A Field Guide to ScienceBlogs' Friday Features

"Friday cat blogging," or the practice of posting something light-hearted and whimsical, is an end-of-week tradition in the blog world.

While no one at Sb regularly puts up pictures of their furry pets, many of the ScienceBloggers do post weekly features on Friday.

What follows is my attempt to orchestrate a complete guided tour of Fridays at ScienceBlogs.

• Phylogeny Friday at Evolgen

"Phylogeny Friday is back, bitches! In the glorious return of PhyFridays, I give you the root of the tree of life. In the upcoming editions we'll zoom in on a few parts of the tree to illustrate the diversity of certain taxa of interest. It'll be kind of like a reverse Ancestor's Tale."

• Friday Politics at NoSeNada

On Fridays, Kevin at NoSeNada blogs about poltics. Kevin has a PhD (or "phud," to you) in physical oceangraphy, and now lives and studies public policy in the mountain west. He writes about "anything within the Earth sciences but especially issues surrounding climate change and surrounding natural hazards/disasters, space and NASA, internet and computer technology, energy, and a few other topics."

• Friday Sprog Blogging at Adventures in Ethics and Science

"My kids talk a lot," says Dr. Free-Ride. "When that talk turns to science, I blog it." Every Friday she transcribes a conversation with her children that is both educational and cute as buttons. Occasional bonus material includes the wee sprogs' scientific illustrations, and reviews of child-friendly TV programs and books.

• Friday Cephalopods at Pharyngula.

A different gorgeous cephalopod every Friday. What more could you ask?

• Friday Weird Sex Blogging at A Blog Around the Clock

Each Friday, Bora rolls out a fresh example of "some cool organism involved in a strange reproductive practice." Last week, he covered something called "corkscrewing."

• Your Friday Dose of Woo at Respectful Insolence

Orac is a tireless crusader against medical misinformation, aka 'woo,' perpetuated in the name of 'alternative medicine.' On Fridays, he offers up his thoughts on the week's most flagrant instance of "altie woo."

• Fatastical Fridays at The Scientific Activist

Every Friday, Nick takes a break from his more serious scientific activism to enjoy one of the stranger, more outlandish, and more lighthearted aspects of science. His entry on "Organic People Chemistry" was a big hit.

• Friday Fractals at Chaotic Utopia

Karmen makes fractals, and tells stories about them. It's actually really cool, and also hard to describe. Maybe you'll want to look at her last one, here.

• Map that Campus at The Daily Transcript

So you think you're pretty smart...can you identify a university campus from only a satellite photo? Try your hand at Alex's blog.

• Digtal Biology Fridays at Discovering Biology in a Digital World

Everything you ever wanted to know about digital biology but were afraid to ask. Sandra guides you through a tutorial on her favorite topic, and then invites you back to discuss the results.

• Friday Flower Porn at Dr. Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge

Prefectly innocent...and totally filthy.

• Friday 'Know Your Primates' at Afarensis

Did you know there was a kind of primate called the Indris? I didn't.

• Friday Pathological Programming Language at Good Math, Bad Math

Mark Chu-Carroll knows a lot of programming languages.

• The Friday Fermentable at Terra Sigillata

Wine facts for everyone, and wine reviews for the discerning yet financially-challenged (starving grad students, anyone?) oenophile.

• Schoolhouse Rock! at Living the Scientific LIfe

Get your milk and cookies and cozy up to the screen for an afternoon break. Each Friday, GrrlScientist posts an entire streaming episode of the beloved TV series, 'Scoolhouse Rock.'

• SchadenFriday at Neurotopia

It is what it sounds like, and it will probably make you smile, unless you are some kind of humorless automaton, or so angelic that you are never, even a teeny tiny little bit, amused by the misfortunes of others.

• Casual Fridays at Cognitive Daily

Participate in a scientific study from the comfort of where you are sitting.

• Grey Matters at Retrospectacle

Shelley is the proud owner of an African grey parrot named Pepper. On Fridays, she offers information about her favorite type of bird.

• iPod iChing at Dynamics of Cats

Steinn has raised the fine art of iPod divination to - dare I say it? - a science.