A Blog Around The Clock

About

Bora Zivkovic, better known online as 'Coturnix', writes on "A Blog Around The Clock" which is a fusion of his three old blogs: Science And Politics (a mix of science, politics, personal, blogging-about-blogging and miscellaneous stuff), Circadiana (chronobiology and medicine of sleep), and The Magic School Bus (academia and science education).

Bora was born in Belrgrade, in (what used to be) Yugoslavia, where he trained horses, got his black belt in karate, and studied veterinary medicine. In 1991, just one week before the (first of many) wars broke out in the region, Bora emigrated to the USA. He got a MS degree in the Department of Zoology at North Carolina State University studying the physiology of circadian and photoperiodic timing in Japanese quail (Coturnix japonica, hence the online handle), while taking a number of graduate classes in history and philosophy of biology as well. In the same year - 1998. - he became a US citizen. He is heavily procrastinating finishing his PhD thesis in the same lab, on molecular, neuroendocrine, behavioral and evolutionary aspects of circadian clocks in these birds.

Since arriving in the USA, Bora has been living somewhere in North Carolina, first in Hendersonville for a couple of months, then in Raleigh for 11 years, then in Cary for 9 months, and finally in Chapel Hill for the past three years. He has met Catharine, his wife-to-be and an NC native, on his first day in Raleigh. They have two children: son David (13) and daughter Ruth (9). They also have a dog, two cats and a five tetras. Bora teaches introductory biology to adults at a local community college, while his wife, after almost getting a degree in philosophy, decided to become an ICU nurse instead. They are avid readers and book collectors.

Like many other Americans, Bora started blogging during the Democratic primaries, starting in August of 2003 on John Edwards' campaign blog, later on Kerry-Edwards forums and JREgrassroots.org, until finally deciding to strike on his own by starting "Science And Politics" in August of 2004.

"A Blog Around The Clock" is in many ways a continuation of all three of his old blogs. It will contain posts about higher education and science education, as well as his lecture and lab notes - the kind of stuff he used to post on "The Magic School Bus".

Like he did on "Circadiana" he will continue writing about many aspects of chronobiology: circadian and other rhythms and clocks, as well as biology and medicine of sleep. The posts range from introductory, almost textbook-like posts explaining the basics of the discipline, through reviews of literature on particular lines of research or on clocks in particular groups of organisms, all the way to critiquing the newest research and criticizing the way it is presented in news media.

Like he did on "Science And Politics", Bora will continue to write about anything and everything that strikes his fancy on any given day, often cycling through "phases" of interest. For instance, he may spend a few days writing a lot about current politics, or perhaps about the psychological underpinnings of ideology and religion, or how it all ties to sex. The following week, he may churn out a string of posts about recent studies in animal physiology, behavior and evolution. After that, he may muse about blogging and how it changes the way science is communicated, followed by intense local North Carolina blogging, or blogging about horses, or about the Balkans, or he may get all sentimental and say something about his personal history. Not to mention that some posts may combine two or more interests together - how about a post containing personal recollections about the politics surrounding equine science in 1980s Serbia in comparison to the same in today's North Carolina (yet to be written, but why not)?

The title of the blog is a word-play, reminding readers that Bora blogs about (biological) clocks, that he blogs around the clock (i.e., several posts per day), and that he's of the Beatles generation, having fun as if it was still the 60's.

The blog is very difficult to categorize as it is so ecclectic. While there is almost nothing there about physical or Earth sciences, and very little about medicine, the blog regularly covers many areas of biology including neurobiology of behavior within ecological and evolutionary contexts, science education, higher education and science communication, as well as intersection between science and politics - this not so much about science policy, but rather what science can tell us about the way people acquire their political ideology and why they vote the way they do. There is relatively rarely something written directly about religion or the evolution-creationism debate, though that appears on occasion as well.

Banner Art

The banner was designed by nature artist Carel Pieter Brest Van Kempen