clock | December 5, 2008An Injection of Hard Science Boosts TV Shows' Prognosis:
It's no fiction: Scientific fact has usurped science fiction as TV's favorite inspiration for prime-time story lines. And to keep everything on the up and up, show writers and producers are hiring scores of researchers and technical consultants to get the science straight.
clock | December 5, 2008Everyone who's ever taken a Neuroscience class in college remembers the strange case of H.M.
H.M. suffered from epilepsy. Back in 1953, his brain was operated on - some large chunks (the hippocampi) were removed. Epilepsy was gone. So was his memory.
He could remember his life before surgery, but could not form any new memories. More specifically, he could not remember any new events ('declarative memory'), things that happened to him. Whatever he experienced years, months, weeks, days, hours, even minutes before, was forever lost. Every moment was a fresh moment. Every day a new…
clock | December 5, 2008
More:
Millions of birds could die from oilsands development: report
Report Finds Millions of Birds will be Lost from Tar Sands Development
clock | December 5, 2008Not so long ago, the four existing anthropology bloggers were wondering "where are the others?" Now, there are so many that one can pick the Top 100 and still leave some excellent blogs out! Check them out. Who is missing from the list?
clock | December 5, 2008And blogging about! Obligatory readings of the day:
The Evolution of Poisonous Birds:
This research elegantly demonstrates that the evolution of just one character -- in this case, toxicity -- can profoundly affect the evolution of a suite of other characters, ranging from body size and behavioral traits to ecological niche.
Allen's Rule, Phenotypic Plasticity, and The Nature of Evolution:
Within species ... across clines or subspecies ... this raises very significant (and addressable) questions regarding adaptation in the genetic vs. the ontogenetic realms. If Allen's rule is primarily an…
clock | December 5, 2008Oh, there was before? Anyway, the story that everyone on science blogs is talking about these days is that CNN has ditched their science and tech team. I was going to comment on it, but Chad puts it the best and there is no way I can best it. So go on over and add your 2c to the interesting ongoing discussion in the comments.
[Possibly related....]
clock | December 5, 2008There are 9 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:
BK Channels Regulate Spontaneous Action Potential Rhythmicity in the Suprachiasmatic Nucleus:
Circadian (~24 hr) rhythms are generated by the central pacemaker localized to the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the…
clock | December 5, 2008For almost 20 years, The Quagga Project has been working on recreating this extinct species of zebra:
The Quagga Project was officially launched in South Africa in 1987,
with Reinhold Rau at its helm. It has the aim of recreating quagga by
selective breeding from plains zebra; ultimately returning quagga to the
wild. What makes this project so innovative and revolutionary is that
this is a simple, selective breeding programme over generations. There
is no genetic manipulation, and no cloning. It's the only project of its
kind in the world.
"The important thing is that we're not creating a new…
clock | December 5, 2008Euan analyzed connectivity of science blogs using their blogrolls, revealing a Big Head, a Skinny Neck and a Long Tail, as expected in every community. Linkfests, carnivals, aggregators, commenting on each other's blogs, signing up for ResearchBlogging.org, showing up at meetups and conferences - all of these are methods for people to move from the end of the Long Tail into the neck and head.
Christina did something similar and her lecture on this will be live video streamed on Wednesday (Dec.10th) from 14:15 till 14:45 American Eastern Standard Time (EST).
This also depends on the definition…
clock | December 5, 2008From PopSci: Return of the (Televised) Nerds:
The show not only delivers a healthy dose of nerd-culture references, it also offers up some legitimate scientific content, something that's pretty rare in mainstream television. How many TV nerds do you see engaging in real scientific banter? It's more than the big words and convoluted sentence structure; the dialogue actually contains scientifically sound ideas.
UCLA Professor of Physics and Astronomy David Saltzberg is the science man behind the curtain, and many of the punchlines. He also writes equations on the set's white boards. "Physicists…
clock | December 5, 2008The Networked Student was inspired by CCK08, a Connectivism course offered by George Siemens and Stephen Downes during fall 2008. It depicts an actual project completed by Wendy Drexler's high school students. The Networked Student concept map was inspired by Alec Couros' Networked Teacher. I hope that teachers will use it to help their colleagues, parents, and students understand networked learning in the 21st century.
Related...
clock | December 5, 2008Up To 10% Of Children Start School Suffering From Sleep Disturbances:
Up to 10% of children starting school suffer from sleep disturbances and these may lead to poor performance or behavioral difficulties. In the current edition of Deutsches Ãrzteblatt International, the child and adolescent psychiatrist Gerd Lehmkuhl and his colleagues present the results of a study from Cologne, Germany.
Rolling 'Sea Grape' Rocks The Fossil Record:
A submarine expedition that went looking for visually flashy sea creatures instead found a drab, mud-covered blob that may turn out to be truly spectacular…
clock | December 5, 2008The Totally Hot December Scientiae is up on On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess
Friday Ark #220 is up on Modulator
79th Carnival Of The Liberals is up on Capitol Annex
clock | December 4, 2008A poor surgeon hurts one person at a time. A poor teacher hurts thirty.
- Ernest Leroy Boyer
clock | December 4, 2008
Nomination for 2008 Edublog Awards is now closed and you can now go and vote.
Go and check them all out - there are some great edublogs there I was not aware of from before. This is how I voted:
1. Best individual blog
Using Blogs in Science Education
2. Best group blog
360
3. Best new blog
Teaching in Second Life
4. Best resource sharing blog
Discovering Biology in a Digital World
5. Most influential blog post
THE MACGYVER PROJECT
6. Best teacher blog
Endless Forms Most Beautiful
7. Best librarian / library blog
Blue Skunk Blog
8. Best educational tech support blog
JoeWoodOnline
9. Best…
clock | December 4, 2008Remember the Millionth Comment Contest? Remember that Peggy Kolm won it?
Well, she is in NYCity now on her winner's trip and blogging about it. Stay tuned over there, as this is just the first of four days...
clock | December 4, 2008Those interested in the struggles against infusion of Intelligent Design Creationism into public schools, have followed, with great interest, the highly publicized trial in Dover, PA a couple of years ago. At the end of it, Judge Jones not just made the right decision, but also wrote one of the best and most scathing indictments of IDC in our legal history. So, you may be interested in the latest interview with Judge Jones, just published in PLoS Genetics:
Taken to School: An Interview with the Honorable Judge John E. Jones, III:
"My call to the Judge's chambers in request for an interview…
clock | December 4, 2008There are 12 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:
Ecological Niche of the 2003 West Nile Virus Epidemic in the Northern Great Plains of the United States:
The incidence of West Nile virus (WNv) has remained high in the northern Great Plains compared to the rest of…