Respectful Insolence Categories: Medicine, Philosophy of Science Orac is a pseudonymous surgeon/scientist, and an ardent skeptic. He holds both MD and PhD degrees, and he is board certified as a general surgeon. He's also the proprietor of the Skeptic's Circle, a blog carnival dedicated to skepticism and critical thinking. On Respectful Insolence, he blogs about surgery, biomedical research, critical thinking, Holocaust denial, and--naturally--skepticism. Retrospectacle Categories: Brain & Behavior, Academia A neuroscience PhD candidate at the University of Michigan, Shelley Batts grew…

Neurotopia Categories: Brain & Behavior, Philosophy of Science At Neurotopia, brains are always on the menu! Your host,"Evil Monkey," serves up a heaping portion of the latest neuroscience news, plus a side of social commentary expertly seasoned with action potentials and cognitive functions. The fare here is garnished with general thoughts on science, ethics, and evolution, and chased by a sickeningly-sweet understanding of human behavior. The pseudonymous author of Neurotopia holds a PhD in neuroscience, often gives vent to his politically progressive tendencies, and believes that a…

Living the Scientific Life Categories: Biology, Academia GrrlScientist is an evolutionary molecular biologist with a BS in microbiology (specializing in virology), and a PhD in zoology (specializing in ornithology and hormone receptors). She blogs about evolution, the environment, birds, dinosaurs, avian influenza, conservation, and literature. The Loom Categories: Biology, Medicine Carl Zimmer is a science writer whose work appears regularly in the New York Times and many magazines. He is also the author of five books on science. (For more details, go to http://www.carlzimmer.com/author.…

Gene Expression Categories: Biology, Philosophy of Science Razib has a degree in the life sciences and works in information technology, but he also nurses a strong interest in evolutionary genetics and paleoanthropology. Gene Expression deals primarily with the intersection between new developments in molecular and evolutionary biology, and older established fields such as systematics and paleoanthropology. In person, Razib is an 'adult kid' who doesn't plan on growing up any time soon, and his non-science interests span from ancient Chinese history to science fiction. Good Math, Bad Math…

What's up with organic foods? What are the main arguments for buying organic? Is it supposed to be better for me, or better for the planet, or what? Are organics, in any sense, worth the higher price?

Evolgen Categories: Biology, Academia RPM has been blogging since November, 2004; he started because he thought the blogosphere needed an entry in evolutionary genetics, the subject in which he's pursuing a PhD. Then he discovered Gene Expression, and realized the blogosphere already had one. Then he found out Gene Expression also had a lot of stuff on psychology and human culture, and once again he felt unique. RPM writes about evolution and genetics. Some of his posts take on a formal tone. Others are laced with sarcasm. Every once in a while he'll write something funny. He tries to stay…

Discovering Biology in a Digital World Categories: Biology, Academia Sandra Porter earned a BS in Microbiology from the University of Minnesota, and an MSc and PhD in microbiology from the University of Washington. She did a postdoc at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and spent a decade leading the biotechnology program at Seattle Central Community College. Now she engages in "semi-random acts of teaching" while also working for a bioinformatics company called Geospiza. She writes about how bioinformatics can be used as an educational tool, and what and how we can learn from it.…

The Cheerful Oncologist Categories: Medicine After earning a BA in English from Iowa State University, Craig Hildreth went on to acquire an MD from the University of Iowa, complete a medical oncology fellowship at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and become a partner in a five-doctor private cancer-care practice in St. Louis. In 2004, the experience of caring for a friend's parents as they both died of cancer nudged the bibliophilic doctor back to his literary roots. The Cheerful Oncologist began as a way to write about the world of cancer, both to spread encouragement and provide…

I read this article in the NRO, and the author actually made some interesting arguments. 'Basically,' he said, 'I am questioning the premise that [global warming] is a problem rather than an opportunity.' Does he have a point?

The Periodic Table of the ScienceBlogs rolls on, with a brief description of every blog in the system. Use it to find your new favorite. A Blog Around the Clock Categories: Brain & Behavior, Biology Bora Zivkovic, better known online as 'Coturnix,' created A Blog Around the Clock as a fusion of his three old blogs: Science and Politics, Circadiana, and The Magic School Bus. Bora was born in the former Yugoslavia, where he trained horses, got his black belt in karate, and studied veterinary medicine. In 1991, he emigrated to the USA, settling in North Carolina and earning an MS degree in…

It's not easy keeping track of all the ScienceBlogs. Take four dozen witty and prolific science writers, some of whom post more than once a day, spread them out across a wide range of disciplines and sub-specialties, and what you'll have yourself is a big, tangly embarrassment of riches. What's a newcomer to do? In the interest of cleaving order from madness, I'm putting together a complete Blog Index. Over the following days, I'll be posting a short description of every blog, a handful at a time. But I'll start by giving you this complete listing of blogs by category. Though bloggers…

What's your name? Josh Rosenau What do you do when you're not blogging? I write my thesis. Sometimes there's some insect collecting, some photography, or some cooking. What is your blog called? Thoughts from Kansas. What's up with that name? Good question! It started out as a placeholder, but it has come to define an aspiration. How long have you been blogging, anyway? About two years. The first post at the old TfK was on August 1, 2004. Where are you from and where do you live now? I was born in Chicago, and went to college there, but in between I mostly grew up in the New York area.…

"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…

"Zuska" is the kick-ass alter ego of Suzanne E. Franks, a chronically educated, unfailingly feminist commentator who has the distinction of holding both a Ph.D. in biomedical engineering, and a graduate certificate in womens' studies. Thus Spake Zuska has moved from its old home, here, to its new space on ScienceBlogs. Here's what Zuska has to say about herself: Zuska, Goddess of Science, Empress of Engineering, and Avenging Angel of Angry Women, will tell you what everyone is thinking but is afraid to say. I offer the web's most excellent and informative rants on the intransigent refusal of…

ScienceBlogs' Dr. Charles hosts the 100th edition of the venerable weekly medical blog carnival, Grand Rounds, at The Examining Room or Dr. Charles. From the introduction: Grand Rounds Turns 100! Originally conceived by Dr. Nicholas Genes, the weekly linkfest celebrating the highlights of the medical blogosphere has reached its 100th edition. Intended to introduce the wider world to the growing medical blogosphere (doctors, nurses, students, administrators, EMTs, techs, and patients who blog), Grand Rounds has blossomed into a phenomenon noticed by The LA Times, Web MD, and Instapundit to…

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…

Read 'em while they're hot! "A question for neuroscientists: getting nowhere fast" Kevin Beck at Doc Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge has a question for the neurologically informed: why does running on a treadmill immediately before running outdoors, make Kevin feel like he's "running on the moon (at least in terms of how I imagine this would feel), with the ground seeming to scroll beneath me at a rate discordant with my actual forward speed." "The Synapse #5" From Retrospectacle: "Welcome to the 5th edition of The Synapse, ScienceBlog's home-grown carnival on all things Neuro! Glad to see this…

The destruction of the rainforest was a hot-button topic in the early '90s, but I haven't heard anything about it in ages. Are the rainforests still being destroyed wholesale? Are they all gone? Is it still important? Is the coffee I drink making it worse, and is "free trade" and/or "shade grown" coffee any better?

The "Proust Questionnaire" refers to a nineteenth-century parlor game involving a list of personal questions about the respondent's values and preferences, to be answered in rapid-fire succession. Marcel Proust didn't invent it, but he may be the most famous person ever to have played. These days, a certain venerable magazine prints an adapted version of the question-and-answer game in their back pages each month. And now we, in turn, have shamelessly re-adapted the well-known Q & A for the purpose of introducing you, dear reader, to the personalities behind the blogs here at Sb. This…

Not only is it a temperate, low-humidity day in New York City, but it's a beautiful day in cyberspace as well, because today ScienceBlogs has welcomed the 48th member of its community of blogs. The Scientific Indian, written by Selva, won "Best Science/Technology Indiblog" in the Indibloggies awards of 2005. The blog's tagline is "Science as a Way of Life." Writes Selva, I make my living writing software. For personal enjoyment I read science and experiment with it as a way of life. But I am not a scientist. That puts me in the convenient disposition where I can talk science and blame my…