devastate crops (notably in developing countries), affecting the livelihood of one in ten people across the globe.
Many New Species Discovered In Hidden Mozambique Oasis With Help Of Google Earth:
Space may be the final frontier, but scientists who recently discovered a hidden forest in Mozambique show the…
clock | February 1, 2009Solitude and company may be allowed to take their turns: the one creates in us the love of mankind, the other that of ourselves; solitude relieves us when we are sick of company, and conversation when we are weary of being alone, so that the one cures the other. There is no man so miserable as he that is at a loss how to use his time.
- Seneca
clock | February 1, 2009Podcast of this morning's radio show is now up - you can listen to it here.
We covered ScienceOnline09, including its history, several individual sessions and underlying themes, the changes in science communication and journalism and more. A brief plug for PLoS at the beginning. Answered a couple of e-mailed questions, including one from Greg Laden (who almost stumped me - had to think quickly on my feet!).
Thanks to Stephanie and Mike for inviting me on.
clock | February 1, 2009Long-time readers of this blog remember that, some years ago, I did a nifty little study on the Influence of Light Cycle on Dominance Status and Aggression in Crayfish. The department has moved to a new building, the crayfish lab is gone, I am out of science, so chances of following up on that study are very low. And what we did was too small even for a Least Publishable Unit, so, in order to have the scientific community aware of our results, I posted them (with agreement from my co-authors) on my blog. So, although I myself am unlikely to continue studying the relationship between the…
clock | February 1, 2009Carnival of the Arid #1 is up on Coyote Crossing. Get all your deserted bloggy goodness all in one place.
A new carnival is in the making - Diversity in Science - covering the minorities in science and engineering. February being the Black History Month, the inaugural edition of the carnival will have a special focus on African American experience in the world of science. Deadline is Friday, February 20th. DNLee will host the first edition on Tuesday, February 24.
clock | February 1, 2009
*/
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Denis Dutton
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPaul McCartney Appearance
Funny Political VideosMore Funny Videos
clock | February 1, 2009Bird Song Discoveries May Lead To Refinement Of Darwinian Theory:
For Williams College biology professor Heather Williams, the songs birds sing are more than a pleasant part of a spring day. They are a window into how communication works in the natural world. A birdsong is more than just an encapsulated package of information, it is "a behavior frozen in time." One of her projects is to record and map out the songs of Savannah sparrows that spend the warmer months on a small Canadian island, Kent Island, in the Bay of Fundy. With the help of microphones, binoculars, and a well-documented set…
clock | January 31, 2009The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence.
- Robert Peel
clock | January 31, 2009Emerging Model Organisms:
All exciting, but of course, I got it for the chapter on Japanese Quail. The protocol desribes how to make a transgenic quail. It sounds easy on paper. A few years back I took a graduate class and we spent the entire semester going through all the steps needed to make a transgenic bird. Nice to see this species getting a serious look once again. Will keep watching....