Seed Media Group

Search this blog

Profile

me.jpg

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

I Support the Public Library of Science

Buy the 2007 Science Blogging Anthology:

The Open Laboratory

Buy the 2006 Science Blogging Anthology:

The Open Laboratory

Recent Posts

Recent Comments

Archives

Blogroll

Subscribe via Email

Stay abreast of your favorite bloggers' latest and greatest via e-mail, via a daily digest.

Sign me up!

My Old Stuff

Read the archives of my old blogs:

Science And Politics

Circadiana

The Magic School Bus

Make Me Happy

Add this blog to my Technorati Favorites!

Add Scienceblogs to your Technorati Favorites!

Make Me Solvent

Amazon Honor System Click Here to Pay Learn More

A Blog Around The Clock swag store

Resources

Dictionary of Circadian Physiology

Basic Terms and Concepts in Math and Science

TalkOrigins

Find Science Blogs

I Support

Project Exploration

Project Exploration

Science Blogging Conference 08

Science Blogging Conference 07

Bloggie Stuff

Food:

For the Triangle locavores

A special issue of The Independent on local food scene: The road to real food Farm to table challenges Farmers' helpers One missing link: organic grains...

EuroTrip '08 - Berlin, lunch at the Institute

After a lovely flight, Catriona met me at the airport. We went to the Institute where I checked in my room, set up my wifi, then went down to meet the people and have lunch: various cold cuts, true Coca...

Fried Smelt

This morning I had to get up early to go and give my interview for Radio Belgrade 1, at the same time when my Radio Belgrade 2 interview was on. This one will be broadcast in ten days or so....

EuroTrip '08 - Belgrade, Easter lunch

Today is Orthodox Easter. Most everyone here will have lamb for lunch today. We did something different.... First, for breakfast I had snenokle (here is a recipe from a delightful Balkans food blog Palachinka) and I ground some chocolate on...

EuroTrip '08 - Belgrade, beef soup

Beef soup with cream, eggs and lemon - today's lunch:...

EuroTrip '08 - Belgrade, palacinke

Last night's dinner - crepes filled with a mix of cheese, eggs and sugar, baked in the oven with some sweet cream:...

EuroTrip '08 - Belgrade, fish soup

I was kicking myself all day yesterday because I forgot to take my camera with me for most of the day. First, my mother and I went to the bank to do some business which, of course, made us hungry...

EuroTrip '08 - Belgrade, more food....

Food is probably the most nostalgia-inducing facet of life.......

Food and Guilt - questions about some extraordinary claims

There is a lot of stuff one hears about food, sustainability, environment, etc., and it is sometimes hard to figure out what is true and what is not, what is based on science and what is emotion-based mythology. For instance,...

Food and Guilt

...from different points of view: Anne-Marie: Culinary revelation Mark Powell: Saving the ocean with guilt or desire? and Does the sustainable seafood movement rely on guilt? (blogfish poll) Miriam Goldstein: Guilty as charged Amanda Marcotte: Save your soul with recycling...

Open Access Beer!

What is the difference between Free Access Beer and Open Access Beer? You go to a bar to get your Free Access Beer. You sit down. You show your ID. The barista gives you a bottle. You don't need to...

The Science of Baking

From SCONC: Following the smashing success of their previous programs on "The Science of Beer" and "the Science of Chocolate," the Duke Chapter of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, will present "The Science of Baking" On Thursday, January 31,...

My Stuffed Cabbage recipe has competition!

The 176th Carnival of the Recipes is up on The Common Room and guess what? My recipe for Stuffed Cabbage is not the only one! There is another recipe for it there so you can compare and contrast!...

How to Fix an Authentic Serbian* Sarma (Stuffed Cabbage)

Sorry to keep you all waiting so long, as there was other work to do, but here is the method for producing the most authentic sarma. As some steps may be too difficult, I will be adding tips and tricks...

Sarma

Yup, I had sarma for dinner tonight. It's been a while since the last time I had some, but Mrs.Coturnix fixed it today, inventing her own recipe along the way. It was delicious!...

OK, I like bacon, but...

...this much? This is the source of the very funny bacon flowchart, discovered by Dr.Bacon....

Science Debate 2008 - my Question #5: Food

To keep the conversation about the Science Debate 2008 going, I decided to post, one per day, my ideas for potential questions to be asked at such a debate. The questions are far too long, though, consisting more of my...

Now this is a serious crisis!

Workers in the Ivory Coast, producer of about 40% of world cocoa, are on strike! As chocolate is the Fifth Food Group, this may lead to global malnutrition of cataclismic proportions (how big are your hidden stashes?)...

Good wine

Last Wednesday I went to Wine Authorities, the new wine store in Durham, for our monthly Durham Blogger Meetup. Afterwards, I could not help it but go home with three new bottles of wine. The best is the one I...

Food Bill in the Senate this week!

Michael Pollan has the goods: However many worthwhile programs get tacked onto the farm bill to buy off its critics, they won't bring meaningful reform to the American food system until the subsidies are addressed -- until the underlying rules...

Michael Pollan's new book

Nice interview in Grist magazine: The new book is called In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto. It's a book that really grew out of questions I heard from readers after Omnivore's Dilemma, which was basically so how do you...

Meet Fred Gould (sans mosquitoes) over pizza

Another thing I will also have to miss - the Inaugural Event of the 2007-2008 Pizza Lunch Season of the Science Communicators of North Carolina (SCONC), on October 24th at Sigma Xi Center (the same place where we'll have the...

Foodblogging - the Dinner last night

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...

Foodblogging and the post-foodblogging science-blogging dinner

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...

Eat, eat, eat and live to blog about it!

Before we focus on science, and while the weather is still nice, we (and by "we" I mean "bloggers in the Triangle area of North Carolina") will have some other kind of bloggy fun, the one that involves taste buds!...

Michael Pollan - food news

Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma got out in paperback today, so if you have not read it yet, now is the time. Also, in his mailing-list letter, Pollan announces that he has "...just completed a new book, a short...

A Repeat Treat

I started my stay in San Francisco with a dinner at Incanto and ended it tonight with a dinner at Incanto again. Last time, the duck fries were not on the menu, but this time I had better luck. Delicious!...

Gambling away the Farm

A good WaPo article: Pelosi takes heat for OK of farm bill Ken Cook explains it very clearly: The Pelosi Farm Bill: A Corn Subsidy Windfall...

Culinary Harry Potter

Get yourself some Harry Potter recipes so you have something to eat while reading The Book over the weekend....

Farm Bill

Michael Pollan will be on On Point on NPR, talking about the farm bill tomorrow (Monday) morning at 10am EST. This is in advance of some important votes in the House next week....

Old, Hot and Pretty!

New Habanero Blasts Taste Buds -- And Pepper Pests: The super-hot, bright orange TigerPaw-NR habanero pepper offers extreme pungency for pepper aficionados, plus nematode resistance that will make it a hit with growers and home gardeners. Plant geneticist Richard L....

Exclusive: Interview with Senator John Edwards on Science-Related Topics

I had a great pleasure recently to be able to interview Senator - and now Democratic Presidential candidate - John Edwards for my blog. The interview was conducted by e-mail last week. As I am at work and unable to...

Duck testicles, beef tongues and rabbit stew - here I come!

While in San Francisco, I'd like to eat at Incanto (look around the site for their menu and progressive food and water policies, and they also have a blog). It is at 1550 Church Street, on the southwest corner of...

Some very old beer...

Via Snarkmarket, I found this (probably incomplete) Wikipedia list of the oldest companies in the world that are still operating today under the same name. The oldest one, a construction company in Japan called Kongō Gumi, just went belly-up after...

Michael Pollan on the Farm Bill

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...

Wine

Earlier this afternoon, my wife and I went to the Weaver Street Market in Southern Village (which also has a blog) for some wine tasting. You can see the wine list here (pdf). As the first rule of blogging is...

The Third Brain Should Have Its Own Clock

I have written about the relationship between circadian clocks and food numerous times (e.g., here, here and here). Feeding times affect the clock. Clock is related to hunger and obesity. Many intestinal peptides affect the clock as well. There is...

FoodBlogging 2007

We are starting this summer's Foodblogging series of events early - on April 21st & 22nd. We'll start where it all begins - at the farm! We will rent a couple of vans and do a tour of local farms,...

I Knew It Was Turtles All The Way Down....

And there's many, many more here. Do not look on empty stomach. I was just about to eat an eclair, but now I think I'll wait a little.... (Via)...

Yummy!

Liveblogging a chocolate tasting......

Recipes Wanted!

My daughter, as part of her school assignment on Vasco Da Gama, bought a bunch of stuff that Vasco brought to Europe from Asia. Now I have all those foodstuffs and do not know what to do with them. Cucumber...

Just smelling food will make you live shorter - if you are a fruitfly

Just quickly for now without commentary: Totally cool paper in the last Science: S. Libert, J. Zwiener, X. Chu, W. VanVoorhies, G. Roman, and S.D.Pletcher Regulation of Drosophila lifespan by olfaction and food-derived odors: Smell is an ancient sensory system...

You think we are sick and tired of conference organizing?

Think again! Not just that we have already started planning for the NEXT year's Science Blogging Conference, but Anton is taking the lead in organizing another one this summer. And if all you liked at the SBC was dinner (and...

Responsible consumption of shrimp

I love seafood, but I eat it quite rarely. About a third of my old Department did fisheries and aquaculture science so I've seen many seminars and Thesis defenses on the topic and am quite aware of the problems with...

Fish Eyes

Lots of food blogging around here lately, so why not re-post this one (from October 27, 2005):...

I hope they come in chocolate glazed version

Perhaps it's time for me to get serious about eating doughnuts! (Hat tip: Greg)...

Pollan Alert

In this Sunday's NY Times Magazine (not available online yet), Michael Pollan will have the cover story: "The Age of Nutritionism: How Scientists have Ruined the Way We Eat." Looking forward to reading (and perhaps blogging) it. Update: You can...

Organic Farming against Global Warming

Every farm that converts from conventional to organic farming is the equivalent to taking 117 cars off the road...

Cloning Domesticated Animals: Pros and Cons

Food From Cloned Animals Safe? FDA Says Yes, But Asks Suppliers To Hold Off For Now: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued three documents on the safety of animal cloning -- a draft risk assessment; a proposed...

Hanukah meme

Somehow I feel that I've been tagged by Janet for this meme, because it is public that we celebrate Hannukkah. But we really make it low-key, family-only, and have only been doing it for about a dozen years so far....

Ah, why do I like chicken so much?!

The supply in the USA is apparently not very safe....

Books: Michael Pollan - The Omnivore's Dilemma

Amanda just reviewed Michael Pollan's book The Omnivore's Dilemma and also recently wrote a post on the same topic while under the influence of the book. I agree with her 100%, so go and read both posts. I have read...

Does Tryptophan from turkey meat make you sleepy?

Does eating turkey meat make you sleepy? Some people say Yes, some people say No, and the debate can escalate into a big fight.

Wine is Good For You

Shelley has already explained the recent study about the life-span increasing properties of Resveratrol, a compound found in wine. Article in NYT tries to make a quick calculation (apparently erroneous) as of how much wine a person would have to...

Is Ramadan good for your health?

This week's Ask a ScienceBlogger question is: A reader asks: Is severely regulating your diet for a month each year, as Muslims do during Ramadan, good for you? There is no way I can get out of this one! As...

What's wrong with spinach?

Good article by Michael Pollan in today's NYT Magazine: The Vegetable-Industrial Complex...

Everything you wanted to know about starch...

..but were too afraid to ask. Or, why do I, unlike some people, like stale cookies....

Interview with Michael Pollan

We are what we eat: corn and petroleum Interview by David Auerbach in this week's Independent Weekly....

Dinner

Tonight, I felt I needed to regress into my childhood so I fixed myself something I haven't eaten since I was a little kid - chocolate cream-o-wheat! Here is the recipe for half the quantity I used to eat as...

What kind of meal should we serve him when he comes?

Michael Pollan, author of "Omnivore's Dilemma" and other good, thought-provoking books, will be on a speaking tour this Fall. Click on the link for details of your place. He will be in my neck of the woods in October: October...

Hot Peppers, again.

Amanda, a fellow hot-pepper-lover, reminds me that I have not finished my Hot Pepper series. It is supposed to be a THREE-part series, but I only wrote two parts so far, the introductory (personal) post and answering the question why...

Do You Know What You Eat?

Eric Schlosser, Marion Nestle, Michael Pollan, Wendell Berry, Troy Duster, Elizabeth Ransom, Winona LaDuke, Peter Singer, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Carlo Petrini, Eliot Coleman & Jim Hightower recently participated in a Nation forum: One Thing to Do About Food. Here are...

Gone Organic!

Now you know where I was last night instead of blogging. Local North Carolina wine and local North Carolina cheeses and local handpicked blueberries and local grass-grown beef and local organic potatoes, tomatoes and squash....and discussing "Omnivore's Dilemma" with the...

Mokie-Koke

When I saw this article in SEED Maagazine, I had only one thought - Mokie-Koke!

Hot Peppers - Why Are They Hot?

Some plants do not want to get eaten. They may grow in places difficult to approach, they may look unappetizing, or they may evolve vile smells. Some have a fuzzy, hairy or sticky surface, others evolve thorns. Animals need to...

Hot Peppers

I had lunch with Anton yesterday. We talked about the upcoming busy blogging Fall and he showed me his new book. We ate in my neck of the woods, at Town Hall Grill in Southern Village in Chapel Hill. Anton...

You are what you eat

This is pretty common knowledge, but it's nice to see it supported by data: In `food deserts' of city, healthy eating a mirage: For African-Americans who live in "food deserts" on Chicago's South and West Sides, where fast-food restaurants are...

Search All Blogs

Blogs in the Network