A Blog Around The Clock

Today's carnivals

Category: Carnivals

Tangled Bank #116 is up on Pro-science

Carnival of Education! The Debate Edition is up on Eduwonkette

Posted by Coturnix at 5:19 PM • 0 Comments

OADay winner: My Father the Anthropologist; or, What I Offer Open Access and Why

Category: Open Science

Here is the other one of the two winning posts in the Open Access Day blogging competition: My Father the Anthropologist; or, What I Offer Open Access and Why by Dorothea Salo:

In 1980 or thereabouts--I was eight or nine--my father the anthropologist started yet another rant about serials cancellations at his university's library while he drove the family somewhere in the family car. He thought the problem an artifact of library underfunding, I remember. I don't recall that he ever did anything about it save rail bitterly on the subject to us, his captive, powerless, and resentful audience.

At the inaugural meeting of the Open eBook Forum in 2000, David Ornstein and Janina Sajka explained what they hoped electronic books would accomplish. Amid the faux-visionary fluff and the crass dollar signs, one hope they expressed made me vibrate: that for the first time, a visually-impaired person would be able to walk into Borders or Barnes & Noble and buy a book off the shelf just like anyone else.

Access to human knowledge and creativity. Access for the wrongly disenfranchised. Access. I loved markup, I loved text, I loved design, I loved standards work--but then and afterward, it was the access argument that kept me engaged with electronic books. My father the anthropologist, his own eyes not what they had been, understood and endorsed that argument at once.

I certainly know how reassuring accurate, authoritative medical information can be. When my father the anthropologist went to the hospital for bypass surgery, I looked for every scrap of reliable information I could find about what he'd have to go through, what his chances were, what would happen afterwards. Information is hope for helpless bystanders.

I know what information gaps mean to the efficacy of medical care, too. I started my quest to treat my repetitive stress injury when my hands and wrists hurt so badly I couldn't sleep some nights, nor survive a day's work without severe pain. The open web, obvious misinformation aside, contained little more than nonsensical and insulting condemnations of RSI sufferers as malingerers, as well as blatant advertising of invasive surgery on the websites of orthopedic surgeons.

My primary-care physician insisted on old-fashioned treatment modalities before she would refer me anywhere. I paid for and endured weeks of wrist braces that I knew would not relieve my pain because I had tried them, as well as a tennis-elbow strap that left me in such agony that I refused to put up with it longer than a day. I did achieve a referral at last, and physical therapy turned out to be the right treatment. As I healed, the new search skills I was acquiring in library school, along with the access that being a student entitled me to, helped me discover that the medical literature understood why my doctor's initial recommendations had been wrong. Why did I waste time, money, and pain over my inability to produce reliable information to assist my medical provider in treating me appropriately?

I can only be glad I wasn't suffering from anything life-threatening, like artery blockage.

I was slotted into an online course in "Virtual Collection Development," taught with patient lucidity by Jane Pearlmutter, my first semester in library school. Among the readings was "The Librarians' Dilemma: Contemplating the Costs of the 'Big Deal''" by the University of Wisconsin's own Ken Frazier. There it was again, this problem of serials cancellations, framed in terms so transparently sensible that I could only exult.

Later in the semester came a unit on open access. It would be nice to say that lightning struck and I knew that was what I wanted to do with my professional life, but it didn't and I didn't. Of course I was intrigued; I knew several for-profit journal publishers from the worm's-eye view of an erstwhile lowly data-conversion peasant. I wove the complaints I remembered from my father the anthropologist, my own experience in scholarly publishing, and what I learned in class into a rich, detailed mental tapestry, and I felt real hope that open access was an answer I could take back to him that he would understand and appreciate. Discovering that I would shortly join the profession backing open access only confirmed that library school was the right choice for me, even should I not work in the open-access niche myself.

When I landed my first library position just after graduating, I called my father the anthropologist. His first question was "How much will you be paid?" I declined answering. His second question was "What's your title?"

"Digital Repository Services Librarian," I said, with pride and no little amusement.

On the other end of the line, a lengthy silence.

My father the anthropologist used to buy lab equipment out of his own pocket, rather than struggle with byzantine university purchasing procedures and skeptical departmental scrutiny. Rightly or wrongly, he was convinced no one would understand or support him and his work, but he refused to knuckle under. He would do what it took, spend what he had to, to further the research he fervently believed in.

I have bought quite a bit out of my own pocket too, rather than charge it to the libraries that have employed me. I have bought color inkjet printers, various sorts of expensive paper for brochures and bookmarks and whatnot, and poster printing. I have bought software that I use for work-related purposes. Once I bought an expensive print run of a color brochure because an opportunity came up to distribute a lot at once so suddenly that I didn't have time to print and fold them myself as I usually did. I bought a cross-country trip to an important repository conference when I was de facto between jobs. I bought a laptop on which I do repository-related work when the occasion warrants. I have bought buttons with images of Mars on them, because when you're handed a golden acronym you might as well make the most of it. Like as not the libraries I have worked in would have paid for some or all of this--I never asked.

I have read, written, rewritten, commented, and debugged code in Java, Python, and XSLT. I have tweaked JSPs, murdered unnecessary HTML tables, and rewritten CSS designs from the ground up, swearing sulfurously at various versions of Internet Explorer. I have edited metadata in XML by hand. I have translated Endnote records into Dublin Core. I have screenscraped ugly HTML and cudgeled it into legible metadata. I have screenscraped yet more ugly HTML for transformation into preservation-worthy markup. I have built convoluted SQL queries slowly and carefully from the inside out, run them on production databases with fear and trepidation, and once or twice cleaned up after them when I've gotten them wrong. I have typed cargo-cult incantations at command lines to keep server software running and upgraded, and raked Google for answers when some incantations didn't work as promised.

I have stared at lengthy CVs with a sigh, and then waded resolutely in to clear rights on as many of the publications as I could. I have searched SHERPA/RoMEO and Bowker's Books in Print. I have hunted down agreements from publisher websites. I have asked faculty for their copyright-transfer-agreement files, and tried not to let my smile grow too pained when they told me they don't keep such things. I have explained the difference between preprints, postprints, and publisher PDFs to politely incredulous auditors. I have read scads of legalese, and interpreted it as best I could. I have read and pondered the words of librarians and lawyers who understand the legal fine points much better than I. I have made some risky calls, likely some wrong ones. I haven't been called on the carpet for them... yet.

I have held one-on-one meetings and demo sessions with faculty and librarians. I have designed and produced brochures, flyers, slideshows, posters, web pages, wiki pages, and one mini-movie. I have presented at innumerable campus expos, showcases, lectures, symposia, conferences, and workshops. I have called and written my elected representatives. I have blogged. I have written articles and self-archived them, sometimes after polite and fruitful discussions with publishers. I have run any number of failed efforts toward building a community of practice among repository managers, each new attempt the triumph of hope over experience. I have cold-called librarians, faculty, department chairs, deans, and administrators. I have been to more meetings than ought to fit in the three years I've been doing this.

You needn't be obsessed like my father the anthropologist and me. Believe me, that's the last thing I'd recommend to anyone. If you cannot find even one thing you can do in the above list, though, I wonder about you.

I once explained to a pleasant elderly faculty member that the repository didn't easily allow changes. "It's like a roach motel," I said. "Files go in, but they don't go out. Once they're there, they're stuck." Suppressed chuckles from librarians in nearby cubicles greeted that statement, and I returned from ushering the faculty member out to find that my colleagues had good-humoredly dubbed me the Innkeeper at the Roach Motel.

I loved the sobriquet, despite the unhappy truth of its depiction of institutional repositories. I have never liked telling faculty members that my services couldn't do what they needed, and I've had to tell them that often and often. Worst of all, I couldn't envision my services as anything my father the anthropologist would find useful, compelling, or even comprehensible; the promise of green open access was fading fast in the unforgiving floodlights of faculty diffidence. I looked around the open-access community for understanding and a path forward, but I found little to help or reassure me.

My father the anthropologist and I are alike in one way at least: we don't suffer fruitless systems in silence. In one way at least, we are different: I cannot content myself with complaining to the powerless and uninvolved.

I don't think there's a community I operate in that my gadfly ways haven't irked or even alienated. My library school. My librarian colleagues. DSpace developers. Green open access. Library bloggers. The DSpace Foundation. Library coders. Repository managers. The open-access community in general. While I accept all this as the price gadflies pay for being pests, it is no source of pride, nor is it pleasant. I have feared for my job, and like as not I deserve to. I have feared that the career I find myself in will not exist in five years' time, and I have wondered uneasily whether my own behavior has hastened rather than forestalled that eventuality. I have been cautioned, questioned, belittled, berated, cut down to size in public, stepped cautiously away from, set up as homo stramineus, misquoted, deliberately or carelessly ignored--and much of it I have richly earned.

I have also been heeded. I have also made change. Not much, perhaps; certainly not all the change I wanted to make, wanted to show my father the anthropologist, wanted to offer the world. Even so, change is my gift to them and to you: my gift I offer in my much-abused hands on this Open Access Day.

Posted by Coturnix at 2:49 PM • 0 Comments

OADay winner: A poem for Open Access Day

Category: Open Science

Here is one of the two winning posts in the Open Access Day blogging competition. A poem by Greg Laden:

A poem for Open Access Day

*

Open access matters to me because it is one of the pillars of the new world of the 21st century. It is the democratization of information. I've been aware of Open Access since before it existed, as I've always thought this is how it should be done. Research should be provided in an Open Access format (with no or only very minimal delays) because we expect society to support, through government, private funding, and free-riding on corporate profits, this research. It is not our research. To support Open Access, I blog about it, and my next paper will be submitted to an Open Access journal.

Gotta go .... need to work on paper...

Posted by Coturnix at 2:43 PM • 0 Comments

And the Winner is.....!

Category: Open Science

The Open Access Day blogging competition is now over. We received over 40 excellent entries that took quite a nice chunk of last night to read - they are all good so go and read them all.

In the end, we decided that one prize is not enough and are awarding the First Place to two bloggers:

Dorothea Salo, for her post: My Father the Anthropologist; or, What I Offer Open Access and Why (already cross-posted on the PloS Blog and soon will be posted here and a couple of other places). Dorothea is the Digital Repository Librarian at the University of Wisconsin, where she serves the state university system's consortial institutional repository, MINDS@UW.

Greg Laden for A poem for Open Access Day. Also, the cross-posts will happen very soon (the first one, on the PLoS Blog is here). Greg is a SciBling, an archaeologist and anthropologist, and a part time independent scholar and part time adviser with the Program for Individualized Learning, University of Minnesota.

Congratulations to the winners, and congratulations to all the contestants for a great day of synchroblogging!

Posted by Coturnix at 2:38 PM • 0 Comments

My picks from ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Read on »

Posted by Coturnix at 7:16 AM • 0 Comments

Open Access Day - the videos 4

Category: Open Science

Voices of Open Access from Open Access Videos on Vimeo.

Posted by Coturnix at 7:02 AM • 0 Comments

Today's carnivals

Category: Carnivals

Praxis #3 is up on The Other 95%.

The Carnival of Evolution #3 is up on Clashing Culture

Posted by Coturnix at 7:01 AM • 0 Comments

Clock Quotes

Category: Clock Quotes

The season of failure is the best time for sowing the seeds of success.

- Paramahansa Yogananda

Posted by Coturnix at 3:52 AM • 0 Comments

ScienceOnline09 - blogging from strange, crazy places!

Category: SO'09

Introducing another session: Blogging adventure: how to post from strange locations:

This is a panel discussion with Karen James, Talia Page, Anne-Marie Hodge, Vanessa Woods, Meredith Barrett, John McKay, Kevin Zelnio, Rick McPhearson and Craig McClain:

The stereotype is that bloggers write in their parents' basements, wearing pajamas, covered with Cheetos dust. But some bloggers have done amazing feats of reporting from weird and far-away places. Do you intend to do something like that? What are the technological challenges - and solutions - and what are the pros and cons of blogging from the jungle, or Antarctica, from Mt.Everest, from a submarine, from a space-ship, from a research ship, from a sailboat, from a war zone, from a high-radiation zone, an ecological research station or a palaeontological dig? Share your experiences, ask questions, and collect tips for your next trip to a Crazy Place.

Check the rest of the Program as well.

Posted by Coturnix at 3:37 PM • 0 Comments

New and Exciting in PLoS ONE

Category: Science News

There are 15 new articles in PLoS ONE this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:

Detection and Molecular Characterization of 9000-Year-Old Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a Neolithic Settlement in the Eastern Mediterranean:

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is the principal etiologic agent of human tuberculosis. It has no environmental reservoir and is believed to have co-evolved with its host over millennia. This is supported by skeletal evidence of the disease in early humans, and inferred from M. tuberculosis genomic analysis. Direct examination of ancient human remains for M. tuberculosis biomarkers should aid our understanding of the nature of prehistoric tuberculosis and the host/pathogen relationship. We used conventional PCR to examine bone samples with typical tuberculosis lesions from a woman and infant, who were buried together in the now submerged site of Atlit-Yam in the Eastern Mediterranean, dating from 9250-8160 years ago. Rigorous precautions were taken to prevent contamination, and independent centers were used to confirm authenticity of findings. DNA from five M tuberculosis genetic loci was detected and had characteristics consistent with extant genetic lineages. High performance liquid chromatography was used as an independent method of verification and it directly detected mycolic acid lipid biomarkers, specific for the M. tuberculosis complex. Human tuberculosis was confirmed by morphological and molecular methods in a population living in one of the first villages with evidence of agriculture and animal domestication. The widespread use of animals was not a source of infection but may have supported a denser human population that facilitated transmission of the tubercle bacillus. The similarity of the M. tuberculosis genetic signature with those of today gives support to the theory of a long-term co-existence of host and pathogen.

Composition and Function of Haemolymphatic Tissues in the European Common Shrew:

Studies of wild animals responding to their native parasites are essential if we are to understand how the immune system functions in the natural environment. While immune defence may bring increased survival, this may come at a resource cost to other physiological traits, including reproduction. Here, we tested the hypothesis that wild common shrews (Sorex araneus), which produce large numbers of offspring during the one breeding season of their short life span, forgo investment in immunity and immune system maintenance, as increased longevity is unlikely to bring further opportunities for mating. In particular, we predicted that adult shrews, with shorter expected lifespans, would not respond as effectively as young animals to infection. We examined haemolymphatic tissues from wild-caught common shrews using light and transmission electron microscopy, applied in conjunction with immunohistology. We compared composition and function of these tissues in shrews of different ages, and the extent and type of inflammatory reactions observed in response to natural parasitic infections. All ages seemed able to mount systemic, specific immune responses, but adult shrews showed some signs of lymphatic tissue exhaustion: lymphatic follicles in adults (n = 21) were both smaller than those in sub-adults (n = 18; Wald = 11.1, p<0.05) and exhibited greater levels of depletion (Wald = 13.3, p<0.05). Contrary to our expectations, shrews respond effectively to their natural parasites, and show little indication of immunosenescence as adults. The pancreas of Aselli, a unique lymphoid organ, may aid in providing efficient immune responses through the storage of large numbers of plasma cells. This may allow older animals to react effectively to previously encountered parasites, but infection by novel agents, and eventual depletion of plasma cell reserves, could both still be factors in the near-synchronous mortality of adult shrews observed shortly after breeding.

Discovery of a Distinct Superfamily of Kunitz-Type Toxin (KTT) from Tarantulas:

Kuntiz-type toxins (KTTs) have been found in the venom of animals such as snake, cone snail and sea anemone. The main ancestral function of Kunitz-type proteins was the inhibition of a diverse array of serine proteases, while toxic activities (such as ion-channel blocking) were developed under a variety of Darwinian selection pressures. How new functions were grafted onto an old protein scaffold and what effect Darwinian selection pressures had on KTT evolution remains a puzzle. Here we report the presence of a new superfamily of KTTs in spiders (Tarantulas: Ornithoctonus huwena and Ornithoctonus hainana), which share low sequence similarity to known KTTs and is clustered in a distinct clade in the phylogenetic tree of KTT evolution. The representative molecule of spider KTTs, HWTX-XI, purified from the venom of O. huwena, is a bi-functional protein which is a very potent trypsin inhibitor (about 30-fold more strong than BPTI) as well as a weak Kv1.1 potassium channel blocker. Structural analysis of HWTX-XI in 3-D by NMR together with comparative function analysis of 18 expressed mutants of this toxin revealed two separate sites, corresponding to these two activities, located on the two ends of the cone-shape molecule of HWTX-XI. Comparison of non-synonymous/synonymous mutation ratios (ω) for each site in spider and snake KTTs, as well as PBTI like body Kunitz proteins revealed high Darwinian selection pressure on the binding sites for Kv channels and serine proteases in snake, while only on the proteases in spider and none detected in body proteins, suggesting different rates and patterns of evolution among them. The results also revealed a series of key events in the history of spider KTT evolution, including the formation of a novel KTT family (named sub-Kuntiz-type toxins) derived from the ancestral native KTTs with the loss of the second disulfide bridge accompanied by several dramatic sequence modifications. These finding illustrate that the two activity sites of Kunitz-type toxins are functionally and evolutionally independent and provide new insights into effects of Darwinian selection pressures on KTT evolution, and mechanisms by which new functions can be grafted onto old protein scaffolds.

Optimal-Foraging Predator Favors Commensalistic Batesian Mimicry:

Mimicry, in which one prey species (the Mimic) imitates the aposematic signals of another prey (the Model) to deceive their predators, has attracted the general interest of evolutionary biologists. Predator psychology, especially how the predator learns and forgets, has recently been recognized as an important factor in a predator-prey system. This idea is supported by both theoretical and experimental evidence, but is also the source of a good deal of controversy because of its novel prediction that in a Model/Mimic relationship even a moderately unpalatable Mimic increases the risk of the Model (quasi-Batesian mimicry). We developed a psychology-based Monte Carlo model simulation of mimicry that incorporates a "Pavlovian" predator that practices an optimal foraging strategy, and examined how various ecological and psychological factors affect the relationships between a Model prey species and its Mimic. The behavior of the predator in our model is consistent with that reported by experimental studies, but our simulation's predictions differed markedly from those of previous models of mimicry because a more abundant Mimic did not increase the predation risk of the Model when alternative prey were abundant. Moreover, a quasi-Batesian relationship emerges only when no or very few alternative prey items were available. Therefore, the availability of alternative prey rather than the precise method of predator learning critically determines the relationship between Model and Mimic. Moreover, the predation risk to the Model and Mimic is determined by the absolute density of the Model rather than by its density relative to that of the Mimic. Although these predictions are counterintuitive, they can explain various kinds of data that have been offered in support of competitive theories. Our model results suggest that to understand mimicry in nature it is important to consider the likely presence of alternative prey and the possibility that predation pressure is not constant.

Rare Codons Cluster:

Most amino acids are encoded by more than one codon. These synonymous codons are not used with equal frequency: in every organism, some codons are used more commonly, while others are more rare. Though the encoded protein sequence is identical, selective pressures favor more common codons for enhanced translation speed and fidelity. However, rare codons persist, presumably due to neutral drift. Here, we determine whether other, unknown factors, beyond neutral drift, affect the selection and/or distribution of rare codons. We have developed a novel algorithm that evaluates the relative rareness of a nucleotide sequence used to produce a given protein sequence. We show that rare codons, rather than being randomly scattered across genes, often occur in large clusters. These clusters occur in numerous eukaryotic and prokaryotic genomes, and are not confined to unusual or rarely expressed genes: many highly expressed genes, including genes for ribosomal proteins, contain rare codon clusters. A rare codon cluster can impede ribosome translation of the rare codon sequence. These results indicate additional selective pressures govern the use of synonymous codons, and specifically that local pauses in translation can be beneficial for protein biogenesis.

Posted by Coturnix at 2:30 PM • 0 Comments

Open Access Day - the blog posts

Category: Open Science

As you know, blog posts about Open Access - What It Means To Me? are in competition today! I will be posting and updating the links of entries throughout the day (until midnight Eastern) for all to see - if I miss yours, send me the URL of your entry.

Caveat Lector: My Father the Anthropologist; or, What I Offer Open Access and Why

Greg Laden's blog: A poem for Open Access Day

A k8, a cat, a mission: Open Access Day

Laelaps: Happy Open Access Day!

Moneduloides: Why Does Open Access Matter To You?

Stuff: Open Access Day - How are we sharing our knowledge?

The Parachute: Open Access Day

RepositoryMan: A Present for Open Access Day!

Plausible Accuracy: What Open Access Means to Me

Science in the open: Where does Open Access stop and 'just doing good science' begin?

Open Access, Freedom Space: Open Access, from form to content

McBlawg: Why I am an OA Advocate

What You're Doing Is Rather Desperate: Open Access Day

Humans in Science: Open access day - redux

O'Really? at Duncan.Hull.name: Open Access Day: Why It Matters

Library Lines Online: Open Access Day

bbgm: Open Access and me

The Sciphu Weblog: The Likes of Blog Publishing (Open Access Day 08 entry)

Digital Serendipities: The first international Open Access day

Freelancing science: Open Access Day

Glyn Moody: Celebrating Open Access (Day)

I was lost but now I live here: Happy Open Access Day!

Semantic Library: Happy Open Access Day!

WAYS | Science, Remixed: Open Access is an important step on the way towards open science

Publishing Archaeology: Open Access Day

NY Adventure Blog: Open Access Day

Science Librarian Notes: Open Access Day

Walt at Random: Open access: A quick post

DarkRepository: What Open Access means to me

Just Browsing: Open Access Day

The RePEc blog: October 14, 2008, Open Access Day

Common Knowledge: Happy Open Access Day...

The Imaginary Journal of Poetic Economics: Why Open Access Matters to Me (Open Access Day Synchroblogging)

Confessions of a Science Librarian: Open Access Day: OA & me

Gobbledygook: Open Access - what's in it for me?

Fuzzier Logic: Open Access Day

Uncommon Ground: Open Access Day

Ouroboros: Open Access Day

Pimm - Partial immortalization: For your free information (FYFI): it's Open Access Day!

Isayev.info: October 14: Open Access Day

Stuff To Do In NC: Learn about open access

Social Life of Information: Open Access Day

Posted by Coturnix at 12:46 PM • 3 Comments

My picks from ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Read on »

Posted by Coturnix at 11:59 AM • 0 Comments

Internet use 'good for the brain'

Category: Technology

Or so says this BBC article:

A University of California Los Angeles team found searching the web stimulates centres in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning. The researchers say this might even help to counter-act the age-related physiological changes that cause the brain to slow down.

Posted by Coturnix at 11:56 AM • 3 Comments

Scientist? U.S. Citizen? Voter?

Category: Politics

Get a camera, film yourself, post your video on YouTube and join many others doing the same:

Are you a scientist? Tell the world who you are voting for this year. McCain? Obama? None of the above? Upload your YouTube video explaining who are you, who you are voting for and why you are voting for them. Tag your video with "avoteforscience" and we'll favorite it.

Scientists and Engineers for America Action Fund and Scienceblogs have teamed up to bring you "A Vote For Science." Here we will feature videos of scientists explaining who they are voting for and why. If you are a scientist and you would like to explain to the world who you are voting for and why, then upload your video to YouTube and tag it "avoteforscience." We will feature it here along with videos from well-known scientists from around the country.

Posted by Coturnix at 11:08 AM • 0 Comments

Open Access Day - the videos 3

Category: Open Science

Diane Graves, Librarian from Open Access Videos on Vimeo.

Posted by Coturnix at 11:01 AM • 0 Comments

Today's carnivals

Category: Carnivals

Hourglass IV is up on Existence is Wonderful

Grand Rounds Vol. 5 No. 4 are up on Notes of an Anesthesioboist

Replace Michele Bachmann Blog Carnival #3 is up on Almost Diamonds

The 145th Carnival of Homeschooling is up on HomeSchoolBuzz

And tonight is the deadline for two good carnivals: Praxis (October 15th on The Other 95%) and the Giant's Shoulders (October 15th on Second Order Approximation).

Posted by Coturnix at 10:56 AM • 0 Comments

Clock Quotes

Category: Clock Quotes

Blessed is the season which engages the whole world in a conspiracy of love.

- Hamilton Wright Mabie

Posted by Coturnix at 3:52 AM • 1 Comments

Open Access Day - the videos 2

Category: Open Science

Sharon Terry, Patient Advocate from Open Access Videos on Vimeo.

Posted by Coturnix at 12:38 AM • 1 Comments

New and Exciting in PLoS Biology

Category: Science News

An Autonomous Circadian Clock in the Inner Mouse Retina Regulated by Dopamine and GABA:

The circadian clock in the mammalian retina regulates many retinal functions, and its output modulates the central circadian clock in the brain. Details about the cellular location and neural regulation of the mammalian retinal circadian clock remain unclear, however, largely due to the difficulty of maintaining long-term culture of adult mammalian retina and the lack of an ideal experimental measure of the retinal clock. We have circumvented these limitations by developing a protocol for long-term culture of intact mouse retinas to monitor circadian rhythms of clock gene expression in real time. Using this protocol, we have localized expression of molecular retinal circadian rhythms to the inner nuclear layer. We find molecular retinal rhythms generation is independent of many forms of signaling from photoreceptors and ganglion cells, or major forms of neural communication within the inner nuclear layer, and have characterized light-induced resetting of the retinal clock. Retinal dopamine and GABA, although not necessary for the generation of molecular retinal rhythms, were revealed to regulate the phase and amplitude of retinal molecular rhythms, respectively, with dopamine participating in light-induced resetting. Our data indicate that dopamine and GABA play prominent roles in the organization of the retinal circadian clock.

A New View of Embryogenesis--Connective Fibers Join the Dance:

When you climb into bed tonight, you'll be hurtling through space at 18 miles per second (~30 km/s) around the sun. You don't notice this pace, of course, because everything around you moves at the same speed. Although Galileo recognized motion relativity as far back as the 17th century, new research suggests that it may have been overlooked by those seeking to explain one of the most fundamental of all processes in biology--how embryos develop. Early in their development, animal embryos undergo a restructuring process called gastrulation, characterized by a coordinated movement of cells ultimately to form three distinct layers. These layers--the ectoderm, mesoderm, and endoderm--later give rise to tissues such as the nervous system, circulatory system, and intestine, respectively. A key feature of gastrulation in birds and mammals is the formation of the primitive streak, a structure that changes the embryo from a bundle of cells into something with a defined longitudinal axis around which other features can orientate. Scientists have shown that formation of the streak requires mass migration of cells in a uniform direction, but how this procession is regulated remains unclear.

Posted by Coturnix at 12:30 AM • 0 Comments

New and Exciting in PLoS ONE

Category: Science News

There are 12 new articles in PLoS ONE this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:

Worm Grunting, Fiddling, and Charming--Humans Unknowingly Mimic a Predator to Harvest Bait:

For generations many families in and around Florida's Apalachicola National Forest have supported themselves by collecting the large endemic earthworms (Diplocardia mississippiensis). This is accomplished by vibrating a wooden stake driven into the soil, a practice called "worm grunting". In response to the vibrations, worms emerge to the surface where thousands can be gathered in a few hours. Why do these earthworms suddenly exit their burrows in response to vibrations, exposing themselves to predation. Here it is shown that a population of eastern American moles (Scalopus aquaticus) inhabits the area where worms are collected and that earthworms have a pronounced escape response from moles consisting of rapidly exiting their burrows to flee across the soil surface. Recordings of vibrations generated by bait collectors and moles suggest that "worm grunters" unknowingly mimic digging moles. An alternative possibility, that worms interpret vibrations as rain and surface to avoid drowning is not supported. Previous investigations have revealed that both wood turtles and herring gulls vibrate the ground to elicit earthworm escapes, indicating that a range of predators may exploit the predator-prey relationship between earthworms and moles. In addition to revealing a novel escape response that may be widespread among soil fauna, the results show that humans have played the role of "rare predators" in exploiting the consequences of a sensory arms race.

Sensory Response System of Social Behavior Tied to Female Reproductive Traits:

Honey bees display a complex set of anatomical, physiological, and behavioral traits that correlate with the colony storage of surplus pollen (pollen hoarding). We hypothesize that the association of these traits is a result of pleiotropy in a gene signaling network that was co-opted by natural selection to function in worker division of labor and foraging specialization. By acting on the gene network, selection can change a suite of traits, including stimulus/response relationships that affect individual foraging behavior and alter the colony level trait of pollen hoarding. The 'pollen-hoarding syndrome' of honey bees is the best documented syndrome of insect social organization. It can be exemplified as a link between reproductive anatomy (ovary size), physiology (yolk protein level), and foraging behavior in honey bee strains selected for pollen hoarding, a colony level trait. The syndrome gave rise to the forager-Reproductive Ground Plan Hypothesis (RGPH), which proposes that the regulatory control of foraging onset and foraging preference toward nectar or pollen was derived from a reproductive signaling network. This view was recently challenged. To resolve the controversy, we tested the associations between reproductive anatomy, physiology, and stimulus/response relationships of behavior in wild-type honey bees. Central to the stimulus/response relationships of honey bee foraging behavior and pollen hoarding is the behavioral trait of sensory sensitivity to sucrose (an important sugar in nectar). To test the linkage of reproductive traits and sensory response systems of social behavior, we measured sucrose responsiveness with the proboscis extension response (PER) assay and quantified ovary size and vitellogenin (yolk precursor) gene expression in 6-7-day-old bees by counting ovarioles (ovary filaments) and by using semiquantitative real time RT-PCR. We show that bees with larger ovaries (more ovarioles) are characterized by higher levels of vitellogenin mRNA expression and are more responsive to sucrose solutions, a trait that is central to division of labor and foraging specialization. Our results establish that in wild-type honey bees, ovary size and vitellogenin mRNA level covary with the sucrose sensory response system, an important component of foraging behavior. This finding validates links between reproductive physiology and behavioral-trait associations of the pollen-hoarding syndrome of honey bees, and supports the forager-RGPH. Our data address a current evolutionary debate, and represent the first direct demonstration of the links between reproductive anatomy, physiology, and behavioral response systems that are central to the control of complex social behavior in insects.

Y-SNPs Do Not Indicate Hybridisation between European Aurochs and Domestic Cattle:

Previous genetic studies of modern and ancient mitochondrial DNA have confirmed the Near Eastern origin of early European domestic cattle. However, these studies were not able to test whether hybridisation with male aurochs occurred post-domestication. To address this issue, Götherström and colleagues (2005) investigated the frequencies of two Y-chromosomal haplotypes in extant bulls. They found a significant influence of wild aurochs males on domestic populations thus challenging the common view on early domestication and Neolithic stock-rearing. To test their hypothesis, we applied these Y-markers on Neolithic bone specimens from various European archaeological sites. Here, we have analysed the ancient DNA of 59 Neolithic skeletal samples. After initial molecular sexing, two segregating Y-SNPs were identified in 13 bulls. Strikingly, our results do not support the hypothesis that these markers distinguish European aurochs from domesticated cattle. The model of a rapid introduction of domestic cattle into Central Europe without significant crossbreeding with local wild cattle remains unchallenged.

Genetic Traces of Recent Long-Distance Dispersal in a Predominantly Self-Recruiting Coral:

Understanding of the magnitude and direction of the exchange of individuals among geographically separated subpopulations that comprise a metapopulation (connectivity) can lead to an improved ability to forecast how fast coral reef organisms are likely to recover from disturbance events that cause extensive mortality. Reef corals that brood their larvae internally and release mature larvae are believed to show little exchange of larvae over ecological times scales and are therefore expected to recover extremely slowly from large-scale perturbations. Using analysis of ten DNA microsatellite loci, we show that although Great Barrier Reef (GBR) populations of the brooding coral, Seriatopora hystrix, are mostly self-seeded and some populations are highly isolated, a considerable amount of sexual larvae (up to ~4%) has been exchanged among several reefs 10 s to 100 s km apart over the past few generations. Our results further indicate that S. hystrix is capable of producing asexual propagules with similar long-distance dispersal abilities (~1.4% of the sampled colonies had a multilocus genotype that also occurred at another sampling location), which may aid in recovery from environmental disturbances. Patterns of connectivity in this and probably other GBR corals are complex and need to be resolved in greater detail through genetic characterisation of different cohorts and linkage of genetic data with fine-scale hydrodynamic models.

Differential Effects of Aging on Fore- and Hindpaw Maps of Rat Somatosensory Cortex:

Getting older is associated with a decline of cognitive and sensorimotor abilities, but it remains elusive whether age-related changes are due to accumulating degenerational processes, rendering them largely irreversible, or whether they reflect plastic, adaptational and presumably compensatory changes. Using aged rats as a model we studied how aging affects neural processing in somatosensory cortex. By multi-unit recordings in the fore- and hindpaw cortical maps we compared the effects of aging on receptive field size and response latencies. While in aged animals response latencies of neurons of both cortical representations were lengthened by approximately the same amount, only RFs of hindpaw neurons showed severe expansion with only little changes of forepaw RFs. To obtain insight into parallel changes of walking behavior, we recorded footprints in young and old animals which revealed a general age-related impairment of walking. In addition we found evidence for a limb-specific deterioration of the hindlimbs that was not observed in the forelimbs. Our results show that age-related changes of somatosensory cortical neurons display a complex pattern of regional specificity and parameter-dependence indicating that aging acts rather selectively on cortical processing of sensory information. The fact that RFs of the fore- and hindpaws do not co-vary in aged animals argues against degenerational processes on a global scale. We therefore conclude that age-related alterations are composed of plastic-adaptive alterations in response to modified use and degenerational changes developing with age. As a consequence, age-related changes need not be irreversible but can be subject to amelioration through training and stimulation.

Posted by Coturnix at 12:26 AM • 0 Comments

My picks from ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Read on »

Posted by Coturnix at 12:15 AM • 3 Comments

Today's carnivals

Category: Carnivals

Carnival of the Green #149 is up on Thoughts on Global Warming

Carnival Of the Godless #102 is up on A Division by Zer0

Oekologie resumes in November.

And tomorrow night is the deadline for two good carnivals: Praxis (October 15th on The Other 95%) and the Giant's Shoulders (October 15th on Second Order Approximation).

Posted by Coturnix at 12:08 AM • 0 Comments

Open Access Day - the videos

Category: Open Science

Tomorrow is the Open Access Day and today you can watch the videos, like this one, for example:

Barbara Stebbins, Middle School Science Teacher from Open Access Videos on Vimeo.

Posted by Coturnix at 7:28 PM • 0 Comments

The Nobel Prize conundrum

Category: Academia

I rarely jump on the blogging hype of noting the new Nobel Prize winners every year. Exceptions are cases when I have a different slant on it, e.g., when a Prize goes to someone in my neighborhood or if the winners have published in PLoS ONE and PLoS Pathogens (lots of loud cheering back at the office).

But usually I stay silent. Mainly because I am conflicted about the prizes in science in general, and Nobel in particular.

On one hand, one week every year, science is everywhere - in newspapers, on the radio, on TV, all over the internet. And that is good because it is a push strategy (unwilling consumers getting bombarded with information they did not specifically seek, but find interesting once exposed to) as opposed to the usual pull strategy (when already interested people actively seek information). The journalists usually have a tough job - the Nobels are often awarded for findings that are way beyond 6th grade level and explaining the science which requires quite a lot of background is not easy. Good science journalists prepare very well for the Nobels, though, and usually get the reporting done well. The general population gets to go beyond the basics and learn what's new and exciting at the present moment. And Nobel winners are celebrities of sorts and people love celebrities. So this is a plus.

But the minuses are many as well.

First, sometimes a prize goes for a technique, not a fundamental discovery. This year's prize in Chemistry is a case in point - discovery and cloning of the green fluorescent protein (GFP) from the jellyfish, Aequorea victoria. The 1993 prize for Chemistry was similar - it went to Kary Mullis and Michael Smith "for contributions to the developments of methods within DNA-based chemistry", aka for the polymerase chain reaction (Mullis) and site-directed mutagenesis (Smith) - hmmm, both of these were biology prizes awarded for Chemistry: a pattern?

Like Larry, I think this is a bad idea. First, it reinforces the confusion that many people have - not being able to distinguish between science and technology. Second, I feel that a Nobel should go to discoveries that importantly affect the way we think about nature, rewrite the textbooks and perhaps have big implications for medicine (in the case of the Prize for Medicine). Technique in itself does not do this - it allows thousands of people to chip at nature's secrets, experiment by experiment, one detail at the time, and perhaps collectively over time bring about fundemantal changes in our thinking about the way the world works. But the prize does not go to those thousands who actually discovered something new, it goes to people who provided the technical tools.

Second, it reinforces the popular notion that science is competitive and that scientists do research in order to gain fame and fortune - you all know the stereotype of the crazy anti-social scientist show spends decades in the basement laboratory dreaming of a Nobel Prize. Where is the usual reason people go into science - natural curiosity?

Third, it messes up with the new incoming scientists - it gives them a skewed idea of what science is all about. So, they do whatever it takes to get into a highfallutin' school where they can join one of the enormous, faceless, gene-jockey labs with 25 postdocs where all the PI does is write grant proposals, the atmosphere is dog-eat-dog and one is tempted to doctor the data and do other unethical stuff. In that lab, the student is given a little detail to work on, while fostering the dreams of discovering a cure for cancer and getting a Nobel. There is an enormous pressure to produce lots of data quickly and to publish them in GlamourMagz.

What those students are not told is to go check the list of Nobel laureates and see what they got the prizes for. It was not one of the thousands of people working on C.elegans now, it went to the person who was the first to work on C.elegans. It was not one of the thousands of people working on zebrafish now, it went to the person who was the first to work on zebrafish. Likewise, it will not go to one of the thousands of people working on p53, or estrogen receptor, or using transgenic mice, or DNA-arrays, or whatever is the bandwagon now. All of that work needs to be done, but it is not revolutionary (at least not for a Nobel). It is "normal science", incremental placing of pieces into the puzzle. Nothing wrong with that, but don't get your hopes too high.

This brings me back to this year's prize for the Green Fluorescent Protein. You have probably heard the story of Dr.Prasher, the guy who did not win the Nobel although he was the first to clone the GFP gene. He is now a shuttle driver for a garage (interestingly, Kary Mullis, the other guy who got a Nobel for a technique, is also now out of science: a surfer, womanizer and HIV denialist). Why? He could not get funding for the continuation of his work. When did this happen? In the late 1990s, at the time when the science funding started to go down.

So, if this is so revolutionary, why didn't he get funding? The official notes on his grant proposals are probably official-sounding and diplomatic, but I can imagine what was going on through the reviewer's head while reading Prasher's proposal - something along the lines of "What on Earth is this jellyfish, Aequorea victoria? Why would anyone care about such an animal (is it an animal anyway, or what is it?)? Why not do something useful, in humans or mice, or at least in fruitflies? Why waste time and taxpayer money on this Discovery Channel crap?"

Being one of the thousands on a bandwagon is bad. Especially in the time of poor funding. But working on a non-bandwagon question, using non-molecular techniques, in a non-model animal is worse, much worse. At the time of the peak in funding, it was sometimes possible to get funding from NIH, but even then it was not easy for such research. Most biologists, though usually not covered by the media much, do that kind of stuff - just go to the SICB conference one year and see for yourself. Luckily, the research itself is usually not very expensive and a lab can "go on fumes" if needed for a year or so as long as it can keep its animals and rooms. There is alternative way of funding: instead of one large NIH grant, many of these labs have many small grants from NSF, NASA, US Army (or Airforce, or Navy), USDA, private foundations, etc. But at the time of low overall funding, even these sources dry up.

Some years ago, I listened to a very interesting talk by Knut Schmidt-Nielsen. The talk was in an unusual format and initially took some people aback. Instead of starting with a big question, gradually zooming in to the methods and results, then at the end zooming out again to the Big Picture, Knut started with an anecdote. Then, he told another anecdote. Then another. After an hour, we finally 'got it' - there was an undelying thread in all of these anecdotes. Each highlighted a piece of strange research by a strange person in a strange organism, marred by lack of funding and appreciation (and sometimes outright derision), yet in the end resulting in a ground-breaking discovery that shook our way of understanding the world, or provided a potent research tool (yes, GFP was one of the examples, tetrodotoxin was another). The take-home message was: do what you are passionate about, look at non-model organisms, let your curiosity take over, do not focus on application, tough out the lean financial times, and who knows, you may deserve a Nobel one day. For doing what you like, not what others told you is "hot".

Look at that list of Nobel laurates in Physiology and Medicine again. Each one of them was a pioneer, doing something weird that nobody else thought made any sense at the time. They persisted and followed their hunches and finally overcome the resistance of their peers. And many thousands of others who did not win a prize, still retired happy with their career - they did something useful and had fun all along.

Not all of that research even required a lot of money, expensive equipment and large numbers of postdocs. Watson and Crick tinkered with pieces of metal and made a model. My favourite Nobel is the 1973 one: von Frisch used a fine paintbrush to mark the bees and a few dishes with sugar water; Lorenz walked around the yard followed by a flock of ducklings; Tinbergen had some fish in a tank, painted red dots on seagulls' beaks, and moved some pine-cones around. And each one of them made revolutionary discoveries about the way the brain works. It is better to have a problem to solve and use one's creativity to solve it in the simplest, cheapest, most decisive way, than to search for a question that you can address with the technique you are good at.

Often those simple, cheap, creative techniques provide more trustowrthy data. I know from my own work - I ran some gels and that's an art, not science. I do not believe my own data (people around me in the lab did). What I got are hunches, perhaps something that statistics may say is relevant, but I dare you to try to repeat the experiment and get the same results! On the other hand, when I came up with a creative experimental protocol - all I needed to do is count eggs every day - the result I got was an all-or-none uber-conclusive response that does not need no steenkin' statistics and simply over-rules a few decades of published literature (I really need to publish that stuff). Not all questions require, or could appropriately be addressed by running expensive molecular experiments. Each question is at a particular level of organization and requires the experiment to be done at that level, perhaps higher, not lower (as one can infer the behavior of parts from the behavior of the whole, but not vice versa).

There are many questions at the levels of molecules and cells that are worth asking, but that is not all there is in biology - and that is something that students need to be told. And some people will be really good at designing such experiments and answering important questions. But there are other levels in biology and other approaches, and some people will be better suited for those. And for saving money by designing and building one's own equipment (my PI always told me if my PhD studies did not get me anywhere, I could always find a job using the skills learned in the lab - as an electrician or carpenter). At least in those other fields, the competitiveness is toned down a notch - no need to ask for millions of dollars every few years, no need to get into a GlamourSchool and publish in GlamorMagz - you can do it anywhere and publish wherever you want. Who can scoop you if you are studying deer in a particular forest? You have a couple of years of data in advance. You see if a competitor comes in - and you offer collaboration instead.

So, it's up to one's interests, talents and temperament. I was strongly advised (at the time when a PhD looked likely and such) to do a postdoc in a heavily molecular lab in order to get molecular techniques under my belt because that is "a necessity for getting a job". So I tried - I went and spent a few weeks in such a lab (they even cleared up some space in the freezer for my samples) and decided that it was not for me. The PI was really nice, but part of that super-competitive atmosphere I detest. The lab consisted of 25 people who seemed really nice - on those rare moments when one could actually talk to them. Most of the time - and that is about 13 hours per day, 7 days a week - they were hunched over their benches, quiet, pale like Eloi. The specter of the Japanese hell-bent on scooping was hanging over everyone's head. A saw postdoc, a really good, creative, smart guy with several excellent papers to his name, being told, on a Friday afternoon, to re-do his experiments and show the data first thing on Monday morning! WTF!? One thing I most appreciated in my old lab was time - I did my stuff when I wanted to. I did twice as much as asked because I was excited. Those who wasted their time left the lab after a year or less, but I persisted on my own. And nobody ever told me when to get the data or when to do my work. I did a lot of it at nights and over weekends because I am too social - would rather chat with people and attend seminars than work if others are around - but that was my own choice. Nobody tells me what to do.

Back to the topic. In non-bandwagon, non-molecular, non-medical biology, there is no need to rush, or to be secretive about one's work, or to fudge the data, or not to do Open Notebook Science. No patents or big prizes or big money are at stake. But you have a nice, pleasant career in science suitable to those who are not of the A-type temperament. You have time for family and hobbies. And you enjoy the collegiality and collaborations and the growth in your own respect and authority over the years. That kind of stuff can sometimes even be done by amateurs. Nothing wrong with that.

So, the Nobel Prizes are used, in a way, to lead the students along the wrong paths - to jump on bandwagons. But being on a bandwagon, as history shows, does not result in winning a Nobel - quite the opposite. It is the weirdos, or people who moved from one discipline from another (thus avoiding thinking inside the box of the discipline) - the mavericks - who tend to hit on something really important, sometimes by intent, sometimes by serendipity.

So, go on and study what you are truly excited about in some emerging model system, or something weird like the platypus, or sea cucumbers, or ferns, or Venus flytraps, or silverslippers - who knows where that can end (more likely on science blogs or Discovery Channel where cool animals doing cool things are appreciated, than in Stockholm), but even if it does not, you'll have fun all the way.

Posted by Coturnix at 5:17 PM • 10 Comments

Reminders

Category: Blogging

Tomorrow is the time to publish your blog posts for the Open Access Day competition.

And tomorrow night is the deadline for two good carnivals: Praxis (October 15th on The Other 95%) and the Giant's Shoulders (October 15th on Second Order Approximation).

And if you missed it, there will be prizes for the biggest DonorsChoose donors.

Posted by Coturnix at 12:05 PM • 1 Comments

ScienceOnline09 - even more individual session pages

Category: SO'09

And here are some other sessions that you will be able to attend, either physically or virtually:

How to paint your own blog images

Hey, You Can't Say That!

Web and the History of Science

Blogging102 - how to make your blog better

Nature blogging

Reputation, authority and incentives. Or: How to get rid of the Impact Factor

Blog-To-Book: You are a science blogger but you want to publish a pop-sci book?

Science blogging networks - what works, what does not?

Race in science - online and offline

Open Access publishing: present and future

Posted by Coturnix at 8:53 AM • 0 Comments

Clock Quotes

Category: Clock Quotes

You cannot speak of ocean to a well-frog, the creature of a narrower sphere. You cannot speak of ice to a summer insect, the creature of a season.

- Chuang Tzu, 369 - 286 BC

Posted by Coturnix at 3:51 AM • 0 Comments

A banner year for me, in a sense....

Category: Blogging

Every year, when I go to ConvergeSouth (and I still need your help with my session this year), I look forward to seeing again some of my good blogospheric friends. And somewhere very, very high on the list of people I am most excited about seeing again, are Dan and Janet, journalists and bloggers from South Carolina who are regular, annual participants there.

Their blog Xark has been one of my regular reads for a few years now. So, I was astonishingly flattered when I went there the other day and saw my own face on top of the page! Yikes! What have I done?

Oh, Xarkers just thought they would put a bunch of people they consider influential on their banner. What an honor (I guess - there is good influence and there is bad influence - see the list!).

You can see the banner in high resolution here and the small version is this:

Posted by Coturnix at 5:06 PM • 2 Comments

Carrboro Citizen - a model for the newspaper of the future

Category: Media

The future of newspapers is bleak, but there are three saving strategies: 1) hyperlocal papers will beat the big city, state, national and international papers, 2) telling the truth instead of false equivalence will foster reader loyalty, and 3) the print-to-web mode of thinking will be replaced by web-to-print, community-driven model.

Carrboro Citizen is an examplar of all three strategies. If you know that Carrboro is tiny, you already see how hyperlocal it is. If you have read it for a while, you know that they do not do the dreaded he-said-she-said tired, old schtick - they tell is at it is, and if you find that the truth hurts, you need to re-examine your own beliefs or loyalties.

But you may not be aware of their web-to-print strategy. The Citizen is really small - a couple of employees, a couple of interns and that's it. But they are also next to UNC and its amazing Journalism program. Jock Lauterer teaches a class there and each year his students go out to Carrboro and surrounding areas and find interesting things to write about. Their articles then get published online first, on Carrboro Commons, where Kirk Ross and the staff of The Citizen read them and, if they like something, edit the article and publish it in The Citizen. The students learn their trade, the community gets to chime-in in the comments (on both sites), and Carrboro Citizen get to publish good articles written by fresh voices. Everyone wins.

You may remember last week when I told you about an article (which I like for obvious reasons - I am in it) about Carrboro Creative Coworking, and about telecommuting and coworking in general - Creative Coworking offers a new dynamic.

Just a few days later, and from what I can see minimal editing, the article is now on news-stands (as well as online - commenting allowed again) in Carrboro Citizen.

I am willing to bet that in ten years, when New York Times is either dead or changed beyond all recognition, Carrboro Citizen will still be going strong.

And here is more about Carrboro Creative Coworking:

Posted by Coturnix at 4:47 PM • 3 Comments

My picks from ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Read on »

Posted by Coturnix at 3:49 PM • 0 Comments

I thought McCain-Palin rallies looked familiar....

Category: Politics

...and now I remember where I saw them before:

Posted by Coturnix at 2:08 PM • 2 Comments

Today's carnivals

Category: Carnivals

Gene Genie #38 is up on ScienceRoll

And, you have only a couple of days to submit to the next editions of Praxis (October 15th on The Other 95%) and the Giant's Shoulders (October 15th on Second Order Approximation).

Posted by Coturnix at 1:12 PM • 0 Comments

ScienceOnline'09 - Nature Network bloggers

Category: SO'09

Now that the registration is closed, I can update the list of Nature Network bloggers who have signed up to come to ScienceOnline09 - and a few of them will also be involved in leading sessions or giving demos:

Eva Amsen

Anna Kushnir

Corie Lok

Jennifer Rohn

Henry Gee

Bob O'Hara

Richard Grant

Martin Fenner

Posted by Coturnix at 9:24 AM • 0 Comments

Clock Quotes

Category: Clock Quotes

When young, we trust ourselves too much; and we trust others too little when old. Rashness is the error of youth; timid caution of age. Manhood is the isthmus between the two extremes - the ripe and fertile season of action when, only, we can hope to find the head to contrive, united with the hand to execute.

- Charles Caleb Colton, 1780 - 1832

Posted by Coturnix at 3:50 AM • 0 Comments

Time-Lapse: Zebrafish Embryos Developing

Category: Basic Biology

Read on »

Posted by Coturnix at 1:39 AM • 1 Comments

Your weekend politics

Category: Politics

Hmmm, I have not done one of these in a few weeks, so if you depend on me for your political information, check under the fold:

Read on »

Posted by Coturnix at 1:11 AM • 1 Comments

Obama Knew It Was Coming All Along

Category: Politics

Posted by Coturnix at 10:12 PM • 2 Comments

ScienceOnline09 - more individual session pages

Category: SO'09

Now that the registration is closed (you can still get on the waitlist if you send an e-mail to info@scienceonline09.com), it's time to start preparing for the sessions. Here are some more sessions you may be interested in:

Not just text - image, sound and video in peer-reviewed literature

Alternative careers: how to become a journal editor

Providing public health and medical information to all

Art and science -- online and offline

Anonymity, Pseudonymity - building reputation online