Archives for March 6, 2008
Blogospherics – Recommended reads
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 Punishing slackers and do-gooders in Not Exactly Rocket Science Humans have an extraordinary capacity for selflessness. We often help complete strangers who are unrelated to us, who we may never meet again and who are unlikely to be able to return the favour. More and more, we are being asked to behave in selfless ways…
How Old is the Grand Canyon?
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 I want to refer you two two items, one older piece by me and another very new, fresh out of the box piece by Carl Zimmer. Not that I’m trying to compare Zimmer and me. But the two posts are somewhat complementary, yet very much on the same page. How to Date the Grand Canyon:…
Help a guy out
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 Do you know the blog “Dinosaurs and the Bible: A Creationists Fairy Tale? This blog belongs to the very first person in the world, a die-hard dinosaur fanatic, to actively raised awareness of the outright, outrageous, stupid lies about dinosaurs made up and imposed upon by a radical Christian sect who falsely believes that the…
Science Is Self Correcting: Nobel Winner Retracts Paper on Smell
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 A team of scientists including Linda B. Buck, who shared the 2004 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, has retracted a scientific paper after the scientists could not reproduce their original findings. …
Carnival Of Education
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 The Carnival Of Education: Week 161 is at The Education Wonks.
Minnesota Candidate Debate: Minnesota 3rd Congressional District
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 Update On Lazarus Species
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 As wolves wander into Massachusetts, we now have a report of the elusive Wolverine being spotted on a research camera in the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Camera Spots Wolverine in Sierra Nevada from PhysOrg.com (AP) — A research project aimed at weasels has turned up a bigger prize: a picture of a wolverine, an elusive animal…
Home schooling restricted by court in California
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 May any parent legally homeschool children in California? Last week, a state appellate court said no. A unanimous three-judge panel ruled that California law lays down specific circumstances under which homeschooling is permitted, and not all parents meet the requirements. [source]
Prozac and Placebos
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 Late last month, I put up a quick post, New-generation antidepressants do not produce clinically significant improvements in depression, that addressed a PLoS published metastudy of interest. I was careful to use the phrasing from the paper as the title of my post, and to provide only the author’s summary, because I knew this was…
Las Vegas Clinic was Typhoid Maryesque
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 A public service announcement for those of you living in or passing through Nevada: Vegas Clinic May Have Sickened Thousands from PhysOrg.com (AP) — Nearly 40,000 people learned this week that a trip to the doctor may have made them sick. In a type of scandal more often associated with Third World countries, a Las…
See Jane Compute
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 Jane is an assistant professor in a computing field, and a new mother. Join her as she navigates the tenure track, deals with gender issues, figures out how to be a parent, and tries to have some semblance of a life. Here!
Colonization of the New World
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 There is a fairly new paper in PLoS on the colonization of the New World. It is the latest in a series of attempts to synthesize biogeography, climate change related paleoenvironmental reconstruction, genetics, and archaeology.
Tangled Bank
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 Tangled Bank #99, Bad Flew Edition is Here at Archaeoporn
Major shift in Democratic race
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 This just in via my Newsmax.com newsletter: WASHINGTON — Officials in Michigan and Florida are showing renewed interest in holding repeat presidential nominating contests so that their votes will count. The governors of both states are now saying they would consider holding a sort of do-over contest by June. So are top officials in Hillary…
Why the Hobbits of Flores Were Probably Not Broken People
Posted by Greg Laden on March 6, 2008 There is a new paper out suggesting that the Flores hominids, known as Hobbits, were “human endemic cretins.” From the abstract of this paper: … We hypothesize that these individuals are myxoedematous endemic (ME) cretins, part of an inland population of (mostly unaffected) Homo sapiens. ME cretins are born without a functioning thyroid; their congenital…
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