Archives for January, 2008
A little undersea interlude to go with your morning coffee
Posted by Greg Laden on January 26, 2008 Nudibranch …
War on Science – intelligent design – Part 1
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 “This is the story of a battle between faith and knowledge…” The first in a series from the BBC
Did Humans or Climate Change Cause the Extinctions of Pleistocene Eurasian Megafauna?
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 Did humans wipe out the Pleistocene megafauna? This is a question that can be asked separately for each area of the world colonized by Homo sapiens. It is also a question that engenders sometimes heated debate. A new paper coming out in the Journal of Human Evolution concludes that many Pleistocene megafauna managed to…
A diversity of science news items
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 China Spacewalk; India bird flu outbreak spreading; Pollution and diabetes linked?; Cryptosporidium; Controversial theory of Alzheimer’s
Pig Converges on Hagfish
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 Speaking of Hagfish, check out this pig:
Antievolution resolutions spreading through northern Florida
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 From the NCSE newsroom: At least nine county school boards in northern Florida have adopted resolutions calling for the state board of education “to revise the new Sunshine State Standards for Science such that evolution is not presented as fact, but as one of several theories,” according to a January 23, 2008, report from Florida…
Robert Full: Secrets of movement, from geckos and roaches
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 UC Berkeley biologist Robert Full shares his fascination with spiny cockroach legs that allow them to scuttle at full speed across loose mesh and gecko feet that have billions of nano-bristles to run straight up walls. His talk, complete with wonderful slow-mo video of cockroach, crab and gecko gaits, explains his goal of creating the…
As Race Moves to South Race Becomes Main Issue
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 You can say whatever you think, or believe, or want to think or believe, about the importance of Clinton’s whiteness, Obama’s blackness. and Edward’s southern whiteness. As the primaries move south of the Mason Dixon line, race has become the only issue of importance.
Today’s Linux Calendar Output
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 Jan 25 Robert Burns born, 1759 Jan 25 Virginia Woolf born, 1882 Jan 25 W. Somerset Maugham born, 1874 Jan 25 Conversion of St Paul Jan 25 First U.S. meeting of ALGOL definition committee, 1958 Jan 25 Passing of Gandalf Jan 25* Parashat Yitro Jan 25 Bob Dylan plays the second “Hurricane” benefit, in the…
Frank Gehry: Nice building. Then what?
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 Frank Gehry wanted to be a scientist when he grew up. But after blowing up a part of his house, at age 14, he decided against it. He’s gone on to create some mindblowing buildings, including the Guggenheim at Bilbao and LA’s Walt Disney Concert Hall. This wildly entertaining conversation with Richard Saul Wurman (then…
Chimpanzee Food Sharing: Sharing Ideas
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 Remember this post on chimpanzee food sharing? Over a PLoS, where the original paper is published, you can get involved in a discussion of the paper. I posted something over there in response to someone else’ Go have a look, here. Access to the discussion is on the right side bar.
YA New Scienceblogs.com Scibling
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 DrugMonkey (one word) is a new Sb Blog. DrugMonkey is an NIH-funded biomedical research scientist. PhysioProf is an NIH-funded basic science faculty member at a private medical school. Go see DrugMonkey here. !!!
I’ve been practicing Wii Bowling
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 … and I’ve finally got it down. Have a look:
Hagfish: Aphrodisiac of the deep
Posted by Greg Laden on January 25, 2008 The Hagfish, or Slime Eel, is said to be an aphrodisiac. Hard evidence that hagfish can enhance sexual prowess is lacking, but this fish can get evolutionary biologists very hot.
Look Around You – 8 – Brain
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 Avian Cholera Kills Thousands of Birds
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 Pasteurella multocida is a bacterium often called Avian cholera (though it is a different organims than the disease that affects humans). It is estimated that about 15,000 birds have died over the last few weeks in the Great Salt Lake, in Utah. A similar epidemic occurred in 1994, killing 10,000 birds. There are writeups here…
James Nachtwey: TED Prize wish: Share a vital story with the world
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 Accepting his 2007 TED Prize, photojournalist James Nachtwey talks about his decades as a war photographer. A slideshow of his photos, beginning in 1981 in Northern Ireland, reveal two parallel themes in his work. First, as he says: “The frontlines of contemporary wars are right where people live.” Street violence, famine, disease: he has photographed…
Blogospherics – Recommended reads
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 More On the Origins of Syphilis, here at PLoS… these are links to the numerous blog posts on the recently published paper on this topic. The new arena for the religious debate at Pharyngula It’s safe, it’s harmless, it’s a good way to vent: Faith Fighter! Pick your favorite deity and pound the space bar…
Hopeful Monsters and Hopeful Models
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 A hopeful monster is a mutant born with a genetically determined and large novel trait (compared to its parents) which confers enhanced fitness on that individual. This enhanced fitness increases the likelihood that the new mutant gene that determines this trait will be passed on and spread throughout the evolving population, so in a single…
Welcome to the newest SciBling
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 Kate Seip from The Anterior Commissure joins Pure Pedantry. Have a look.
I and the Bird …
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 … #67: Let’s all go on a birding holiday is here.
The Carnival of Education…
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 … is here.
New Study of Antarctic Ice Loss
Posted by Greg Laden on January 24, 2008 The amount of ice lost to the sea from Antarctica has increased by 75 percent in the last 10 years. This is the result of an increase in glacial flow. It had previously been thought, and perhas was the case, that Greenland ice loss outpaced the Antarctica. This is no longer the case.
Look Around You – 0 – Calcium (1/2)
Posted by Greg Laden on January 23, 2008 Steven Pinker: A brief history of violence
Posted by Greg Laden on January 23, 2008 In a preview of his next book, Steven Pinker takes on violence. We live in violent times, an era of heightened warfare, genocide and senseless crime. Or so we’ve come to believe. Pinker charts a history of violence from Biblical times through the present, and says modern society has a little less to feel guilty…
New Hominid Skull in China
Posted by Greg Laden on January 23, 2008 So far no reliable reports seem to be available of a new and potentially interesting, but not necessarily earth-shattering, find in China.
Blogospherics – Recommended reads
Posted by Greg Laden on January 23, 2008 Texas Has An Undue Influence on Textbooks I have heard that what gets published for Texas schools affects that which gets published for schools around the nation. And considering that Texas politics and school board make up is being swallowed by creationism (fight back, y’all,) well that just isn’t a right thing. Look at what…
Science News Tidbits
Posted by Greg Laden on January 23, 2008 Cranberries for Urinary Infections; Promising Malaria Vaccine; Space Boomerang; Leptin Evolution; Will Global Warming Reduce US Hurricane Landfalls?; 15 Whales Die in New Zealand
Can science blogging save scientific communication?
Posted by Greg Laden on January 23, 2008 This was one of many questions debated at the Second Annual Scientific Blogging Conference in North Carolina this weekend which I attended together with over 200 other folks who work in scientific communication. When I told my friends I was going to North Carolina this weekend to attend a blogging conference they either said, “cool…
, which is now available for the 
