Life has an interesting symmetry to it. No I'm not talking about bilateral symmetry or any Endless Forms Most Beautiful. I've just completed my orientation for a 1 year position at my undergraduate alma mater, where I'll be replacing the person who got me into lab work. In fact this is being typed on his computer. Very, very strange. I believe I'll have to track this experience. First off- tracking down my review copy that was supposed to arrive 2 months ago. Second, get that damn course management system up and running. Third, clean the lab. Ew.
There's a slick new online Sci Fi rag called Lightspeed. I like this one because they also publish nonfiction pieces that are relevant to their fiction stories. Ok I'm a bit biased because they asked me to write a nonfiction piece for them. In the same issue there was a story called Manumission by Tobias Buckell, which used intentionally created memory loss as a plot device for a story that is part noir, part Heinlein, and all funky fun. My piece loosely relates to the story, but explores a bit more of what memory loss means for an individual's perception of themselves. Do drop by and…
I'm putting this post under "education" because I define a new term at the end of it. Which, of course, qualifies it to be educational. By now you've probably picked up on the Sexiest Female Scientist list being passed around by some atheist guy, so I won't bother to link to it and drive up the turd's traffic. I will, however, give my quick 2 cents on this particular brand of sexism. Sheril and PZ already hit this topic, among many others, but I think Janet's take comes closest to my own position. She writes: However, it's pretty assy to dismiss not just the intuitions but the actual…
Even kids in jr high can figure out that we've been spoon-fed some misconceptions of how scientists look and act. I wonder where they get these ideas from. Certainly not the media. They would never create caricatures of real people.
Sci has just tendered her letter of resignation to the Overlords at SEED. This was a very, very hard decision, and it hurts Sci more than she can say. Sci would like to let you know, though, that she hasn't given up blogging!!! She has merely moved back to her old digs. You can find her at Neurotic Physiology, her old place. Please do drop by and visit! As for my reasons, well, I just want to say that it was not specifically Pepsico that made me feel like I couldn't continue here. There were a multitude of contributing factors, and Pepsico was just a last in a long line. But don't…
A dangerous pastime, you know. If you've been around the blog for the past day, I'm sure you've seen that there's been a new...blog...from PepsiCo. Sci's not sure what she thinks of it, but it's not positive. I know we had GE and Shell and stuff...but that felt different, somehow. Being as Sci has recently been looking in to a lot of food and reward related mechanisms and issues associated with things like binge eating, she is more than a bit uncomfortable. So she needs some time to think about it. Posting will resume when I've had my think. In the meantime, thanks so much for the…
You may not think of our flesh-eating diseased brethren as being the thoughtful types. Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. As Sci mentioned, I'm gonna be holed up in the Costco for a while so I got time to think about it. They're the slow-moving-undead zombies, not those ultra-quick "infected" (I hate those creepy bastards). I rolled down those big steel doors, barricaded them with anything heavy I could find here, gathered up all the lighting supplies for when the power goes out, bandaged up that bite on my arm, and I've taken to making jerky out of all this meat I've got laying around…
Chris Mooney- a man with his heart in the right place and absolutely no idea what do do after that. Don't get me wrong, I like the guy. He's a force for good when dissecting a scientific issue for the public. But Mooney has been trucking out this same "communication" bullshit for a few years now. As usual, nothing much is offered other than "listen to them". I agree, communication is important, and scientists need to listen as much as talk. Ok..... then what? If, as he says, so many people only consider science as a small part of forming their opinions, what makes him think that they'…
I was thinking about the difficulties that women have defending their reproductive rights, and the constant intrusion from a predominantly white-male-run government has slowly eroded women's ability to control what happens to their own bodies. Ok, ok, maybe birth control and abortion are all too radically new for a country that just allowed women to vote a mere 90 years ago, and men just aren't ready to let women have full control of their uteri (I mean come on, you've have had them for millions of years and you just let the damned things wander all over your body at the slightest…
Then quit jerking around with Harry Reid and force him to pass meaningful health care reform with a public option included. The House would back it. Make the Senate get off their asses. It isn't rocket surgery. /rant
You attended 5 classes of your Brain and Behavior course out of an 8 week summer session that meets daily, and stop going after the first exam. Which you failed. Repeating the exact same pattern from the previous semester when you were in my class. And then.... your MOM shows up at my class to fight your grade battles for you, without you even being aware of it. Yesterday, I had a student's mom show up at my classroom right before class. Apparently Precious Daughter was going to fail out while on academic probation. Mom just couldn't let that happen, and wanted to know if there was any…
Ok, I'll admit, this post is kind of stolen from the fabulous Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science, who just won the Association of British Science Writers' Best Newcomer award! Imitation is the most sincere form of flattery, Ed. :) Well, the post isn't stolen, but the subject is. And it's actually been a little disappointing. When I first scanned the title, I thought it said "echinoderm", rather than "echidna", and I thought "Starfish sex!!! w00t1!!!" But no. Instead of talking about these getting it on: (oh yeah) We're talking about these: (Via Ed) You see? It's just...not the…
It wasn't until college that Sci first heard Wednesday referred to as "Hump Day". She apologizes for a certain lack of hefty content in the latest series of posts. This thing, they call it "real" life", and it's getting in the way. But there are some things you NEED to see. 1) The guys at Deep Sea News posted a video last night on some critters found in a sewer in NC. O.M.G. Don't watch this with food. ALIEEEEENNNNNSSSSS. Really, the scientists don't know what the gigantic, glistening thing in the video IS. It's...really scary. Evolution in action, and I think this thing is going to…
Today is the last day in the month of June, and so the last day that you can click on these awesome blogs, and have the proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders. So click once, or twice, or many many times! The IntersectionOn Becoming A Domestic And Laboratory GoddessAetiologyNeurotopiaBioephemeraThe Questionable AuthorityAdventures in Ethics and ScienceDrugMonkeyBlog Of The Moderate LeftSeattle Grassroots Examinerthe rugbyologistSciencewomen And of course, a huge thank you to the many, many blogs who helped spread this around. Sci hopes that this is just the beginning, that we will be able…
The call, half roar, half terrifying honk of annoyance, echoed across the room. From the depths of a warm, comfortable nest, the monster stirred. Something was prodding it out of its lurid, murky dreams. "brrt, brrt, brrt... ...brrt, brrt, brrt..." //--> Snarling, the beast surged from the bed, lunging over to the alarm clock placed irritatingly just out of reach. Awakened from its rest, the animal dragged itself around the room, uttering incomprehensible grunts which made the small, furry carnivores huddled around the nest scatter in panic. The beast, sight blurred, flung itself…
More like an opinion, but that's not quite right.
We know that a lot of organisms, from humans to bacteria to birds to bees, have lots of sex. But what has mystified scientists for years is WHY. I mean, it's fun and all (unless you're a poor beetle girl stuck with this), but what purpose does it serve? On the face of it, in fact, sex seems to be pretty BAD for about half of the population: the women. For example, there's a lizard out there than can reproduce both asexually and sexually. When it reproduces asexually, it producing nothing but girls, all of whom can reproduce both asexually and sexually. Net win. But when it reproduces…
Sci loves it when she's famous. This is mostly because it never happens in real life. But you will ALL know who Sci is when she TAKES OVER THE WORLD. Mwah ha ha ha. //--> I know I look cute and furry. Don't be fooled. And now, as part of my new plan for world domination, there's an interview with me over at Bora's place!! Truly, the Blogfather has been good to me. Check it out!
First off, how many is a "few"? I mean, I think of a "couple" as two, and a "few" as three. But what does that make five? "Some"? //--> Anyway, please head on over and congratulation Southern Fried Scientist for his Quark win!!! 3quarksdaily picked his post on dolphin-safe tuna for their quark award! I'm so jealous, but it's a great post and totally deserves it. The other quarks went to Daylight Atheism and Bad Astronomy, and they were both worth checking out. Clearly I need to write some better stuff before next year...I want a quark to hang on my wall... Secondly, you should…
Looks like I got cornered by Ava over at Paw Talk for an interview. Go check it out. We talked about animal intelligence, modeling diseases using animals, and my stupid cat's antics. Good times! //-->