Thoughts From Kansas is a blog by Josh Rosenau, who is not a native Kansan but a graduate student finishing up his dissertation in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Kansas. He has blogged a great deal about politics, especially the politics of science education, in his state of residence. As Josh writes in his introductory post:
My research is on the spatial distributions of species, and the ways that competition can restrict species from utilizing all the areas they could potentially occupy. Along the way I've spent a lot of time learning about ways that people predict species ranges using GIS systems and various statistical methods.
Much of which is probably news to long-time readers. I do that work for a living, and blogging is how I let off steam. You'll see a fairly diverse range of topics here, with an emphasis on local politics, analysis of national and international current events, and a wide range of scientific topics, historically mostly from beyond my own field.
I expect that, once the Kansas school board elections finally settle down with a pro-science Board, I'll be able to refocus this site on science, rather than the political science the Board has turned biology into. One feature I'll probably try to revive is some version of the now-defunct Evolution Project. That site has fallen into senescence because it just takes too much to keep track of even a small fraction of the research that comes out which relies on or demonstrates evolution at work. It was a worthy effort, and the move to Scienceblogs has inspired me to find some better way to demonstrate the same phenomenon.
So welcome to the new home here at Sb. Kick the tires, point out any housekeeping I forgot to undertake, and ask me about all the things I should have told you when I introduced myself.
Step over to the new Thoughts From Kansas, if you like, and welcome Josh to Sb.