Now on ScienceBlogs: Darwin and Spencer in the Middle East
What We're Talking About Wednesday, March 10, 2010
A new paper in the Journal of Scientific Communication has put science blogging under the microscope, but turnabout is fair play: bloggers from around the net are now putting the paper through its paces. Author Inna Kouper’s analysis focused on 11 blogs—including our own Pharyngula, DrugMonkey, The Scientific Activist, and Pure Pedantry—in an attempt to discover best practices for communicating science to the public. But trying to characterize science blogs as a monolith from such a small sample has led to questions about methodology and the heterogeneous nature of blogging as a medium. Must there be a consensus on what science blogs are for, what kinds of audiences they should aim to attract, or on the level of discourse for engaging with readers? Our own new media maven Bora Zivkovic has the most thorough breakdown at A Blog Around the Clock, but see others at Cosmic Variance and The Panda’s thumb, which were also subjects of the study.
A Blog Around the ClockMarch 8, 2010
“As you may know, I love the Journal of Science Communication. It publishes some very interesting and useful scholarly articles on a wide array of issues pertaining to the communication, education and publishing of science. I wish more science bloggers (and non-blogging scientists) read it and blogged about their articles. Unfortunately, human nature being as it is, most of the excellent papers go by un-noticed by the blogosphere, while an occasional sub-standard paper gets some play - it is so much easier to critique than to analyze or even praise.”
PharyngulaMarch 9, 2010
“We don't need to 'stabilize' on anything: the virtue of this medium is unfettered diversity. Pharyngula is not to everybody's taste (really!), but is just right for some others — the wonderful part of the science blogosphere is that we have so many different ideas bouncing around out here.”
DrugMonkeySeptember 22, 2008
“A small literature of review/commentary papers on the application of blogging technologies to academic disciplines has been developing in traditional journal outlets. A recent effort by ScienceBloggers Shelley A. Batts, Nicholas J. Anthis and Tara C. Smith has been published in PLoS Biology as a Community Page.”
Welcome to Travis Saunders and Peter Janiszewski, our newest bloggers on Obesity Panacea. These guys are devoted to debunking weight loss gimmicks and other things that are too good to be true, while offering real and effective insight into losing weight (maybe) and at least leading a healthier lifestyle. They also offer a field guide to the Kanyes, Bonapartes, and American Idols at your local gym.
“Then I thought: who will call me next? The mathematicians? The physicists? The chemists? We can't possibly call it the USA Science, Engineering, Math, Technology, Nanotechnology, Biology, Earth Science, Statistical, Medical and Astronomy Festival.”
Lithops...
There are 35 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes...
Dan Koboldt has a very nice recap of the various sequencing technologies presented at last week's Advances in...
The Life Science Channel RSS FeedThis is a piece by Rolf Heuer, Director General of CERN explaining what is happening over at LHC....
A bunch of people have been asking me to take a look at yet another piece of...
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
Time travel will never be the same again ..
The Physical Science Channel RSS FeedAustralian rabbit stew, with a side of kudzu, anyone?
Full text of remarks, comments, and questions from last week's public radio broadcast forum...
Randy Olson says: There comes a point where the public DOES want to see the science community stand...
The Environment Channel RSS FeedConfessions of a Science Librarian
Yesterday was International Women's Day and since I'm a firm believer in International Better Late Than Never Day,...
I just got my hands on a very interesting book for the younger set: it's aimed at kids...
Penn's Marybeth Gasman and Philander Smith College president Walter Kimbrough will spend this week answering some tough reader questions about historically-black colleges and universities in the United States.
The Education Channel RSS FeedLiving the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
Ezra Klein explains the reconciliation process that Democrats need to pass health care reform and what Republicans can do to drag it out
A little point to ponder from Jason Lisle, a young-Earth creationist with Answers in Genesis. This is from...
a potential breakthrough in the treatments for roundworms that could improve the health of millions of children
The Politics Channel RSS FeedWay back on May 25, 2005, I first noticed something about a certain political group blog. It was...
Friends, you already know much of this. People who don't know me, you don't want to read this. This is for the in between people. There will be no discussion of needles, because I'm done with the needles..
The Medicine & Health Channel RSS Feed
One of the hazards of writing a book on decision-making is getting questions about decisions that are far...
Bassist, singer, blogger, grad student kickin' it.
I thought it's worth addressing this article one last time. Dr. Ronald Pies (professor of psychiatry at SUNY...
The Brain & Behavior Channel RSS Feedif a seller lies about their merchandise and doesn't bother to ship it for weeks, why is their positive feedback around 94%? The answer may surprise you
To deconstruct this myth...we must look at how white Americans have constructed the "Yankee ingenuity" myth whereby technological expertise is intimately intertwined with American democratic ideals, masculine identity, and whiteness.
The Australian has been caught making things up again, claiming that Tim Flannery predicted 80m sea level rise even though their own paper reported a different prediction.
The Technology Channel RSS FeedThis was originally posted 1/9/2009 on my old blog. Due to popular demand (well 3 requests :) ),...
Sometimes you have to just let go and release something to the wild. I have mentioned on a...
Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants...
The Information Science Channel RSS FeedLiving the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
Ezra Klein explains the reconciliation process that Democrats need to pass health care reform and what Republicans can do to drag it out
Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants...
Saturday, January 16 at 4:40 - 5:45pm C. Trust and Critical Thinking - Stephanie Zvan, PZ Myers,...
The Jobs Channel RSS FeedPZ Myers 03.08.2010
Tim Lambert 03.01.2010
PZ Myers 03.09.2010
Erik Klemetti 03.04.2010
Tim Lambert 03.09.2010
The Frontal Cortex 03.09.2010
genetic future 03.08.2010
Evolution for Everyone 03.06.2010
not exactly rocket science 03.09.2010
white coat underground 03.08.2010
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Some engineers use cranes and steel to make their designs reality, but synthetic biologists engineer using tools on a different scale: DNA and the other molecular components of living cells. Synthetic biology uses cellular systems and structures to produce artificial models based on natural order. Read these posts from the ScienceBlogs archives for more:
Pharyngula May 30, 2007
The Loom January 31, 2008
Discovering Biology in a Digital World July 2, 2006
Humanities & Soc. Sciences
The Primate Diaries
Darwin and Spencer in the Middle East
It is a common argument by those who are opposed to evolution's implication for religious belief to label...
Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted)
The Frustrated Trumpet Player
This is so silly, but it makes me laugh every time I watch it, so I had to share it with you, too. This video captures a trumpet player who is using his out-of-tune trumpet to prank a band marching past his flat on Norway's National Day, 17 May.
DrugMonkey
When scientist audience is from another field it is still "outreach"
Just as I am in the "outreach" target demographic for the bone jockeys, my readers are certainly in the target demographic for my blogging.
The Social Sciences Channel RSS Feed