clock | November 14, 2008
Watching Television, Channeling Unhappiness?:
Are happy or unhappy people more attracted to television? This question is addressed by a new 30-year analysis1 of US national data of nearly 30,000 adults by John Robinson and Steven Martin from the University of Maryland in the US. Examining the activity patterns of happy and less happy people in the General Social Survey (GSS) between 1975 and 2006, the authors found that happy people were more socially active, attended more religious services, voted more and read more newspapers.
Risky Decision-making Essential To Entrepreneurialism,…
clock | November 14, 2008Change of Shift: Volume 3, Number 10 is up on crzegrl, flight nurse
Friday Ark #217 is up on Modulator
clock | November 13, 2008The price works so well, so efficiently, that we are not aware of it most of the time.
- Milton Friedman
clock | November 13, 2008There is a nice article in this month's National Geographic about Light Pollution. Unlike most popular articles on the topic which focus on the visibility of stars - an aesthetic problem - this article focuses on the effect of continuous light on animals and humans:
We've lit up the night as if it were an unoccupied country, when nothing could be further from the truth. Among mammals alone, the number of nocturnal species is astonishing. Light is a powerful biological force, and on many species it acts as a magnet, a process being studied by researchers such as Travis Longcore and Catherine…
clock | November 13, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. 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:
A Hierarchy of Time-Scales and the Brain:
Currently, there is no theory that explains how the large-scale organization of the…
clock | November 13, 2008There 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:
Individually Unique Body Color Patterns in Octopus (Wunderpus photogenicus) Allow for Photoidentification:
Studies on the longevity and migration patterns of wild animals rely heavily on the ability to track…
clock | November 13, 2008An e-mail from the Orange County (NC) Democratic Party:
The exciting and historic 2008 election stirred our souls and mobilized millions, but how did it happen? And what does it mean for electoral politics going forward? Bring your questions and your friends to a public forum presented by the Orange County Democratic Party and the Orange County Democratic Women:
The Historic 2008 Election: Analysis and Reflections
Hodding Carter III, University Professor of Leadership and Public Policy, UNC-CH
Rob Christensen, Reporter and columnist, The News and Observer
Ferrel Guillory, Director, Program on…
clock | November 13, 2008Will Richardson is noticing an addiction to paper and he looks at himself:
Now I don't know that I've ever thought of no paper as exciting, necessarily, but I continue to find myself more and more eschewing paper of just about any kind in my life. My newspaper/magazine intake is down to nearly zero, every note I take is stored somewhere in the cloud via my computer or iPhone, I rarely write checks, pay paper bills or even carry cash money any longer, and I swear I could live without a printer except for the times when someone demands a signed copy of something or other. (Admittedly, I still…
clock | November 13, 2008Here are a few examples. One will feed you greasy bacon every morning. The other will donate to the GOP. Others will force you to perform either menial or mental tasks. I prefer a more gradual approach - a system that gradually increases the illumination in the room, the volume of sound (some pre-chosen music), etc. and only does something dramatic at the last, most critical point in time when you absolutely HAVE to get up.
more animals
[btw, check out the other pages on that site - there are some other cool inventions there, mixed up with some quite silly ones]
clock | November 13, 2008RSS Feed aggregators as sources of information and knowledge in medical sciences (in Serbian - PDF) is an excellent article by Vedran Vucic geared towards medical professionals in Serbia. He will talk about this at the Belgrade's Medical School this Saturday as a part of a symposium on electronic libraries, biomedical information, and Open Access.
clock | November 13, 2008Young Australian Skeptics site is an excellent example of supporting other skeptics' writing. There's essays there by several of the 'regulars' of the Australian Skeptics of Carlos Blog Carnival, including: Karen Stollznow of Bad Language/Skepbitch; Kylie Sturgess of Podblack Blog / Skeptic Zone; Jack Scanlan of Homologous legs and Dr Rachael Dunlop of the Skeptic Zone - and will feature even more essays very soon.
There is a forum board, opportunities to network and is the brainchild of Elliot, a 21 year old student from Melbourne, Australia.
clock | November 13, 2008Global Warming Link To Amphibian Declines In Doubt:
Evidence that global warming is causing the worldwide declines of amphibians may not be as conclusive as previously thought, according to biologists. The findings, which contradict two widely held views, could help reveal what is killing the frogs and toads and aid in their conservation.
Drought Tolerant Plants? New Technique Enables Assessment Of Drought Performance:
Measurement of chlorophyll fluorescence is an effective way of determining how well plants can cope with low-water conditions. The technique allows a quantitative and precise…
clock | November 13, 2008My SciBling, John Wilbanks has been interviewed for Seed Magazine's Game Changers series. Watch the movie:
John will be at ScienceOnline09, leading a session on Semantic web in science: how to build it, how to use it.
Hat - tip: Kaitlin Thaney (who can also be seen in the movie in the background, sitting at her desk at Science Commons and typing something while John is talking).
clock | November 12, 2008He's very clever, but sometimes his brains go to his head.
- Margot Asquith
clock | November 12, 2008There 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:
The Relative Influence of Competition and Prey Defenses on the Phenotypic Structure of Insectivorous Bat Ensembles in Southern Africa:
Deterministic filters such as competition and prey defences should have a strong…
clock | November 12, 2008Tangled Bank #118 is up on Submitted to a Candid World
The 197th edition of the Carnival of Education is up on The Core Knowledge Blog
clock | November 12, 2008We are busy preparing for The Open Laboratory 2008. The submissions have been trickling in all year, and a little bit more frequently recently, but it is time now to dig through your Archives for your best posts since December 20th 2007 and submit them. Submit one, or two, or several - no problem. Or ask your readers to submit for you.
Then take a look at your favourite bloggers and pick some of their best posts - don't worry, we can deal with duplicate entries. Do not forget new and up-coming blogs - they may not know about the anthology - and submit their stuff as well.
As we did last…
clock | November 12, 2008Ice Age Beasts In Europe: Migration Of The Woolly Rhinoceros Earlier Than Assumed:
The newly described skull of the oldest woolly rhinoceros in Europe shows that these giant creatures - with two impressively large horns on the bridge of their noses - once roamed across central Germany. The large shaggy mammals grazed at the foot of the Kyffhäuser range, whose unforested, rocky slopes loomed out of the broad, bleak plains of northern Thuringia 460,000 years ago. The climate at this time was icy cold and far drier than today.
Evolution's New Wrinkle: Proteins With 'Cruise Control' Act Like…
clock | November 12, 2008Remember the mirror?
Well, having Tanja's art made on order is not the only option any more. She has just opened her online store.
And if you come to the ScienceOnline09 you'll get to meet Tanja in person as she is one of the moderators of the How to paint your own blog images session.