clock | January 15, 2009I get e-mails about such events, so I thought I'd share, so you can attend some of these talks if you want:
NCSE's executive director Eugenie C. Scott will be speaking twice in North Carolina shortly.
First, at 7:00 p.m. on January 27, she will be speaking on "Darwin's Legacy in Science and Society" in the Wright Auditorium on the East Carolina University campus in Greenville. "Charles Darwin's publication of On the Origin of Species in 1859 was an extraordinary milestone for science, but it also had profound effects on theology, philosophy, literature, and society in general. Nowhere is…
clock | January 15, 2009Four Stone Hearth (58th Edition) is up on Moneduloides
Skeptics' Circle #103 is up on Bug Girl's Blog
clock | January 14, 2009Dullard, n. A member of the reigning dynasty in letters and life. The Dullards came in with Adam, and being both numerous and sturdy, have overrun the habitable world. The secret of their power is their insensibility to blows; tickle them with a bludgeon and they laugh with a platitude. The Dullards came originally from Boeotia, whence they were driven by stress of starvation, their dulness having blighted the crops. For some centuries, they infested Philistia, and many of them are called Philistines to this day. In the turbulent times of the Crusades they withdrew thence and gradually…
clock | January 14, 2009Can't say "welcome a new SciBling" because he's not new! PalMD is now flying solo! He moved out of the fraternity house and rented his own house: White Coat Underground. Go say Hello, bookmark, susbcribe, update your feeds, whatever you like to do, but keep reading Pal.
clock | January 14, 2009
The interest in the conference was overwhelming this year. When we opened the registration back in September we did not expect that we would have to close it in less than three weeks, already over our maximal number of 200. As a result, our waitlist got bigger and bigger and, occasionally, as someone would cancel, we could invite someone from the waitlist to register.
About a dozen people held off until the end, hoping they would still be able to make it, but had to cancel over the last week or two. In their place, we invited several people from the waitlist (and yes, we are still over…
clock | January 14, 2009
It's here. The first traveling participants are arriving tomorrow! Anywhere between 200 and 240 people are expected at any given time during the three days of the conference, with another 60+ people, regrettably, remaining on the waitlist even after some last-minute cancellations allowed us to invite a couple of dozen waitlisted folks. The waitlisted locals are welcome to add their names to extra events, e.g., meals or lab tours if there are empty slots remaining, just to meet the participants face-to-face if they want to.
Those who will be here in person will get to meet each other in Real…
clock | January 14, 2009Voracious Sponges In Underwater Caves Save Reefs:
Tropical oceans are known as the deserts of the sea. And yet this unlikely environment is the very place where the rich and fertile coral reef grows. Dutch researcher Jasper de Goeij investigated how caves in the coral reef ensure the reef's continued existence. Although sponges in these coral caves take up a lot of dissolved organic material, they scarcely grow. However, they do discard a lot of cells that in turn provide food for the organisms on the reef.
Tiny Insect Develops Long-term Memory:
If a specific butterfly anti-sex scent is…
clock | January 14, 2009Carnival of the Liberals # 82 is up on Accidental Blogger
The 159th Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Alasandra's Homeschool Blog
clock | January 13, 2009Don't be dismayed at goodbyes. A farewell is necessary before you can meet again. And meeting again, after moments or lifetimes, is certain for those who are friends.
- Richard David Bach
clock | January 13, 2009There are 17 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:
Mitochondrial Phylogeography Illuminates the Origin of the Extinct Caspian Tiger and Its Relationship to the Amur Tiger:
The Caspian tiger (Panthera tigris virgata) flourished in Central Asian riverine forest systems…
clock | January 13, 2009The next edition of Praxis will be on January 15th 2009, at the Pod Black Cat.
There are only 2 days left until the deadline for the 7th edition of The Giant's Shoulders, to be held at The Questionable Authority.
Next Carnival of the Liberals will be on Accidental Blogger tomorrow, but you still have a couple of hours left until the submission deadline.
And in the meantime, check out Carnival of the Green #162 now up on Teensy Green and the latest Grand Rounds Vol. 5 No. 17 up on In Sickness & In Health.
clock | January 13, 2009Did you know that the largest desert on Earth is Antarctica? And the second largest is Arctic? And only then comes Sahara!
Well, I knew that because Hal Heathwole taught a Desert Ecology course that many of my buddies in grad school took. But if you don't believe me, check out the Wikipedia page about deserts.
And then, don't stop at that. Do you have a blog? If not, start one. If yes, sit down and write a post about a desert. Then send it to the very first edition of the Carnival of the Arid:
Submissions should have something to do with a desert somewhere in the world. (If you're not…
clock | January 13, 2009Evolution is the theme of the month for January at PLoS ONE, so we have picked , for your pleasure, some of our papers for the Top picks in Evolutionary Biology. In conjuction with this, I have also conducted an interview with our Evolution Section Editor Dr.Tom Tregenza.
Dr.Tom Tregenza studies sexual selection and sexual conflict in crickets, both in the lab and in the field, and we discuss some of his research in the interview. He is also involved in a collaborative study of the amazing mimic octopus - see the movie below - so I hope you go and check out the interview:
clock | January 13, 2009Science 2.0: New online tools may revolutionize research quotes Michael Nielsen, Eva Amsen, Corie Lok and Jean-Claude Bradley. Article is good but short. If you come to ScienceOnline'09 or participate virtually, you can get the longer story straight from them.
clock | January 13, 2009Chemotherapy Most Effective At Time Of Day When Particular Enzyme At Lowest Level:
For years, research has hinted that the time of day that cancer patients receive chemotherapy can impact their chances of survival. But the lack of a clear scientific explanation for this finding has kept clinicians from considering timing as a factor in treatment. Now, a new study from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has suggested that treatment is most effective at certain times of day because that is when a particular enzyme system - one that can reverse the actions of chemotherapeutic drugs…
clock | January 13, 2009Computer Game 'Tetris' May Help Reduce Flashbacks To Traumatic Events:
Playing 'Tetris' after traumatic events could reduce the flashbacks experienced in post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), preliminary research by Oxford University psychologists suggests.
New Computer Program Enables Powerful Data Analysis On Small Computers:
A powerful yet compact algorithm has been developed that can be used on laptop computers to extract features and patterns from huge and complex data sets.
Digital Communication Technology Helps Clear Path To Personalized Therapies:
Researchers at the Burnham Institute…
clock | January 12, 2009Children are the living messages we send to a time we will not see.
- John W Whitehead
clock | January 12, 2009The weather prediction for this week is cold and clear to partly cloudy. If you are coming from Canada, you'll probably think that's warm, but for us here, this is very cold. At least, it appears at the moment, we will avoid snow unlike last year:
clock | January 12, 2009From SCONC:
The next Sigma Xi Pizza Lunch is noon, THURSDAY. Jan. 22. The title: "Dinosaurs under the microscope: New ways to look at old bones."
Come hear NC State University paleontologist Mary Schweitzer explain why she rocked science not long ago with evidence that soft tissue survived in a 68-million-year-old dinosaur fossil. Not all fossil experts accept it, but many do. If Schweitzer is correct, she's found a whole new route to explore the biology and evolutionary lineage of extinct life.
Pizza Lunch is free and open to science journalists and science communicators of all stripes.…
clock | January 12, 2009Mosquitoes Create Harmonic Love Song Before Mating, Study Finds:
That pesky buzz of a nearby mosquito is the sound of love, scientists have known for some time. But a new Cornell study reports that males and females flap their wings and change their tune to create a harmonic duet just before mating.
How Did Life Begin? RNA That Replicates Itself Indefinitely Developed For First Time:
One of the most enduring questions is how life could have begun on Earth. Molecules that can make copies of themselves are thought to be crucial to understanding this process as they provide the basis for…