State of the Blog

That's right, kids, it's that time of month again. Ocean time. This month's Carnival of the Blue is up at Blogfish. Awesome posts, and I always encourage, a great way to find new blogs to read. This month particularly, there are some really interesting and important posts to read concerning the oil spill. And speaking of oil spill, have you seen this awesome infographic? Here's the part with the link to my salty post this month: Jason Goldman at The Thoughtful Animal wonders if whales and dolphins should have "human rights," and also in the category of comparing us to ocean animals, Zen…
Thanks for your votes, everyone! One of the three posts of mine initially nominated for the 3 Quarks Daily Science Blogging Prize made it to the semi-finals! Somewhat unsurprisingly, it was the post on oral sex in fruitbats. Check out the other semi-finalists, here. And also congratulations to my sciblings (and former sciblings) who also made the semi-finals: Ed Yong, Scicurious, Eric Johnson, and Christie Wilcox!
Voting for the 3QD science blogging prize has opened. Eighty posts have made the initial nominations list, including 3 of my own: The Thoughtful Animal: Does oral sex confer an evolutionary advantage? Evidence from bats The Thoughtful Animal: Path Integration in the Desert Ant The Thoughtful Animal: The Russian Fox Study The ultimate winners will be picked by Richard Dawkins, but YOU can help determine the small group of finalists which will be sent to him for judgement. So, go here to check out the nominees. Then click the link on that page to vote. I would be very grateful for your votes…
The 24th installment of the Carnival of Evolution is up at NeuroDojo, and this month features an extra helping of brain! As usual, I submitted a few pieces. With respect to evolution more generally, you can find my piece on oral sex in fruit bats: Speaking of scandals, a paper on oral sex in fruit bats was at the center of a personal dispute that got called, inevitably, fruitbatgate. Regardless of your opinions on that matter, the science is definitely worth looking at, which Jason does at The Thoughtful Animal. (And not in a pervy way.) And since the special theme of the carnival this month…
At some point today, I got a whole mess of new twitter followers who (I hope) are coming to check out the blog. Here are a few links to some of the best and most popular posts, to give a sense of the things I like to write about. Here is a quick introduction. Here are a few of the most popular posts:Whale SnotWhale PoopDoes Oral Sex Confer An Evolutionary Advantage? Evidence From BatsYour Kid's Newest Art Critic And a few of my personal favorites:Giant Birds and Terrified MonkeysElephants Say "Bee-ware!"Are Those Dogs Playing or Fighting? And a favorite from the old blog, that I haven't…
The fantastic blog 3 Quarks Daily has opened up nominations for its second annual prize in science blogging. This year, the contest will be judged by the great Richard Dawkins, and there will be three winners. Posts can be nominated by bloggers or readers, and if any of you wanted to nominate one of my posts I would be grateful. Or, of course, nominate any other! Here are the relevant details: Please nominate your favorite science blog entry by placing the URL for the blog post (the permalink) in the comments section of this post. You may also add a brief comment describing the entry and…
Figure 1: So what did everyone think of the Fringe season finale last night? I'll tell you what I thought: J.J. Abrams can bite me. (image source) Okay, so maybe part of the reason I am so annoyed is because I'm kind of obsessed with Anna Torv's character, and I'm pissed about that twist at the end. Damn. Anyway, here's this week's round-up. Did you catch my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week? Here's a link. Another reminder: we're relaunching Ask A Scienceblogger. Have any burning questions about science? Do you stay awake at night wondering about something? Ask us. There's…
Before we get into the regular bloggy shenanigans this week, I would like to share some personal news. Those of you who have been regular readers have certainly read about my family's dog, Argo. Those of you who have been reading since the initial incarnation of this blog at wordpress may remember that I only adopted Argo around four months ago, when he was about 18 months old. He has quickly become an important part of the family (he initially lived with me; now he lives with my parents and brother, where he has a backyard and much bigger house to run around in). This past week, we found…
Figure 1: From the good folks at Fake Science, something particularly relevant for me, these last few weeks. Here's a round-up for this week. Since I missed doing it last week, I'll include a few extra things that I would have included last week. Did you catch my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week? Here's a link. And last week's. Also, we're relaunching Ask A Scienceblogger. Have any burning questions about science? Do you stay awake at night wondering about something? Ask us. Awesome Things, Science and otherwise: Check out Daniel Simons' awesome new version of the invisible…
Scienceblogs is bringing back the popular Ask A Scienceblogger program. Sayeth the overlordz: Whatever you've wondered, now is your chance to ask. ScienceBlogs is reinstating our former Ask a ScienceBlogger series, in which (you guessed it), you get to ask ScienceBloggers questions, and they answer them! Once we have a database of questions, we'll choose one a time to pose to our ScienceBloggers, and round up the answers for you here. They can be about anything you want, but of course the more interesting we find them, the more likely we are to choose them. ;-) There are two ways to submit…
Each month, Bora Zivkovic, in his day-time role as PLoS ONE Community Manager, picks one post that covered a PLoS ONE paper that was published that month for recognition. There were 34 blog posts covering PLoS ONE articles aggregated on ResearchBlogging.org in April. This month, he chose my post, Elephants Say 'Bee-ware!' which describes the work in the PLoS ONE article Bee Threat Elicits Alarm Call in African Elephants by Lucy E. King, Joseph Soltis, Iain Douglas-Hamilton, Anne Savage and Fritz Vollrath. Now I get a nifty PLoS ONE t-shirt, and so do the authors! Thanks, Bora! And thanks to…
Carnival of the Blue 36 is up at Observations of a Nerd! Carnival of the Blue includes all things wet and salty, and there are some interesting offerings this month, so go check it out! Two pieces of my own are included: Of course, nothing is bigger than the biggest mammals on Earth: the whales. We often think about how important they are to the ecosystem in terms of what they eat, but of course, what goes in must come out. Who would have thought whale poop would be so important? Thanks, Jason, for enlightening us. And speaking of confused, what happens when you move things around in an…
The 2010 May edition of our beloved Carnival of Evolution is up today on the official blog for Springer Verlag's journal, Evolution: Education and Outreach. And with that, surely getting your post accepted in CoE is now akin to peer-reviews on some level. Thanks to Adam M. Goldstein for hosting. I have two pieces up: Jason G. Goldman’s post, “Starting from the Beginning: Evolutionary and Developmental Origins of Human Knowledge” offers a readable, useful overview of some main approaches and problems in the study of how people think and learn, focusing on “core knowledge systems,” which are…
h/t to Dr. Isis for this awesome video. Did you miss my Psychology and Neuroscience Editor's Selections at ResearchBlogging.org? Here you go again. Hilarious Things: Doctor Monkey, Doctor Becca, and (Micro) Doctor O and I (and some others) have been amusing ourselves on twitter. Ambivalent Academic is battling allergies, but even through her drug-rattled brain, she is still awesome and hilarious. Dr. Isis continues to be my hero. Awesome Things, Science and otherwise: How do chimpanzees deal with death and dying? Do they have a sense of their own mortality, or of that of their closest…
Yesterday, at our department's end-of-the-year party, I was informed that I was one of two winners this year of the Outstanding Research Poster Award. Figure 1: And I have a nifty little certificate to prove it! Figure 2: Here it is.
Editor's note: If you are offended by cholesterol, or are a health and nutrition blogger, or an obesity blogger, avert your eyes. Don't say I didn't warn you. Earlier today, dear friend of the blog AV Flox conducted an experiment. It went something like this: Observation: Everyone says the KFC Double-Down is gross. Figure 1: Experimental stimulus. Bacon and cheese are served betwixt two pieces of original recipe fried chicken, which serve as the bun. And so it was that in the name of SCIENCE, AV set out to investigate this issue. Null Hypothesis: The KFC Double-Down really is as gross as it…
Figure 1: Research Sausage indeed. (Source) Bloggy News: Research Blogging now supports Polish-language posts! Polish is the sixth language supported by the site, following Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, German, and English. We encourage new bloggers to register. If you blog about peer reviewed research in Polish (or English, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese or German), visit our registration page to sign up. If you know a blogger in one of those languages, let them know about our site and encourage them to join. Over 1,200 registered blogs publish dozens of posts about peer-reviewed research each…
Figure 1: The Borg isn't so bad, after all. Blog News: What a fantastic first week in the Borg ScienceBlogs. Welcome, again, to all the new readers. Did you miss my Psychology and Neuroscience Editor's Selections at ResearchBlogging.org? Here you go again. You can see what I'm writing on LAist by clicking the "Other Writing" tab under the header. Here is a direct link to this piece I wrote this week, in which I explain that there have not been more earthquakes in 2010 than in previous years. Things that I didn't get around to blogging or tweeting: Some initiatives that the National Post-doc…
Any artists out there? As my Photoshop skills leave something to be desired, I am opening up a contest for any reader who would like to send me ideas for banners, as well as a square logo, for the Thoughtful Animal. Details:The banner image must be 756 pixels wide by 93 pixels high. The logo needs to be square (think 200x200 or 300x300 pixels). Both should be colorful and contain one or more animals, human or non-human. The banner and logo should both include the words "The Thoughtful Animal." The logo may as well. The banner and the logo each may include some variation of the words "…
Welcome to the new home for The Thoughtful Animal! Welcome especially to new readers! To the old readers, I hope you'll enjoy the new place. Nothing big will change; but now I've got better technical support, a family of Sciblings (go check out their blogs!), a more powerful interface, and hopefully a more pleasant experience for you! Take a few minutes to check out the site. You can read a little about me, and if you'd like you can peruse the old blog. I shall miss the old place, but am very excited to be joining the Borg Scienceblogs, and all my new Sciblings. Special thanks go to Dr. Isis…