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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

April 30, 2007

Monday

Category: Housekeeping

I am teaching tonight (and preparing for the lecture today) so there will be very light blogging today, naked or not (tune in tomorrow). I am also struggling with writing the cover letter for PLoS. I have never written (or...

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Welcome a new SciBling!

Category: Blogging

Go say Hello to Mark and Chris Hoofnagle at Denialism blog....

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

Time, which changes people, does not alter the image we have retained of them. - Marcel Proust...

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Godless Blogging of the Fortnight

Category: Carnivals

Carnival of the Godless #65 is up on Light Remembered....

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April 29, 2007

Circadian Skyline

Category: Fun

The word 'circadian' has a certain mystique about it for people not in the know, thus it is not surprising that there are several bands around with that word incorporate in their names. I know I blogged about it before...

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Tomorrow

Category: Blogging

Are you going to blog dressed or in the nude?...

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My Picks From ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Wing Morphing Of The Swift Could Inspire New Aircraft Designs: A swift adapts the shape of its wings to the immediate task at hand: folding them back to chase insects, or stretching them out to sleep in flight. Ten Dutch...

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

Art is long, and Time is fleeting, And our hearts, though stout and brave, Still, like muffled drums, are beating Funeral marches to the grave. - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow...

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April 28, 2007

Blogrolling for Today

Category: Housekeeping

Life of a Labrat Open and Shut? Open... Open Access News Recurring Decimals..... T. taxus Under the Dome Journalology...

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Blogging Teach-in

Category: Blogging

Just came back from the first Durham blogging teach-in of the year. Pam, Brian and Anton were there and we introduced some new interesting people to the wonderful world of blogging (and they started their own new wordpress blogs). If...

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April 27, 2007

Curse Words

Category: Cognition

Last week's Casual Friday study on Cognitive Daily tried to look at the way various curse words are used and perceived by their blog readers. Today, the results are in and, though not surprising, they are quite interesting. The sample...

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Physics Blogging of the Week

Category: Carnivals

Philosophia Naturalis #9 is up on Science And Reason....

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Classroom Blog

Category: Science Education

I am starting my BIO101 for adults course again on Monday and this time I am deteremined to use a blog in the classroom. To begin with, I copied my lecture notes here (still needs some fiddling and editing before...

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My Picks From ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Dogs Copy Other Dogs' Actions Selectively, The Way Humans Do: A distinguishing feature of human intelligence is our ability to understand the goals and intentions of others. This ability develops gradually during infancy, and the extent to which it is...

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

I think scientists should stop wasting valuable resources trying to cure cancer and focus on more important issues, like keeping me from drooling in my sleep. - Bill Hewins...

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April 26, 2007

New science-related carnival!

Category: Carnivals

The first edition of Carnival of Space is up on Why Homeschool. Submit your entries for the next edition here and volunteer to host here....

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Happy Birthday, John James Audubon

Category: History of Science

John James Audubon was born on his father's plantation in Haiti on this day in 1780. Despite being born of his father's mistress, he was raised in France by his father's wife and educated with other young aristocrats. He took...

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The Future of the Interview

Category: Blogging

Excellent article by Jeff Jarvis: The obsolete interview (hat-tip: Anton). As I've been interviewed several times this year, I agree. The world is changing: media, just like science publishing (see below) and getting a job (see further below) will change.......

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Three labs simultaneously discover a new clock gene!

Category: Clock News

Thus reports The Scientist: Researchers from three different labs have identified a new circadian gene in the mouse, according to two papers in Science and one paper in Cell published online this week. Mutagenesis screens revealed that mutations in a...

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A great interview with Elizabeth Edwards

Category: Politics

With Bob Geary of The Independent Weekly. Listen to the whole thing here or read an excerpt here....

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Dont' forget tonight!

Category: Politics

I'll have to find my remote control and remember how to use it, because the 08 campaign season is officially starting tonight with the first Democratic presidential debate in South Carolina, at 7pm ET on MSNBC. You all know who...

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Second Science Blogging Conference

Category: Blogging

Yes, we are working on it. Anton just put up the new wiki and the first scaffolding for the program. At this point in time we certainly invite your suggestions, but mostly are looking for sponsors in order to see...

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Looking for good educational biology movies

Category: Science Education

I am teaching my BIO101 again starting this Monday. The class is very small, so the discussions and student presentations will not last very long. Thus, I will have extra time at the end of each lecture. This can be...

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Skeptical Blogging of the Fortnight

Category: Carnivals

The 59th Skeptics' Circle is up on Pooflingers Anonymous...

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My Picks From ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Horses Suffer From Obesity, Just Like Humans: Horses are inheritably couch potatoes. An overeating, slothful horse leads to an obese horse. Unlike humans, however, horse owners often don't see the dangers of an obese horse. Caretakers may see no harm...

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TIME's most influential people of the year

Category: Society

They are asking you to rate them here. I have never heard of about half the people on the list - perhaps they are 'influential' in their small circles. Others are celebrities, and they may be influential in distracting people...

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe. It is a place of the most wondrous and gratifying possibility, and beautiful, too. And it was all...

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Fair Use and Open Science

Category: Science Reporting

Update: The issue has been resolved amicably and Shelley has some further thoughts. And some even more further thoughts. The discussion will continue here on Scienceblogs and elsewhere in the follwoing days.... If you read other Scienceblogs and not just...

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April 25, 2007

Fighting Malaria in Southern Mali

Category: Medicine

It is the malaria week right now, isn't it? Check out this nifty website about the efforts to fight malaria in Kangaba, Mali. Just click and drag on each picture and you can swing it around full 360 degrees. Hat-tip:...

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Oh, how I wish I could go there...

Category: Chronobiology

Cold Spring Harbor 72nd Symposium: Clocks & Rhythms, May 30 - June 4, 2007. Abstract deadline is way past due, but just to go and be there (and blog from there) would be super-awesome....

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Blogger Perceptions on Digital Preservation Survey

Category: Blogging

If you have a moment, this is a useful study to participate in: Do you blog? If yes, then please consider participating in an online survey from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library...

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EduBlogging of the week

Category: Carnivals

116th Carnival of Education is up on The Education Wonks...

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My Picks From ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

High Melatonin Content Can Help Delay Aging, Mouse Study Suggests: A study carried out by researchers from the University of Granada's Institute of Biotechnology shows that consuming melatonin neutralizes oxidative damage and delays the neurodegenerative process of aging. In this...

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Analytical Chemistry science writer job opening

Category: Science Reporting

There is a job opening for a science writer at Analytical Chemistry. If you are a science writer, or you know any science writers (or people who want to be science writers) who want to live in the DC area...

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ScienceBlogging of the fortnight

Category: Carnivals

Tangled Bank #78 is up on About:Archaeology....

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Liberal Blogging of the fortnight

Category: Carnivals

Carnival Of The Liberals #37 is up on BogsBlog: Clarity Amid The Muck. In two weeks, Carnival Of The Liberals will be hosted here by me, so send your entries via this automated submission form....

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

If you can't sleep, then get up and do something instead of lying there worrying. It's the worry that gets you, not the lack of sleep. - Dale Carnegie...

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April 24, 2007

Today's carnivals

Category: Carnivals

Carnival of Postdocs #3 is up on What's Up, Postdoc? Grand Rounds, Volume 3, #31 is up on Med Valley High Carnival of the Green #74 is up on The Evangelical Ecologist Pediatric Grand Rounds Volume 2 Edition 1: The...

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Update on "I Want This Job!"

Category: Blogging

Blogs! A new world! Breaking new frontiers all the time! A few days ago, PLoS ONE posted a few job ads, including this one. A friend of mine saw it and thought the job-description was pretty much a Bora-description (another...

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Credit where credit's due

Category: Science Reporting

Science publisher extends journalists' access: A leading science publisher is granting journalists from developing countries access to its scientific papers that are not otherwise freely available. Elsevier announced the initiative at the World Conference of Science Journalists in Australia last...

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Another fox hiding from atheists in a hole?

Category: Atheism

Barry Saunders is a local columnist for Raleigh News & Observer who I never thought was very funny (there is a mysoginist streak in his writing) so I rarely read him these days. But the other day I could not...

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My Picks From ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Earth's First Rainforest Unearthed: A spectacular fossilised forest has transformed our understanding of the ecology of the Earth's first rainforests. It is 300 million years old....

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Kryptonite discovered in Serbia!

Category: Balkans

Oh, that explains it why Superman did not intervene in the recent Balkan wars!...

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it. - Ralph Waldo Emerson...

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April 23, 2007

Blogrolling for Today

Category: Housekeeping

Atheist Ethicist Vagabond Scholar Fish Feet Inside The Core @ NBC17 Madam Fathom Liberal Debutante Aquaculture The Seven Stones The Peripatetic Naturalist Bjoern.Brembs.blog Trinifar Life Cycle Analysis...

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Intuition

Category: Books

Zuska wrote a very good review of Allegra Goodman's book "Intuition" from a very different angle than any other review I have seen so far, including those by Grrrlscientist and myself. Thought-provoking and worth your time....

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Are business cards on their way out?

Category: Fun

In the age of Google, perhaps they are: I saw a pattern of responses to the question, "Do you have a business card?" Many of the responses were the same, "just Google my name and you will find me." So,...

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Origin, Evolution and Adaptive Function of Religiosity

Category: Evolution

I never thought that I would link to Razib approvingly, but his recent series of posts about evolution of religion are right on the mark. You can start with today's post and follow the links back to his older posts....

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Rube-Goldberg Cascades of Molecular Reactions

Category: Science Education

RPM found this on The Disgruntled Chemist's blog: the most awesome Rube-Goldberg machine I have ever seen. Much better than the one built by the Mythbusters guys. Just follow this link and watch the movie! RPM complains that it does...

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My Picks From ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

Similar Brain Chemicals Influence Aggression In Fruit Flies And Humans: Serotonin is a major signaling chemical in the brain, and it has long been thought to be involved in aggressive behavior in a wide variety of animals as well...

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

You are as old as the last time you changed your mind. - Tim O'Leary...

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April 22, 2007

Rotating shifts shorten lives

Category: Rhythmic Human

This is the first study I know that directly tested this - the effects of rotating shifts on longevity - in humans, though some studies of night-shift nurses have shown large increases in breast cancers, stomach ulcers and heart diseases,...

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My Picks From ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

I am sure that other science bloggers (on or off the Seed scienceblogs) will have to say more about all of these studies over the next few days: To Understand The Big Picture, Give It Time - And Sleep: Memorizing...

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

I cannot afford to waste my time making money. - Jean Louis Rodolphe Agassiz (1807-73)...

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GeneBlogging of the week

Category: Carnivals

Gene Genie #5 is up on Neurophilosophy....

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Michael Pollan on the Farm Bill

Category: Food

It is Sunday. You have time to read it. And you should - no excuses! In today's New York Times - You Are What You Grow: --------------------------- For the answer, you need look no farther than the farm bill. This...

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April 21, 2007

A ferry ride to an Orwellian future?

Category: Politics

A must-read by Peter Eichenberger: How does it feel that North Carolina is becoming a center for profits amid the blatant and egregious blurring of law enforcement and corrections? With the great sucking sound, that of the vacuuming of personal...

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We need to get this guy funded and elected!

Category: Politics

Never again: Brad Miller on Darfur by Bob Geary: ......I decided one other thing. I could no more imagine Liddy Dole performing in public the way Brad Miller did at Pullen than I could see her admitting that the Bush...

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My Picks From ScienceDaily

Category: Science News

New Genus Of Frogmouth Bird Discovered In Solomon Islands: Your bird field guide may be out of date now that University of Florida scientists discovered a new genus of frogmouth bird on a South Pacific island. New genera of living...

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ClockQuotes

Category: Clock Quotes

Boredom is the feeling that everything is a waste of time; serenity, that nothing is. - Thomas S. Szasz...

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I Want This Job!

Category: Blogging

It has 'Coturnix' written all over it, don't you think? I am even wearing my PLoS t-shirt right now as I am typing this! But, why is it necessary to move to San Francisco? My wife is terrified of earthquakes...

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April 20, 2007

Diurnal Rhythm of Deep-Sea Diving in Whale Sharks

Category: Chronobiology

Yup, that was going to be the title of this post. I got the paper and was ready to write the post when I noticed that Peter scooped me and posted about the same paper today (yup, there is just...

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This is getting interesting....

Category: Politics

A couple of days ago as I was walking my daughter home from school, I passed a group of people who I immediatelly guessed were associated in some way with the Edwards campaign because they looked so out of place...

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