Archives for May, 2008
Science News
Posted by Greg Laden on May 19, 2008 Quirky Pulsar System Challenges Theories of Binary Formation; Observing Stem Cells at Work; Large scale carbon sequestration
Conservatives: What you really really want is to make the gay people get married. Now.
Posted by Greg Laden on May 19, 2008 A guest editorial post on gay marriage by Jimmy James Bettencourt. Portia de Rossi and Ellen DeGeneres are to be married in California. This will ensure the protection of their children and their creditors. I do not understand why gay marriage is not a conservative issue. Gay people have been getting away with all kinds…
Impacts of anthropogenic climate change many, varied
Posted by Greg Laden on May 18, 2008 Impacts from warming are evident in satellite images showing that lakes in Siberia disappearing as the permafrost thaws and lake water drains deeper into the ground. Credit: NASA Earth Observatory A new study led by NASA links anthropogenic climate change to a wide range of effects. The study involved scientists from about a dozen institutions…
Blue Whale Excavation
Posted by Greg Laden on May 18, 2008 How big is a blue whale? A blue whale is so big that a person can swim through it’s largest blood vessels. A blue whale is so big that there are cars smaller than its heart. The blue whale is the largest animal on earth, now or ever, as far as we know. Its tongue…
Holy Crap…
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2008 Every now and then there is a moment … I see something, hear something, learn something … that makes me want to jump to my feet (if I’m not already standing) and shout “To the blog mobile!” Well, I don’t actually have a blog mobile. So when that happens, I just run into the basement.
Joshua Klein: The amazing intelligence of crows
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2008 Hacker and writer Joshua Klein is fascinated by crows. (Notice the gleam of intelligence in their little black eyes?) After a long amateur study of corvid behavior, he’s come up with an elegant machine that may form a new bond between animal (repost)
Submit!
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2008 Next Week’s Four Stone Hearth will be hosted at Remote Central. Please have a look here to find out about submitting stuff. This is the most diverse of all of the blog carnival that I know. So you probably have something. So send it in, OK?????
Paul Stamets: 6 ways mushrooms can save the world
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2008 Mycologist Paul Stamets studies the mycelium — and lists 6 ways that this astonishing fungus can help save the world. …Paul Stamets believes that mushrooms can save our lives, restore our ecosystems and transform other worlds
Hillary! Now that he’s on top, you ought to stop, girl.
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2008 We know, deep down, you are an Obama Girl, Hilary.
Americans: Superior because of our DNA (Sorry, everyone else, but it is what it is…)
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2008 … or at least, according to the Discovery Institutes’s own Michael Medved. The idea of a distinctive, unifying, risk-taking American DNA might also help to explain our most persistent and painful racial divide – between the progeny of every immigrant nationality that chose to come here [the source of the distinctive american DNA signal], and…
The Phalarope: Not just another polyandrous bird…
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2008 MIT researchers found that phalaropes depend on a surface interaction known as contact angle hysteresis to propel drops of water containing prey upward to their throats. Photo by Robert Lewis The Phalarope starts out as an interesting bird because of its “reversed” sex-role mating behavior. For at least some species of Phalarope, females dominate males,…
Sunday Morning Radio
Posted by Greg Laden on May 17, 2008 Minnesota Atheists’ “Atheists Talk” radio show Sunday, May 18, 2008, 9-10 a.m. Central Time The first half hour will feature a discussion of “Genetics and Ethics” with Bonnie LeRoy, director, Graduate Program in Genetic Counseling, Institute of Human Genetics, University of Minnesota. The second half hour will feature a discussion of “Camp Quest of Minnesota”…
I’m So Sorry Bill O’Reilly
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 I only gave half the story in my recent post about how you are a big fat baby. Here’s the rest of the story…
Say no more …
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 Kevin James. Career. Over.
Earliest Known Abalone Discovered
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 May 18, 2008 — A tiny abalone specimen 5.9 mm in length and approximately 78 million years old (putting it in the middle Campanian Stage of the Late Cretaceous) has been documented from rocks in the Garapito Creek area of Topanga Canyon, Los Angeles County by Lindsey T. Groves and John M. Alderson of the…
Carnival
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 The Carnival of Cinema: Episode 74 – The Creature from the Blog Lagoon … is now up at Good News Film Reviews
Alisa Miller: Why we know less than ever about the world
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 Alisa Miller, head of Public Radio International, talks about why — though we want to know more about the world than ever — the US media is actually showing less. Eye-opening stats and graphs.
It’s over! (Again. Maybe)
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 Have you noticed? Did you hear the other shoe drop? (very very quietly, yes, but I’m sure I heard it…)
Bill O’Reilly is a Big Cry Baby
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 Do not play this if innocent ears (like children and such) are near. …
This photograph needs a caption
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 Any suggestions? (I’ll tell you what it is of later…) [More Captions Needed]
Brian Cox: What really goes on at the Large Hadron Collider
Posted by Greg Laden on May 16, 2008 “Rock star physicist” Brian Cox talks about his work on the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. Discussing the biggest of big science in an engaging, accessible way, Cox brings us along on a tour of the massive project. … Physicist Brian Cox has two jobs: working with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN, and explaining…
Mark Bittman: What’s wrong with what we eat
Posted by Greg Laden on May 15, 2008 In this fiery and funny talk, New York Times food writer Mark Bittman weighs in on what’s wrong with the way we eat now (too much meat, too few plants; too much fast food, too little home cooking), and why it’s putting the entire planet at risk.
Carnival
Posted by Greg Laden on May 15, 2008 Welcome to I and the Bird #75! is HERE. Also, check out the Young Birder’s Guide Giveaway at I and the Bird. (The Young Birder’s Guide is a new book).
Latest Over the Top Olberman Rant (Must See)
Posted by Greg Laden on May 15, 2008 I love this guy. But wait, there’s more… it gets better. Much better.
They Might Be Giants: Wake up! It’s They Might Be Giants
Posted by Greg Laden on May 15, 2008 In a very, very early-morning set, They Might Be Giants rock the final day of TED2007. … John Linnell and John Flansburgh are They Might Be Giants: multi-instrumental, tech-savvy and implacably prolific, they are the musicians of choice of geeks, tinkerers and curious kids of all ages.
Hector Ruiz: The power to connect the world
Posted by Greg Laden on May 15, 2008 AMD CEO Hector Ruiz talks about his dream of giving the whole world access to the Internet. AMD’s 50×15 initiative hopes to connect 50 percent of the world to the Net by 2015. Sharing his own life story, Ruiz shows how access to ideas is life-changing.
A Celebration of Darwin’s Legacy Across Academic Disciplines
Posted by Greg Laden on May 14, 2008 The Hofstra University Library, Hofstra College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, and the Hofstra Cultural Center present a conference: Darwin’s Reach examines the impact of Darwin and Darwinian evolution on science and society in celebration of the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Robert Darwin and the sesquicentennial of the publication of Darwin’s On…
Astronomers Gone Wild! … What’s a Pope to do?
Posted by Greg Laden on May 14, 2008 Emperor Han Aidi Keep an eye on the hanging tree. There will be a fresh astronomer hanging there soon. Mark my words. This story is sometimes told: During the reign of a particular emperor in China, the role of the historian was becoming more significant. An historian sat in the Emperors throne room and recorded…
Carnival
Posted by Greg Laden on May 14, 2008 This is big. This is really big. The Tangled Bank Web Carnival Number One Hundred and Five is at The Beagle Project!!!!!! And it’s the Tag Team Edition with Peter McGrath and Karen James!!! Go there now!
, which is now available for the 
