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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Dictionary of Circadian Physiology
Basic Terms and Concepts in Math and Science
September 30, 2007
Category: Science News
Does The Victim Affect Snake Venom Composition?: A snake's intended prey might affect the type and evolution of toxins in their venom, research published in BMC Evolutionary Biology shows. In snakes, venom composition varies both between species and within a...
Posted by Coturnix at 8:59 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
It is time I stepped aside for a less experienced and less able man. - Professor Scott Elledge...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:08 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Housekeeping
The Stem Cell Geek truCubed.com McBlawg Ruhlman 365 Cheeses VarmintBites Blackwood Eats...
Posted by Coturnix at 12:07 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 29, 2007
Category: Education
Janet and Abel alert me that Six Apart (yup, those folks who made MoveableType on which I am typing right now) are supporting DonorsChoose, by issuing a bloggers challenge: "You can request a gift certificate worth $30 at donorschoose@sixapart.com. Request...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:43 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Nikola Tesla
From here (hat-tip)....
Posted by Coturnix at 10:30 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science News
Altruism Evolved From Maternal Behavior, Wasp Genetics Study Suggests: Researchers at the University of Illinois have used an innovative approach to reveal the molecular basis of altruistic behavior in wasps. The research team focused on the expression of behavior-related...
Posted by Coturnix at 8:58 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
The most dangerous words in the English language are, "This time it's different." - Sir John Templeton...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:53 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 28, 2007
Category: PLoS
Lots of new stuff on PLoS today. So, let's go over it one by one. First, today is the inaugural day of the Clinical Trials Hub, central place for all the papers reporting on clinical trials and discussions of them,...
Posted by Coturnix at 5:06 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Horses
Yesterday, Chris Clarke wrote a post that I read three times so far, then finally submitted it myself for Reed's consideration for the anthology. Most science bloggers are excellent writers, but rare is the gift that Chris displays in many...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:10 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
The Carnival of Space #22 is up on Wanderingspace Friday Ark #158 is up on The Modulator...
Posted by Coturnix at 7:30 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
Wisdom is the reward you get for a lifetime of listening when you'd have preferred to talk. - Doug Larson...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:52 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 27, 2007
Category: Science News
Cockroaches Are Morons In The Morning, Geniuses In The Evening: In its ability to learn, the cockroach is a moron in the morning and a genius in the evening. Dramatic daily variations in the cockroach's learning ability were discovered...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:20 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Animal Rights
From a reasonable concern for Animal Welfare by Lewis Carroll to the mean and stupid Animal Rightists of today....
Posted by Coturnix at 9:29 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
...taking pictures of Marbles and Orange Julius a minute ago - aren't they sweet?...
Posted by Coturnix at 6:04 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock News
When teaching human or animal physiology, it is very easy to come up with examples of ubiqutous negative feedback loops. On the other hand, there are very few physiological processes that can serve as examples of positive feedback. These include...
Posted by Coturnix at 1:19 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
That is where you will find the 70th Skeptics' Circle....
Posted by Coturnix at 11:24 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science News
Solving A Dragonfly Flight Mystery: Dragonflies adjust their wing motion while hovering to conserve energy, according to a Cornell University study of the insect's flight mechanics. The revelation contradicts previous speculation that the change in wing motion served to...
Posted by Coturnix at 7:57 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
No man whose sex life was satisfactory ever became a moral censor. - Mina Loy...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:07 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Books
Now that the registration for the Science Blogging Conference is open, it is time to remind you that the new edition of the Science Blogging Anthology, "Open Laboratory 2007", is in the works and is accepting your suggestions. Although...
Posted by Coturnix at 2:16 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Open Science
Back in July, the House of Representatives passed a bill that requires all the NIH-funded research to be made freely available to the public within at most 12 months subsequent to publication. The equivalent bill has passed the Senate Appropriations...
Posted by Coturnix at 12:39 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 26, 2007
Category: Personal
This was Anton's idea, at the dinner the other night, but I will get it started here anyway. An interesting animal I had I never owned an unusual species of animal. As a little kid I had small turtle named...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:06 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Housekeeping
Advances in the History of Psychology SES: Science, Education & Society Urban Science Adventures! Feminist undergrad CarrieBlogKelly...
Posted by Coturnix at 2:25 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
Four Stone Hearth #24 is up on _Paddy K_ Tangled Bank #89 is up on Aardvarchaeology The 138th edition of the Carnival of Education is up on Global Citizenship in a Virtual World Carnival of the Liberals #48 is up...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:37 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science News
You Can Teach An Old Dog New Tricks -- With The Right Diet: These supplements, acetyl-l-carnitine and alpha lipoic acid, are continuing to be studied in work with humans, and scientists believe they may provide a new approach to the...
Posted by Coturnix at 8:10 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
Sometimes the road less traveled is less traveled for a reason. - Jerry Seinfeld...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:57 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 25, 2007
Category: Food
The highlight of this week's foodblogging event must have been last night's dinner at Piedmont restaurant in Durham. Anton has several posts about the events of the past couple of days, including a detailed description (including the menu, and exactly...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:36 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
These were taken the day after the pseudo-move, as soon as the cats came back from a weekend at the vet. Biscuit was hiding, but the other two explored the new environs:...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:55 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Politics
What all the candidates are saying....
Posted by Coturnix at 9:36 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science News
Steve Irwin's last paper is not the only exciting article to appear on PLoS ONE today - there are 40 more, and here are a few I am excited about - a veritable embarassment of riches! When am I ever...
Posted by Coturnix at 7:17 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Animal Behavior
Just published about an hour ago (if it was in hardcopy, it would still be hot off the presses). And it is a wonderful paper! Australian crocs can and will travel much longer distances than was previously thought and their...
Posted by Coturnix at 6:33 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science Practice
Johanna Dehlinger writes: In September, PLoS Computational Biology begins a series entitled "Developing Computational Biology" about the pursuit of scientific endeavors in computational biology around the world. Each country has unique features in areas from educational programs, types of research...
Posted by Coturnix at 1:54 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
This is why you should attend ConvergeSouth. OK, Anton will lead a session, and so will I, but check out the entire program - it is just getting more and more amazing every year! And it is probably the most...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:34 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
And it is hard to find anyone better than Brian: I am now available for hire to consult on the creation, care, and feeding of online communities. Plus I can create audio and video for the web. To get an...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:26 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
What's Up, Postdoc? September Carnival is up on ... ponderings of a fool. Grand Rounds is starting its 4th year of existence up on Kevin MD's blog. Congratulations! Carnival of the Green #96 is up on Karavans....
Posted by Coturnix at 10:15 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science News
A bunch of new articles got published in PLoS Medicine and PLoS Biology yesterday. Here are my two picks, and you go and check the rest: Brain Dynamics Underlying the Nonlinear Threshold for Access to Consciousness: Understanding the neural mechanisms...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:05 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science News
If You Want More Babies, Find A Man With A Deep Voice: Men who have lower-pitched voices have more children than do men with high-pitched voices, researchers have found. And their study suggests that for reproductive-minded women, mate selection...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:00 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
While reason is puzzling itself about mystery, faith is turning it to daily bread, and feeding on it thankfully in her heart of hearts. - F. D. Huntington...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:58 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 24, 2007
Category: Evolution
Sarah Wallace, Matt Ford, ScienceGoGo and Jason Stajich comment on the fungus that gets its energy from radiation. I've heard of Deinococcus radiodurans before, but this is a fungus! Well, if there is an energy source to tap into, even...
Posted by Coturnix at 1:54 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
Encephalon #32 is up on Living the Scientific Life. Gene Genie #16 is up on Neurophilosophy....
Posted by Coturnix at 10:32 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
Come out of the circle of time And into the circle of love. - Jalal-Uddin Rumi...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:53 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 23, 2007
Category: Blogging
The three-day Foodblogging event has started, with a reading/booksigning by Michael Ruhlman at the Regulator bookshop in Durham. Among those in the audience were Reynolds Price, local bloggers Anton Zuiker and Brian Russell, as well as Anna Kushnir, foodblogger who...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:46 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Balkans
Last night at the wedding, DJ went around asking for song suggestions and I thought back about Serbian weddings and how many songs there are that are inappropriate for weddings there - so many songs are sad, melancholic romances about...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:30 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
I was out and offline all day yesterday, so I missed this wonderful article by Dan Barkin in yesterdays' N&O (I just took the paper out of its plastic bag a few minutes ago): Bloggers to talk science. It tells...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:03 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
The XVIth edition of Radiology Grand Rounds is up on Sumer's Radiology Site. Friday Ark #157 is up on The Modulator....
Posted by Coturnix at 8:39 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
It is common error to infer that things which are consecutive in order of time have necessarily the relation of cause and effect. - Jacob Bigelow...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:04 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 22, 2007
Category: Clock Quotes
It seems a long time since the morning mail could be called correspondence. - Jacques Barzun...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:03 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 21, 2007
Category: Personal
Wow - this was a busy and exhausting week! But Trackbacks are in place and (mostly) working. I did not even have time to unpack everything from last weekend's pseudo-move - the house is nice and clean but still looks...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:04 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science News
How The Brain Handles Surprise, Good And Bad: Whether it's a mugger or a friend who jumps out of the bushes, you're still surprised. But your response--to flee or to hug--must be very different. Now, researchers have begun to...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:04 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
Yesterday, PLoS ONE moved to the newest version of the TOPAZ platform. Rich Cave explains all the improvements that this move entails, including the citation download for articles, but one new feature that should really be exciting to bloggers are...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:40 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Science News
Velociraptor Had Feathers: A new look at some old bones have shown that velociraptor, the dinosaur made famous in the movie Jurassic Park, had feathers. The discovery was made by paleontologists at the American Museum of Natural History and...
Posted by Coturnix at 8:59 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Clock Quotes
Perfection is a waste of time. - Kim De Coite...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:05 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
September 20, 2007
Category: Blogging
Go say Hello to the very latest addition to the Scienceblogs Universe - Coby Beck of A Few Things Ill Considered....
Posted by Coturnix at 10:16 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Carnivals
I and the Bird #58 is up on The Nightjar. Change of Shift: Volume Two, Number 7 is up on Emergiblog. The Carnival of Space - week 21, the XPrize edition - is up on Why Homeschool...
Posted by Coturnix at 8:26 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
To Chris (an no, I am not the commenter who signed with "a sea cucumber" handle...)....
Posted by Coturnix at 8:23 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Chronobiology
A post-doctoral position is available in the laboratory of Dr. Tosini to investigate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that control circadian rhythms in the mammalian retina [Tosini et al., (2007) Faseb J.; Sakamoto et al., (2004). J. Neuroscience 24: 9693-9697;...
Posted by Coturnix at 8:01 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Animal Behavior
Earlier studies have indicated that a gene called FOXP2, possibly involved in brain development, is extremely conserved in vertebrates, except for two notable mutations in humans. This finding suggested that this gene may in some way be involved in the...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:47 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Rhythmic Human
Symposium Light, Performance and Quality of Life is on Thursday, 8 November 2007 in Eindhoven, the Netherlands: Introduction The ancient Greek already referred to the wholesome effects of the (sun)light on mankind. Ever since the industrialization, more and more people...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:38 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
Go say Hello to Sciencewoman!...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:08 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Housekeeping
Lali's Laboratory Frog Blog d(PhD)/dt The Badge (SF Chronicle Police Beat Blog) Alexipharmacopeia Ed Boyden The Conscience of a Liberal (Paul Krugman) GMO Africa...
Posted by Coturnix at 2:41 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Sleep
There is an intriguing article in Scientific American about the consequences of sleep deprivation. When the brain is finally allowed to catch up with sleep, it tries to make-up for the loss of slow-wave sleep, but it also tries to...
Posted by Coturnix at 2:14 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Blogging
I thought the LiveJournal debacle taught them a lesson. I guess not. Melissa posted about this a couple of weeks ago, and Tara did it today again because the issue has not been resolved yet. So did PZ Myers (Janet...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:08 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Open Science
Jim Giles, New Scientist contributor, got the memo and wrote a blog post and an article about it. You can read the actual memo here (pdf) to see what Dezenhall advised the dinosaur publishers to do to stave off the...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:49 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks
Category: Medicine
Based in part on this study, lethal injection has been ruled (at least for now) unconstitutional in the state of Tennessee. The executions by lethal injection have been on hold for several months now in North Carolina as well, until...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:29 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks