clock | October 5, 2008It's only when we truly know and understand that we have a limited time on earth - and that we have no way of knowing when our time is up - that we will begin to live each day to the fullest, as if it was the only one we had.
- Elisabeth Kubler-Ross
clock | October 5, 2008
Originally written on September 1, 2006, re-posted today to raise more dust ;-)
There has been a lot of commentary online about the Inside Higher Ed article about an UCLA primate researcher who quit his research due to being terrorised by the Animal Liberation Front (ALF), and the follow up article about the steps UCLA and other Universities are taking to ensure the safety of their faculty and staff:
The announcement by Abrams follows an upswing in activities in which UCLA professors who work with animals have been targets. In June, the Animal Liberation Front took credit for trying to put a…
clock | October 5, 2008Shakesville (formerly known as Shakespeare's Sister) is four years old.
Afarensis is four years old.
Highly Allochthonous is three years old.
What is it about October and all those blogiversaries? What were all those people doing nine months prior....
clock | October 5, 2008The October issue of the Journal of Biological Rhythms came in late last week - the only scientific journal I get in hard-copy these days. Along with several other interesting articles, one that immediately drew my attention was Clock Gene Wikis Available: Join the 'Long Tail' by John B. Hogenesch and Andrew I. Su (J Biol Rhythms 2008 23: 456-457.), especially since John Hogenesh and I talked about it in May at the SRBR meeting.
Now some of you may be quick to make a connection between this article and its author Andrew Su and A Gene Wiki for Community Annotation of Gene Function, published…
clock | October 5, 2008Are you registered? Do you know where to vote? You can find information and register (if you are not) here (this is an Obama site, but it works for everyone):
Can I vote early in person?
One-Stop Early Voting in North Carolina starts on Thursday, October 16 and lasts until Saturday, November 1. Find your Early Vote location.
You can register and vote at the same time during One-Stop Early Voting. You cannot register to vote on election day, November 4.
Where do I go on November 4?
Soon you will be able to enter your address and find the polling location that's closest to you.
We can let you…
clock | October 5, 2008
I said I was going to introduce the participants at ScienceOnline09 in non-daily but larger batches. So, today, I introduce a large contingent of people coming from the National Institute of Environemental Health Sciences (NIEHS):
NIEHS News Director Robin Mackar
Web Manager Cheryl Thompson
Biomedical Librarian Stephanie Holmgren
Signal Transduction researcher Ren Rongqin
Signal Transduction researcher Danielle Duma
Signal Transduction researcher Daniel Brown
Signal Transduction researcher Erica Lannan
Blood-Brain Barrier researcher Brian Hawkins
And Pediatric Epidemiology researcher Yang…
clock | October 5, 2008...current politicians and events can be found here. Unfortunately, I cannot whet your appetite by posting one of the pictures here as:
All images copyright Zina Saunders - do not use without permission
clock | October 5, 2008My DonorsChoose board includes challenges like this one, for example: Media Literacy in Science:
I am a high school science teacher in North Carolina who wishes to move his students into the 21st century with the skills necessary to become lifelong learners in the global environment.
All too often information presented in textbooks can be less than exciting to students and can even be out dated by the time the textbooks reach the students hands. The articles presented in Current Science are more in the style of those published in popular magazines and newspapers with the student audience in…
clock | October 5, 2008....as Real Life is just as crazy. There is not that much difference between the Thursday's debate and the SNL sketch, is there?
clock | October 5, 2008Carnival of Space - NASA birthday edition - is up on Alice's Astro Info
And write and submit posts for Mendel's Garden (on the first Sunday of November on evolgen), for Praxis (on October 15th, at The Other 95%) and for The Giant's Shoulders (on October 15th at Second Order Approximation).
clock | October 5, 2008Antisocial Behavior May Be Caused By Low Stress Hormone Levels:
A link between reduced levels of the 'stress hormone' cortisol and antisocial behaviour in male adolescents has been discovered by a research team at the University of Cambridge.
Gas From The Past Gives Scientists New Insights Into Climate And The Oceans:
In recent years, public discussion of climate change has included concerns that increased levels of carbon dioxide will contribute to global warming, which in turn may change the circulation in the earth's oceans, with potentially disastrous consequences.
Adolescent Insomnia…
clock | October 4, 2008It's not easy having a good time. Even smiling makes my face ache.
- Dr. Frank N. Furter
clock | October 4, 2008Female Medical Students Underestimate Their Abilities And Males Tend To Overestimate Theirs:
Despite performing equally to their male peers in the classroom and the clinic, female medical students consistently report decreased self-confidence and increased anxiety, particularly over issues related to their competency.
Direct Recording Shows Brain Signal Persists Even In Dreamless Sleep:
Neuroscientists at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have taken one of the first direct looks at one of the human brain's most fundamental "foundations": a brain signal that never switches…
clock | October 4, 2008The offal refers to....
....those parts of a meat animal which are used as food but which are not skeletal muscle. The term literally means "off fall", or the pieces which fall from a carcase when it is butchered. Originally the word applied principally to the entrails. It now covers insides including the HEART, LIVER, and LUNGS (collectively known as the pluck), all abdominal organs and extremities: TAILS, FEET, and HEAD including BRAINS and TONGUE. In the USA the expressions "organ meats" or "variety meats" are used instead.
Offal from birds is usually referred to as GIBLETS.
Another,…
clock | October 3, 2008What country can preserve its liberties, if its rulers are not warned from time to time that the people preserve the spirit of resistance? Let them take arms.... The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time, with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure.
- Thomas Jefferson
clock | October 3, 2008From Sigma Xi:
Greetings everyone. We meet again at noon on Wednesday, Oct. 15 in RTP to hear NCSU associate professor James Bonner discuss "Emerging Nanotechnology: A New Risk Factor for Lung Diseases?" As you know, the commercial use of nanomaterials has outpaced scientific assessments of any potential health or environmental risks. Jamie Bonner is one of the scientists working to catch up.
Sigma Xi's Pizza Lunch speaker series is free and open to science journalists and science communicators of all stripes (free to forward this message to anyone you would like to be included). RSVPs are…
clock | October 3, 2008Apparently yes: Freshwater Farm Ponds Turning into Crab Farms:
North Carolina's native blue crab population has been at historic lows since 2000. Dr. Dave Eggleston, director of NC State's Center for Marine Sciences and Technology (CMAST) and professor of marine, earth and atmospheric sciences, looked at various methods for helping the population recover. He hit upon a solution which not only reduces pressure on existing crab populations, but also benefits farmers looking to diversify their crops: using irrigation ponds on farms to grow blue crabs.
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Eggleston and…
clock | October 3, 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. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Importance of Achromatic Contrast in Short-Range Fruit Foraging of Primates:
Trichromatic primates have a 'red-green' chromatic channel in addition to luminance and 'blue-yellow' channels. It has been argued that the red-green channel evolved in primates as an adaptation for detecting reddish or yellowish objects, such as ripe fruits, against a background…
clock | October 3, 2008The Festival of the Trees #28 is up on Arboreality
Friday Ark #211 is up on Modulator
The latest Change Of Shift is up on NurseLinkUp