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I am the Online Community Manager at PLoS-ONE (Public Library of Science). My job is to try to motivate you to comment on the papers there. My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com

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Bloggie Stuff

July 31, 2006

Would you....

Category: Fun

....do Google?...

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Intelligently Designed US History

Category: Politics

First they came after evolution. They say they wanted to "teach the controversy". Now, they are after history, and no controversy-teaching is allowed: One way to measure the fears of people in power is by the intensity of their quest...

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Plan B

Category: Politics

Connect The Dots. Will they ever do anything if not for political reasons? Health? They don't care... Approval of a Bush appointee? Sure, let's sign what needs to be signed.......

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T-rex at night!

Category: Fun

I saw a trailer for Night at the Museum the other day and I can't wait to see the movie (opens December 22). Robin Williams as Teddy Roosevelt - Priceless!...

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Food-Entrainable Circadian Clock

Category: Chronobiology

It has been known for decades that scheduled meals can entrain the circadian clock. In some species (e.g., in some birds), regular timing of feeding entrains the main circadian system of the body in the suprachiasmatic (SCN) area of the...

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Just flip a switch...

Category: Politics

It takes two to vote....one to pull the lever, er., touch the screen, and the other to flip the switch....

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Neuroblogging of the week

Category: Carnivals

Encephalon #3 is up on Thinking Meat Blog....

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Book Meme

Category: Books

Carl tagged me with a Book Meme and, since he is one of my most frequent commenters, I cannot say No. Although I have done four book memes before. This one is different and much harder as it asks for...

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Blog Sustainably

Category: Carnivals

Carnival of the Green #38 is up on Treehugger (and I am so used by now to be called Boris, which is a Russian name...)...

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Invertebrates Galore!

Category: Carnivals

Circus of the Spineless XI is up on Words & Pictures - lots of ambushes and explosions! And you still have a few hours to send your entries to Roundrock Journal for tomorrow's Festival of the Trees....

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Clock Tutorial #4: On Methodology

Category: Clock Tutorials

How clock biologists think and how they design their experiments.

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July 30, 2006

Scientist Rock Star, Part II

Category: Science Education

Talking about the need to have popular scientists out there, I think the term "rock-star" was an unfortunate choice. Some people in joking, some people in all seriousness, started looking for people with PhD's who can play musical instruments. That...

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Book publishers do not "get" the concept of the Long Tail

Category: Books

Chad points to an article about the way book publishers are still clinging to the old ways of doing business and are, thus, suspicious of the whol Long Tail idea. My copy of the book arrived a few weeks ago...

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What happens in bed, stays in bed

Category: Sleep

Men's sleep apnea found alongside erectile problems: Men who are sound sleepers have better sex lives. A study published in a recent edition of Urology says men who suffer from sleep apnea syndrome also suffer a high rate of erectile...

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Medical imaging

Category: Carnivals

Radiology Grand Rounds #2 are up on Sumer's Radiology Site....

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Tar Heel Tavern

Category: Carnivals

Want this badge? If you are hot and thirsty, come by the Tar Heel Tavern for a drink or two. This is the 75th meeting and Erin is paying the first round......

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July 29, 2006

Thank You to my commenters

Category: Blogging

In 50 days of its existence, this blog has received 636 comments. The SEED sciencebloggers already promote each other a lot, so I want to give a shout-out to my most regular commenters who are NOT themselves SB bloggers or...

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This one was harder than the 8th grade science

Category: Fun

You Are a Blogging Expert You got 8/8 correct! You know so much about blogging, you should blog for a living.How Much Do You Know About Blogging?...

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I Like This Guy

Category: Religion

Disowning Conservative Politics Is Costly for Pastor: Sermons like Mr. Boyd's are hardly typical in today's evangelical churches. But the upheaval at Woodland Hills is an example of the internal debates now going on in some evangelical colleges, magazines and...

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Ready for College!

Category: Fun

You Passed 8th Grade Science Congratulations, you got 8/8 correct!Could You Pass 8th Grade Science? Watch out! One question has a correct answer and a MORE correct answer, and in another question they meant "neutron", not "neuron". (Hat-tip: John Lynch)...

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Teaching Biology Lab - Week 3

Category: Science Education

While I am teaching the biology lab, I set this re-post to show up automatically at the same time. It describes what we do today in lab.

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SiBlings, Part IV

Category: Blogging

Here is the forth and final part of the introduction to SEED sciencebloggers.

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Animalia

Category: Carnivals

Friday Ark #97 is up on The Modulator....

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Harry Potter and The Blind Horses

Category: Fun

The media is all excited about the news that Daniel Radcliffe will star as Alan Strang in Peter Schaffer's "Equus" in New York next spring. Of course, they all focus on the fact that there is a naked sex scene...

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July 28, 2006

Friday Weird Sex Blogging - Losing Your Head For Love

Category: Friday Weird Sex Blogging

As always, animal porn is under the fold:...

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War Of The Worlds

Category: Religion

This was my first education about Rapturists...

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SiBlings, Part III

Category: Blogging

Part III in the series of introductions to SEED sciencbloggers.

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Obligatory Readings of the Day

Category: Blogging

Orcinus: Conserving orcas, and humans too Shakespeare's Sister: Off-Limits Humor Echidne Of The Snakes: Divorce -- Preparing For Travels in Wingnuttia...

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July 27, 2006

Scientist Rock Star!

Category: Academia

Who might qualify as a scientist rock-star?

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Hot boiled wine in the middle of the winter is tasty....

Category: Environment

Grapes, Schmapes. Watch out for seven-headed monsters!

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Postmodern Conservatism

Category: Academia

This post I first wrote on February 28, 2005, then re-posted here on December 10, 2005. About conservative relativism and the assault on academia:...

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SiBlings, Part II

Category: Blogging

Here is the second part of the introduction to SEED sciencebloggers, the next eleven (check out the first part if you have missed it yesterday). I hope you like them and appreciate the breadth and depth of writing here (so,...

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Nurses and Teachers

Category: Carnivals

Change Of Shift #3 is up on Emergiblog. Carnival of Education #77 is up on Text Savvy....

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July 26, 2006

Obligatory Reading of the Day - the mammoth edition

Category: Paleontology

If you are interested in mammoths, or if mammoths make the news, the first place to go is Archy: WOOLLY MAMMOTH LINKED TO SCIENCE FRAUD!!!...

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Science News in Brief

Category: Science News

Global warming, new genus of cricket, Wollbachia, bumblebee navigation, syntaxin and a cool math model.

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Why Creationists Need To Be Creationists

Category: Creationism

This is a long post trying to tie in Creationism and conservatism through psychology:

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SiBlings

Category: Blogging

Introducing SEED bloggers, Part I

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July 25, 2006

Compared to your pet iguana, you are practically blind

Category: Clock News

The story about melanopsin just got more complex today with a new paper published in PLoS-Biology by a bunch of top circadian and photobiologists working together.

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School House Rock in the Grand Garden

Category: Carnivals

Grand Rounds Volume 2, Number 44: The Garden is up on Medical Humanities. School House Rock edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling is up on The Lilting House....

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Science News in Brief

Category: Science News

Elephants Avoid Costly Mountaineering: "Using global-positioning system data corresponding to the movements of elephants across the African savannah, researchers have found that elephants exhibit strong tendencies to avoid significantly sloped terrain, and that such land features likely represent a key...

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Sleep changes in aging

Category: Sleep

Sawing The ZZZZZs: Getting Old Needn't Keep You Awake, Geriatricians Say: "Patients must be educated on normal sleep-related changes but also made aware that sleep problems are not a part of normal aging." Again we have the problem with the...

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The Biggest Picture

Category: Environment

I wrote this on the Edwards campaign blog on December 15, 2003 and copied it on www.jregrassroots.org a few months later, then posted it again on Science And Politics on August 23, 2004:...

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Cats

Category: Personal

My daughter is getting really good at taking pictures with our digital camera lately. Every now and then, I'll post one or two. Her favourite subject: our cats - below the fold:...

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July 24, 2006

Logic, or, being gay eliminates the weeds...

Category: Ideology

The obligatory reading of the day: That right-wing logic: OK, so I laughed at this one. Because this is what passes for logic not just among rural hicks, but nearly the entire right wing in this country....

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Thor and Odin behind bars

Category: Religion

Norse cult gains among inmates: A pagan religion that some experts say can be interpreted as encouraging violence is gaining popularity among prison inmates, one of whom is scheduled to be executed this week for killing a fellow prisoner at...

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Why does Media have to screw up everything it touches?

Category: Sex

Including screwing with the people who touch themselves for a charitable cause: "Overall I think a well-intentioned event has been hijacked by a corporation who don't really care if we have good sex and enjoy masturbation, but just want more...

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Sleep in American Social Life

Category: Sleep

"The purpose of this study is to examine the ways in which ideas about everyday life in American society are shaped by and shape ideas about sleep."

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Do you know your own political ideology?

Category: Ideology

If you are in North Carolina you can listen to State Of Things on your local NPR station. Just about to start (12noon EDT): What Your Vote Says About You: So you think you're a conservative? Or a liberal? New...

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Kevin In China, part 11 - How to avoid getting married in China, or, women are more complex organisms than venomous snakes.

Category: Kevin in China

Kevin is popular with the ladies....too popular......

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Diane Rehm just read my e-mail on air

Category: Animal Rights

Are you listening to the show?...

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July 23, 2006

Carnival of the Green

Category: Carnivals

Carnival of the Green #37 is up on Myke's Weblog. Of course, this carnival is self-sustainable......

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Need advice on a laptop

Category: Blogging

My son's birthday is next week. He wants (and we agree) a laptop. He is, surprisingly for a man of his brilliance, a PC guy. Good graphics and sound are very important for the stuff he does (making Flash movies,...

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The first court-martial for refusal to go to Iraq

Category: Politics

Officer Faces Court-Martial for Refusing to Deploy to Iraq (from AOL news, sicne NYT is behind the wall): On Jan. 25, "with deep regret," he delivered a passionate two-page letter to his brigade commander, Col. Stephen J. Townsend, asking to...

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Wealth of Science

Category: Academia

Phil Plait has an excellent post: Wealth of Science: Then the author said something that literally startled me: "Scientists, till recently at least, effectively donated the wealth they created." He's absolutely right. Again, wealth is not the same as money....

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Blogiversity? Blogcity? Blogstate?

Category: Blogging

Inspired by RPM of Evolgen, I ask, how many people in your school/University, or town, or state, are blogging, especially about science? First, I don't know of anyone from my University who blog privately, though you can probably search the...

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Sunday Carnivalia

Category: Carnivals

The Synapse #3 is up on Neurophilosopher's blog. Carnival of the Godless #45 is up on Beware of the Dogma. The Tar Heel Tavern #74 ("BeatTheHeat edition) is up on Moomin' Light....

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Spreading the Internet lore

Category: Fun

Did you know the origin of the phrase "Every time you masturbate (or do whataver in the context), God kills a kitten"? I just found out that Wikipedia has a full illustrated history - which is hillarious....

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Obligatory Readings of the Day

Category: Politics

Pam: 'Creationist' says IRS is out to get him on Kent Hovind Shakespeare's Sister reviews (again) Fussell's 'Class' Lance: Castaway (Thoreau, Darwin, Sexton) Paul the Spud: As The World Burns on Inhofe and global warming. Pam: Q of the day...

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July 22, 2006

Does anyone know the answer?

Category: Ecology

A question from Fred Gould: Density dependence or just food limitation - Does anyone know of studies that can determine if the long length of development and small size of adult Aedes coming from containers in natural situations is due...

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Diane Beers to appear on NPR's Diane Rehm show about Animal Rights on Monday

Category: Animal Rights

Yesterday, I heard the announcement on NPR for Diane Rehm's Monday show and recoiled in horror as it appeared she used the terms "animal welfare" and "animal rights" interchangeably....

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Carnival of Bad History

Category: Carnivals

Carnival of Bad History #7 is up on Hiram Hover's blog. Enjoy....

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Science News in brief

Category: Science News

Researchers Identify Very First Neurons In The 'Thinking' Brain: Researchers at Yale School of Medicine and the University of Oxford have identified the very first neurons in what develops into the cerebral cortex, the part of the brain that makes...

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Elizabeth Edwards in the news

Category: North Carolina

Today's Raleigh News and Observer has a nice article about Elizabeth Edwards (the smartest of the 2004 Democratic candidate quartet), her battle with cancer and her new book (including a couple of short excerpts): Edwards emerges from cancer with grace:...

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CIA blogger fired for coloring outside lines

Category: Blogging

Top secret blogger for CIA fired, shut down: Christine Axsmith, a software contractor for the CIA, considered her blog a success within the select circle of people who could actually see it. Only people with top secret security clearances could...

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Perhaps I should tell my brother to wait...

Category: North Carolina

Apparently, it's not over until it's over. The removal of the cohabitation law I wrote about yesterday may apply only to a few people in NC, not the whole state: Cohabitation law ruling doesn't apply statewide: Legal experts said Friday...

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