clock | January 8, 2009My year of flossing:
I flossed again last night.
I'm still waiting for that sense of ambient smugness (my loose translation here of arete, at least as it relates to the Artistotelian aspects of oral hygiene) that usually accompanies my occasional forays into a life of virtue. I think back here to my days spent as a jogger of sorts in the early 1990's, days well remembered by some friends of mine if only for the gaily-colored yellow tights I would don before pounding up and down the streets of Sunnyvale, Calif. (In fact to this day the cognomen "Bananaman" is still thrown up in my face by…
clock | January 8, 2009Starting tomorrow at 1pm EST and lasting through most of Saturday (or until it's done), scienceblogs.com will be undergoing an upgrade to MoveableType4, specially fitted by SixApart for the gigantic network we have here.
What does it mean to you, the readers, and to us, the bloggers?
We will not be able to post any new content during this period.
You will not be able to post comments.
I am sure some bloggers will "front-load" the weekend by posting a bunch of stuff tomorrow morning, so there will be plenty of stuff for you to read.
Some bloggers may post temporarily on their old blogs (check…
clock | January 8, 2009Let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens and PLoS ONE this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Predicting the Herd Immunity Threshold during an Outbreak: A Recursive Approach:
The objective was to develop a novel algorithm that can predict, based on field survey data, the minimum vaccination coverage required to reduce the mean number of infections per infectious individual to less than…
clock | January 8, 2009
Continuing with highlighting sessions at the conference - take a look at this one: Nature blogging
This session is moderated by Grrrlscientist and Kevin Zelnio:
Take your camera outdoors and bring your local natural beauty and wildlife to the homes of your readers. Add information about it. Join the nature blogging community and participate in community activities no matter where on the planet you are.
Go to the wiki page and add your own questions and comments.
Check out other sessions I covered previously:
ScienceOnline'09 - Education sessions
ScienceOnline'09 - individual session pages…
clock | January 8, 2009From: SCONC
Tuesday, Jan. 20
6:30 p.m.
Science Cafe, Raleigh - "Supernovae: The Violent Deaths of Stars"
Stephen Reynolds, professor of physics at NC State University, discusses the violent deaths of mega-stars ... in space, that is. We are quite literally made of star stuff as a result. Reynolds and his colleagues recently made international headlines when they discovered the youngest-known remnant of a supernova in the Milky Way by tracking cosmic rays.
Tir Na Nog, 218 South Blount St, Raleigh, 833-7795.
clock | January 8, 2009Polarized Light Leads Animals Astray: 'Ecological Traps' Cause Animal Behaviors That Can Lead To Death:
Human-made light sources can alter natural light cycles, causing animals that rely on light cues to make mistakes when moving through their environment. In the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, a collaboration of ecologists, biologists and biophysicists has now shown that in addition to direct light, cues from polarized light can trigger animal behaviors leading to injury and often death.
Male Crickets With Bigger Heads Are Better Fighters, Study Reveals, Echoing Ancient…
clock | January 7, 2009History doesn't always repeat itself. Sometimes it just yells 'can't you remember anything I told you?' and lets fly with a club.
- John W. Campbell Jr
clock | January 7, 2009
From Blog For Darwin:
February 12th-15th, 2009 participating bloggers around the world will be celebrating the bicentenary of Charles Darwin's birth (February 12th, 1809) with a BLOG SWARM, in which posts will be aggregated on BLOG FOR DARWIN to be kept as a resource for educators, students, and others.
CLICK HERE or read below to learn how you can participate!
Yes, there's a month left, but I hope you participate.
clock | January 7, 2009Christina Pikas gave an interesting talk recently with the title: Detecting Communities in Science Blogs:
Detecting Communities in Science Blogs
View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: communication scholarly)
What she did was perform an analysis of link connections between science blogs to see if any clusters form. After some prompting, she wrote a blog post to explain the study a little more: A Structural Exploration of the Science Blogosphere: Director's Cut:
The clusters were related to subject areas - very broad subject areas. One question in my mind was how much people…
clock | January 7, 2009Responses by political, med- and science-bloggers range between mild optimism, meh and yikes:
Can Gupta Manage?
Dr. Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General? Yawn.
I'm not so sure about this pick
Orac on Gupta
Gupta for Surgeon General? Cool.
Sanjay Gupta for Surgeon General? Here's My Gripe
Sanjay Gupta as Surgeon General
Why I think Sanjay Gupta is a good pick for Surgeon General
Refining thoughts on Sanjay Gupta - gravitas
Surgeon General Gupta?
Sanjay Gupta is a possible Surgeon General
Quick Thoughts on Sanjay Gupta and CNN Science
The post of Surgeon General of the United States: the 'most…
clock | January 7, 2009There are 10 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:
Resurrection of a Bull by Cloning from Organs Frozen without Cryoprotectant in a â80°C Freezer for a Decade:
Frozen animal tissues without cryoprotectant have been thought to be inappropriate for use as a nuclear…
clock | January 7, 2009Mendel's Garden No. 27 is up on Another Blasted Weblog
The latest Carnival of Education is up on Right Wing Nation
clock | January 7, 2009
There are still some free spots, if you are coming to the Conference on Friday, for some of the Lab Tours (all at 3-4pm):
You can visit the Duke University Smart Home:
Check out the $2 million Smart Home, a living lab and dormitory for ten Duke students to live relatively sustainable and super high tech lifestyles, flushing toilets with rainwater and wearing RFID tags so each room knows who they are and what they'd like to listen to. (PS - the house has 4 Gig fiber optic cable in every room, making it the fastest dorm on the planet!)
Or you can see the primates at the Duke Lemur Center and…
clock | January 7, 2009Wonderful Cheese Is All In The Culture:
An international research team led by Newcastle University has identified a new line of bacteria they believe add flavour to some of the world's most exclusive cheeses.
Big, Old Mice Spread Deadly Hantavirus:
University of Utah researchers dusted wild deer mice with fluorescent pink, blue, green, yellow and orange talcum powders to show which rodents most often fought or mated with others and thus were most likely to spread deadly hantavirus. The study identified bigger, older mice as the culprits.
Gene Expression And Splicing Vary Widely From One…
clock | January 6, 2009Sometimes I reflect back on all the beer I have consumed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. Then I say to myself, "It is better that I drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver."
- Jack Handy
clock | January 6, 2009There are 18 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 day - so many today! - but you go and look for your own favourites:
Can Playing the Computer Game "Tetris" Reduce the Build-Up of Flashbacks for Trauma? A Proposal from Cognitive Science:
Flashbacks are the hallmark symptom of Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD…
clock | January 6, 2009Just check out this list - PLoS ONE papers are apparently on everybody's 'Best of 2008' lists these days. Now, that is impact!
clock | January 6, 2009From SCONC:
Tuesday, Jan. 13
7 p.m.
Periodic Tables -- "Buzzed: Using Fruit Flies to Understand Alcohol Addiction." The Science Cafe of Durham features Duke freshman Kapil Ramachandran, who won national recognition at age 16 for his work on the Diazepam binding inhibitor, a protein that apparently confers alcohol tolerance in fruitflies. Put your own inhibitions to the test while discussing Kapil's work.
Broad Street Cafe, 1116 Broad Street, Durham; free and open to the public http://www.ncmls.org/periodictables
clock | January 6, 200915th Monthly edition of the blog carnival Linnaeus' Legacy is up on Greg Laden's blog.
Grand Rounds Vol.5 No.16 are up on Edwin Leap.
Carnival of Homeschool: Week 158 - The 3rd Anniversary is up on Why Homeschool
clock | January 6, 2009
Power Of Wilderness Experiences As A Catalyst For Change In Young Offenders:
Researchers in the University of Essex's Centre for Environment and Society have been working with young offenders from Essex to help them turn their lives around. Professor Jules Pretty, Jo Barton and Rachel Hine were involved in 'The TurnAround 2007 Project', initiated by the Wilderness Foundation UK to help seven vulnerable young people in Chelmsford and mid-Essex. This nine-month project used the power of nature and wilderness experiences a catalyst for change, enabling the young people to re-evaluate their…