Official Comment Count: 1,031,599
I am the Online Community Manager at PLoS-ONE (Public Library of Science). My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. I am not an MD so I cannot diagnose and treat your sleep problems. This is a personal blog and opinions within in no way reflect the policies of PLoS. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com
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June 30, 2008
Category: Carnivals
Circus of the Spineless #34 is up on Gossamer Tapestry The latest edition of Change of Shift is up on 20 Out of 10 The Carnival of the Liberals #76 is up on Situation Awareness The 94th Carnival of the...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:58 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
Professor Goddard does not know the relation between action and reaction and the need to have something better than a vacuum against which to react. He seems to lack the basic knowledge ladled out daily in high schools. - New...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:54 AM • 1 Comments •
June 29, 2008
Category: Clock Quotes
All brave men love; for he only is brave who has affections to fight for, whether in the daily battle of life, or in physical contests. - Nathaniel Hawthorne...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:53 AM • 0 Comments •
June 28, 2008
Category: Clock Quotes
A man can believe a considerable deal of rubbish, and yet go about his daily work in a rational and cheerful manner. - Norman Douglas...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:53 AM • 0 Comments •
June 27, 2008
Category: Clock Quotes
We must not, in trying to think about how we can make a big difference, ignore the small daily differences we can make which, over time, add up to big differences that we often cannot foresee. - Marian Wright Edelman...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:51 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Neuroscience
Marc Dingman is touching on my own favorite topic: It's All About Timing: Circadian Rhythms and Behavior And SciCurios goes only millimeters below the suprachiasmatic nucleus: Diabetes Insipidus as a Sequel to a Gunshot Wound of the Head Both posts...
Posted by Coturnix at 12:14 AM • 0 Comments •
June 26, 2008
Category: Housekeeping
I will be out of town and offline for the next four days. If you see spam or trolls that are really bad and need to be dealt with, or if there are technical problems with the blog in any...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:35 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Birds
There is an exciting new study in Science that reshuffles the avian phylogeny pretty thoroughly - Grrrrl and Greg have excellent summaries. As a part of the monthly topic being birds in June, there is an ongoing Journal Club on...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:24 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science News
Thursday night - time to check in to see what is new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases: The Exception That Proves the Rule: An Interview with Jenny Graves: Close to 20 years...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:20 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Science News
Huge Genome-scale Phylogenetic Study Of Birds Rewrites Evolutionary Tree-of-life: The largest ever study of bird genetics has not only shaken up but completely redrawn the avian evolutionary tree. The study challenges current classifications, alters our understanding of avian evolution, and...
Posted by Coturnix at 5:38 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
There was a time when a fool and his money were soon parted, but now it happens to everybody. - Adlai Ewing Stevenson...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:55 AM • 0 Comments •
June 25, 2008
Category: Clock Zoo
Believe it or not, this appears to have something to do with their circadian rhythms! Back in the 1960s and early 1970s, there was quite a lot of research published on the circadian rhythms in earthworms, mostly by Miriam Bennett....
Posted by Coturnix at 9:38 PM • 12 Comments •
Category: Blogging
ResearchBlogging.org is getting ready for a big upgrade, or so I hear. You can be a part of the process by helping shape up the new categories and subcategories - all you need to do is go to this blog...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:19 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science News
Extreme Weather Events Can Unleash A 'Perfect Storm' Of Infectious Diseases, Research Study Says: An international research team, including University of Minnesota researcher Craig Packer, has found the first clear example of how climate extremes, such as the increased...
Posted by Coturnix at 7:21 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Carnivals
The Tangled Bank #108 is up on Wheat-dogg's world Carnival of Feminists No 59 is up on Philobiblon The latest Grand Rounds are up on Shrink Rap The 177th Carnival of Education is up on Where's the Sun? The 130th...
Posted by Coturnix at 5:25 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
Youth is not the age of pleasure; we then expect too much, and we are therefore exposed to daily disappointments and mortifications. When we are a little older, and have brought down our wishes to our experience, then we become...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:52 AM • 0 Comments •
June 24, 2008
Category: PLoS
As part of the monthly focus on birds, there is a new Journal Club in PLoS ONE this week. Dr.Elizabeth Adkins Regan from Cornell and her postdoc Dr Joanna Rutkowska from Jagiellonian University have already posted their first comments on...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:46 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science News
There are 54 new articlespublished in PLoS ONE today. Here are my picks: Climate Extremes Promote Fatal Co-Infections during Canine Distemper Epidemics in African Lions: Extreme climatic conditions may alter historic host-pathogen relationships and synchronize the temporal and spatial convergence...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:35 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science News
Single Insecticide Application Can Kill Three Cockroach Generations: One dose of an insecticide can kill three generations of cockroaches as they feed off of each other and transfer the poison, according to Purdue University entomologists who tested the effectiveness...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:24 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Housekeeping
Ptak Science Books What is 'Life'? Susan's Zoo Sports are 80 Percent Mental... The Science of Sport Global Sensemaking...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:15 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
That family glaze of common references, jokes, events, calamities - that sense of a family being like a kitchen midden: layer upon layer of the things daily life is made of. The edifice that lovers build is by comparison delicate...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:51 AM • 0 Comments •
June 23, 2008
Category: Science News
It's Monday night - time for new articles in PLoS Biology and PLoS Medicine: On the Emergence and Awareness of Auditory Objects: Anyone who has walked into a crowded reverberant nightclub, with a hubbub of multiple conversations amidst blaring music,...
Posted by Coturnix at 7:24 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Science News
Britain's Last Neanderthals Were More Sophisticated Than We Thought: An archaeological excavation at a site near Pulborough, West Sussex, has thrown remarkable new light on the life of northern Europe's last Neanderthals. It provides a snapshot of a thriving, developing...
Posted by Coturnix at 7:03 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Fun
The long awaited game Spore is coming out soon. The Creature Creator is now available, but a bunch of us got it in advance (see PZ, Brian, erv, Chad, Brian....) and got to play a little bit. I can't wait...
Posted by Coturnix at 2:29 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Carnivals
Encephalon #48 is up on Neuroanthropology Carnival of the Green #133 is up on How Ethical!...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:12 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
There is a way in which the collective knowledge of mankind expresses itself, for the finite individual, through mere daily living... a way in which life itself is sheer knowing. - Laurens van der Post...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:55 AM • 0 Comments •
June 22, 2008
Category: Personal
I grew up listening to her songs. Back in the winter of 1984/1985 she decided to break her long leave away from the concert scene and did an European tour. Nervous about the come-back, how she'll perform, how she'll...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:02 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: Blogging
Mad Hatter suggests an Alternative Careers blog. I like the idea a lot! I've been spending some time on FriendFeed, especially in the Life Scientists room. Cameron explains how it works. Dave Winer (who brought us blogging software, RSS and...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:12 PM • 4 Comments •
Category: Education
This should be interesting to all of us, be it people who study capabilities of online education or people who study teen online behavior. It also appears to be a part of gradual shift from media scares about "online predators"...
Posted by Coturnix at 2:38 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
Laws are only words written on paper, words that change on society's whim and are interpreted differently daily by politicians, lawyers, judges, and policemen. Anyone who believes that all laws should always be obeyed would have made a fine slave...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:57 AM • 0 Comments •
June 21, 2008
Category: Carnivals
Are you writing your history-of-science posts yet? Let's make the inaugural edition of The Giants' Shoulders big and good!...
Posted by Coturnix at 6:51 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Housekeeping
Panthera studentessa Mistress of science Professor Chaos G.D. Gearino Parsnip Parsimony- A vegan baking and science blog MamaPhD Scientia matris Kate's Controversies Sweet Life in Seattle Just a girl ScientistMother: raising my own little experiment Grad Ovaries About: Biology Biotech...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:22 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Carnivals
Four Stone Hearth #43 is up on _Paddy K_ Friday Ark #196 is up on Modulator...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:18 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
In times when the government imprisons any unjustly, the true place for a just man is also the prison. - Henry David Thoreau...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:59 AM • 0 Comments •
June 20, 2008
Category: Science News
Birds Migrate Earlier, But Some May Be Left Behind As The Climate Warms Rapidly: Many birds are arriving earlier each spring as temperatures warm along the East Coast of the United States. However, the farther those birds journey, the...
Posted by Coturnix at 8:31 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science Practice
New issue of the Italian Journal of Science Communication is out with some excellent articles (some translated or abstracted from Italian, all in English): Cultural determinants in the perception of science: Those studying the public understanding of science and risk...
Posted by Coturnix at 8:02 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Politics
From ProPublica: Coming Sunday: A 60 Minutes and ProPublica Investigation: '60 Minutes' and ProPublica Investigation Finds the Government's $100 Million a Year Broadcasts to the Arab World are Woefully Mismanaged and Poorly Supervised Despite Complaints From Congress. In Their First...
Posted by Coturnix at 7:55 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Academia
Repairing research integrity: Misconduct jeopardizes the good name of any institution. Inevitably, the way in which research misconduct is policed and corrected reflects the integrity of the whole enterprise of science. The US National Academy of Sciences has asserted that...
Posted by Coturnix at 7:49 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Politics
You can get all the relevant information and link here: ACTION ALERT: Ask your Congressman about science today!: The November election will be a critical moment for U.S. science. It's important that voters know where their candidates stand on issues...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:50 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
Show me a guy who is afraid to look bad, and I'll show you a guy you can beat every time. - Lou Brock...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:55 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science News
It's Friday - and time for new articles in PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens and PLoS Genetics: An Evolutionarily Conserved Sexual Signature in the Primate Brain: The contribution of genetics versus environment to behavioral differences between the sexes is a...
Posted by Coturnix at 1:20 AM • 0 Comments •
June 19, 2008
Category: Open Science
As making historical papers OA is something I am very interested in, I am watching with great interest, as Jonathan Eisen attempts to make all of his father's scientific publications freely available. I think we will learn a lot from...
Posted by Coturnix at 6:46 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Personal
Yesterday was Mrs.Coturnix' birthday. Over the weeks I led her on various goose chases regarding what kind of present she was going to get. In the end she had no idea, could not even guess. So, this was quite a...
Posted by Coturnix at 5:33 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: A Picture Is Worth A Thousand Words
Five species of ferns, happily cohabitating in a single large flowerpot on my porch - I have four other species, but those appear to be happier when kept seperately, one in each pot:...
Posted by Coturnix at 5:18 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Science News
Great Apes Think Ahead: Conclusive Evidence Of Advanced Planning Capacities: Apes can plan for their future needs just as we humans can - by using self-control and imagining future events. Mathias and Helena Osvath's research, from Lunds University Cognitive Science...
Posted by Coturnix at 5:02 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Housekeeping
Microbiologist XX Gramstain Botswana Sceptic Random Thoughts from Bennett Kankuzi...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:27 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Carnivals
Carnival of Space #59 is up on Green Gabbro The 89th Skeptics Circle is up on Ionian Enchantment The 176th Carnival of Education is up on Pass the Torch Carnival of the Liberals #67 is up on Situation Awareness...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:22 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
It takes a lot of time to be a genius. You have to sit around so much doing nothing, really doing nothing. - Gertrude Stein...
Posted by Coturnix at 4:05 AM • 2 Comments •
June 18, 2008
Category: Personal
Well, I cannot afford to go to Netroots Nation, I cannot fit NEW COMMUNICATION CHANNELS FOR BIOLOGY into my calendar, I do not have money for Science Blogging 2008: London, did not get an invitation to SciFoo 2008 and am...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:06 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Academia
If anyone is interested, Thompson has just released the new Impact Factors for scientific journals. Mark Patterson takes a look at IFs for PLoS journals and puts them in cool-headed perspective. One day, hopefully very soon, this will not be...
Posted by Coturnix at 2:21 PM • 6 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
Sometimes you just have to take the leap and build your wings on the way down. - Kobi Yamada...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:51 AM • 1 Comments •
June 17, 2008
Category: Media
I know this call was kinda last minute, but I hope some of you have called in. And if you did, you may have heard yourself on the radio - the audio clips of your reviews are now uploaded here....
Posted by Coturnix at 10:27 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Science News
First Successful Reverse Vasectomy On Endangered Species Performed At The National Zoo: Veterinarians at the Smithsonian's National Zoo performed the first successful reverse vasectomy on a Przewalski's horse (E. ferus przewalskii; E. caballus przewalskii--classification debated), pronounced zshah-VAL-skeez. Przewalksi's horses are...
Posted by Coturnix at 10:24 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Media
Follow up on this story (re-check the links within for background): Jeff Jarvis: AP, hole, dig Patrick Nielsen Hayden: The Associated Press wants to charge you $12.50 to quote five words from them Cory Doctorow: Associated Press expects you to...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:55 PM • 9 Comments •
Category: Science News
There are 61 cool new papers in PLoS ONE this week - take a look at these for starters: Risk and Ethical Concerns of Hunting Male Elephant: Behavioural and Physiological Assays of the Remaining Elephants: Hunting of male African elephants...
Posted by Coturnix at 6:51 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Carnivals
Cabinet of Curiosities #8 is up on Walking the Berkshires Grand Rounds Vol. 4 No. 39 are up on Marianas Eye Blog Carnival of the Green #125 is up on The Conservation Report The Seventy First Philosophers' Karneval is up...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:52 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Housekeeping
My Chemical Journey Discount thoughts Optical Futures Brain Blogger Chance and Necessity SciLink Blog...
Posted by Coturnix at 11:44 AM • 0 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
The beauty of "spacing" children many years apart lies in the fact that parents have time to learn the mistakes that were made with the older ones - which permits them to make exactly the opposite mistakes with the younger...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:59 AM • 0 Comments •
June 16, 2008
Category: Science News
Humor Shown To Be Fundamental To Our Success As A Species: First universal theory of humour answers how and why we find things funny. Published June 12, The Pattern Recognition Theory of Humour by Alastair Clarke answers the centuries old...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:50 PM • 5 Comments •
Category: Basic Biology
A dozen or so years ago, I drove my Biochemistry prof to tears with questions - she had 200 people in front of her and she tried hard to make Biochem interesting enough not to get us all bored to...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:10 PM • 1 Comments •
Category: Academia
A number of my SciBlings (and their commenters) try to explain: Janet Chad Martin PhysioProf DrugMonkey Brian Switek Alice Jeremy Bruno Grrrrrl...
Posted by Coturnix at 2:13 PM • 2 Comments •
Category: Carnivals
In the wake of great success of the Classic Science Papers Challenge, gg of Skulls in the Stars and I have decided to turn this into a regular monthly blog carnival. Thus, gg has set up a carnival homepage and...
Posted by Coturnix at 12:46 PM • 8 Comments •
Category: Clock Quotes
It is the neglect of timely repair that makes rebuilding necessary. - Richard Whately...
Posted by Coturnix at 3:58 AM • 0 Comments •
June 15, 2008
Category: Housekeeping
Mystery of Mysteries SAGACITY HARBOR Psychescientia Room 26 Cabinet of Curiosities A Man With A Ph.D....
Posted by Coturnix at 9:49 PM • 0 Comments •
Category: Blogging
It's always interesting to hear what Eszter has to say about academics and blogging. She is right that the environment has changed and that more and more people know what blogs are and appreciate them (not everyone, though, but those...
Posted by Coturnix at 9:41 PM • 2 Comments •