ksharpe
Posts by this author
March 5, 2007
This YouTube video presents a rejoinder to creationists who believe that, regarding the question of whether human beings evolved or were created, personal opinion matters. The first few seconds seem to presage a talk-show style arguement-fest, but the presentation soon turns into a soothing…
March 2, 2007
Chris Rowan, a geologist, maintains a blog with a tongue-twister of a name. Highly Allochthonous is the spot where he blogs about geology, a subject he has found to boast "more field trips and more beer" than his first love, physics. Chris is based in the UK and currently beginning a postdoc at the…
March 1, 2007
Do you feel unsatisfied, irritated, impatient with yourself? Ever?
Do you not always enjoy activities that you once enjoyed? Do you feel older than you used to be?
Stop right there—you could be suffering from a serious problem called Dysphoric Social Attention Consumption Deficit Anxiety Disorder (…
February 28, 2007
The Western honeybee, Apis mellifera, came to North America with European settlers in 1622. An invasive species in the 17th century, the honeybee has since become indispensable for its services as a pollinator. Carrying pollen from flower to flower on their bodies, honeybees complete the plant…
February 26, 2007
Have you ever blown it on a standardized test? Had your mind go blank during a job interview? Faced a situation of enormous urgency and...totally underwhelmed yourself?
If you've ever been puzzled by your inability to do under pressure tasks that you usually find a snap, you can now soothe…
February 25, 2007
Love ScienceBlogs, but find the combined RSS feed overwhelming? Been wanting a way to siphon the cream of ScienceBlogs off the top? Want no more.
This week, we introduce ScienceBlogs Select, a new, filtered RSS feed made up of ScienceBloggers' own favorite posts. The Select feed contains fewer…
February 23, 2007
Nerds have seldom been held up as paragons of romantic prowess, and that's generally gone double for those of the female persuasion.
But an essay in the Boston Globe by historian of the family Stephanie Coontz uses demographic evidence to punch a few holes into the popular idea that over-educated…
February 21, 2007
Couples who find the pill problematic and condoms cumbersome may be interested in a study out today in the journal Human Reproduction. The report, lead authored by Petra Frank-Hermann, a professor in the Department of Gynecological Endocrinology at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, followed…
February 20, 2007
Sharpen your pencils (or your favorite graphic design app) and strap your thinking cap on. Seed has paired with Threadless to bring you a contest you won't want to miss. Design a tee shirt around the theme of "science is culture." Submit your design by midnight on March 19 for your chance to win…
February 19, 2007
Hot off the presses: Skeptical Inquirer magazine has a new rememberance of Carl Sagan by David Morrison, which highlights Sagan's sometimes-forgotten role as a skeptic.
From the article:
Throughout his career, Sagan devoted himself to the quest to improve public understanding of the nature of…
February 15, 2007
Nobody likes being told they're dumb. But being praised up and down for one's intelligence carries its own price, according to research by Stanford psychologist Carol Dweck and her research team.
In the current issue of New York Magazine, writer Po Bronson summarizes Dweck's work, which indicates…
February 13, 2007
Tune in to daily podcasts from the route up Mount Kilimanjaro, the world's tallest free-standing mountain and, at 19,340 feet, the highest peak in Africa.
Hosted at seedmagazine.com, the series is following day-by-day progress of a team made up by:
Will Cross, mountaineer and traveler
Jimmy Gould…
February 2, 2007
Surfing the wave of coverage of this morning's report by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change? This Q & A piece in the Guardian UK is short, sharp, and to the point—a great starting place for neophytes (and big-picture types).
The heart of the matter:
What does [the IPCC report] say?…
February 1, 2007
There are hours to go before the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change issues its much-anticipated report, "Climate Change 2007," but already the internets are abuzz with early punditry.
Joseph Romm at Grist speculates that because the report is written by committee, the findings may have "a…
February 1, 2007
Over at BLDGblog, Geoff Manaugh has a long interview with Ed Mazria of the activist architectural nonprofit Architecture 2030.
Mazria is organizing an "Emergency Teach-In" for architects, student architects, and design professionals. The event, to be held at the New York Academy of Sciences in New…
January 30, 2007
Just in time for the Spring semester, ScienceBlogger Zuska has rolled out an online course of sorts. She's conducting a college-level corse entitled Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science--as professor and student. The course explores science, women, and pleasure. From Zuska's syllabus:
This course…
January 28, 2007
The New York Times reports on a Cambridge University study which argues that the manufacture and purchase of new clothing -- particularly given today's rapid-cycling fashion trends, and the throwaway clothes culture they've enabled -- drives significant carbon emissions.
Consumers' penchant for…
January 25, 2007
Flickr user estherase presents two views on labware: lyrically beautiful, and...another way, beneath the fold.
January 24, 2007
Animals of the Ocean: In Particular the Giant Squid
By Dr. and Mr. Doris Haggis-on-Whey
McSweeney's Books
64 pages
$18
"You have purchased this book and now you will learn. My name is Dr. Haggis-on-Whey and I am a scientist. I will not pretend to be your friend. We are here to study animals of the…
January 23, 2007
His January 24 lecture in Toronto is sold out, but Steven Pinker fans can get a sneak preview of the cognitive scientist's forthcoming book, The Stuff of Thought, and his current work on metaphor, indirect speech, and the the neuroscience of swearing, in this Toronto Star profile.
From the article…
January 17, 2007
Few would dispute that the internet is a communication medium of awesome (in the old sense of the word) proportions. Many would recognize the internet's tendency to function as a massive echo chamber. Interesting stories are picked up and relayed from point to point, and blog to blog, at breakneck…
January 10, 2007
Question: What's sleek, as multi-functional as a digital Swiss Army knife, available in June for "as little as" a cool $499, and sure to be coveted by a technophile near you?
Answer: It's the iPhone, of course.
Check out what ScienceBloggers Bora, Dave, Josh, and David have to say about it.
January 10, 2007
Science education + sixties mod design sense = funkily compelling artwork from the inside of a childrens' biology book.
Captured by Mohawk, a photographer and Flickr user from Liverpool, UK.
(Source)
January 8, 2007
A Psychology Today article linked from today's edition of Arts & Letters Daily,entitled "The Loopy Logic of Love," discusses the mental tricks that lovers play when evaluating a potential mate.
The article's author, Kaja Perina, writes that men and women in the first flower of a relationship…
January 5, 2007
New maps put out by the National Arbor Day Foundation, depicting plant "hardiness zones" that gardeners use as a guideline for figuring out which species they can plant, and how early, shows evidence of real climate change in the United States over the past 15 years.
Has your region changed?
Don'…
January 4, 2007
CNN has the story of a mysterious falling object that punctured the roof of a home in New Jersey on Tuesday evening, damaging bathroom floor tiles on impact before bouncing and lodging itself in a wall. The object is metal; lab tests will determine whether or not it is a meteorite.
Steinn covers…
December 21, 2006
Over the holidays, we'll be rerunning interviews with the ScienceBloggers, beginning with Suzanne Franks of Thus Spake Zuska.
What's your name?
Well, originally my name was Suzanne Franks. Then I married someone, and just because I said I wanted to, my name became Suzanne Shedd. Ten years later…
December 15, 2006
What's a time in your career when you were criticized extremely harshly by someone you respect? Did it help you or set your career back?