Huzzah! An Ode to Tom Cruise and Volleyball

Category: YouTube Obsessions

What if Top Gun was really a silent movie? Huzzah!

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 2:38 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Next Encephalon: All Your Entries Are Belong to Me

Category: Carnivals

Submit your neuro-bloggy treats to me (encephalon.host@gmail.com) by Sept 10th (9pm) for the next issue of the brain-based carnival Encephalon. Submission guidelines can be found here. Check out past issue of the Encephalon: 3rd July, 2006 - The Neurophilosopher's blog...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 2:27 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Ever Wonder What Happened to Kenneth Starr?

Category: Red Herrings

Why he's back to taking on high profile cases, of course....

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 9:25 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The News Mis-Shaping and Distorting My World

Category: Law and Ethics

A menagerie of news from the realms of stem cells, religion, ID, and a talking carp. Broken down into tasty bite size morsels.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:18 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Common Drugs Being Used Off-Label to Control Weight

Category: Health Care

Americans are trying an array of prescription drugs off-label to lose weight.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 1:17 PM • 18 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

JonBenet Update: Carr Won't Be Charged

Category: Law and Ethics

According to this Yahoo news release, John Mark Karr won't be charged in the murder of JonBenet Ramsey, leaving the 10 year old murder case still unsolved. (Hat tip to somnilista, FCD.) Colorado prosecutors won't charge schoolteacher John Mark Karr...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 4:46 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

In My Dreams: Katherine Harris Tarred and Feathered

Category: Stupidity

Katherine Harris says the seperation of church and state is "a lie."

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 12:47 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Nerdtastic T-Shirts: Vote For Pluto?

Category: Blatant Nerdery

These nerdy T-shirts won't bring Pluto back.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 10:16 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Rewind: The Dalai Lama Speaks to Neuroscientists

Category: Tastes Like Neuroscience

The 2006 Society for Neuroscience Meeting is approaching (in October), and I just wanted to repost this about the Dalai Lama's speech at SFN last year, from the "archives." First, this post is a summary of online accounts from people...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:51 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Bush Admin Thinks More Pesticides Are Better

Category: Beating 'Round the Bushes

Bush administration is again blocked by a federal judge when they recommend the relaxing of pesticide laws.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 12:32 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Science Cartoon: "The Stevens of Science"

Category: Science Cartoons

With the real Stevens of Science please stand up?

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 9:05 AM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Death Penalty And War: The SciBloggers Speak Out

Category: Law and Ethics

A few days ago, I issued a challenge to my fellow ScienceBloggers: "Are you for or against the death penalty, or (if its conditional), in what cases? Furthermore, do you believe that societies that sanction war are hypocritical for opposing...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 3:03 PM • 13 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Friday Grey Matters: Counting And the Concept of Zero

Category: Friday Grey Matters

Dr. Pepperberg explores the flexibility of counting and the concept of zero in African Grey Parrots.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:10 AM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

As If You Needed Another Reason to Drink Water.....

Category: Chemistry

Water is good for a lot of things, from quenching your thirst to reducing the BO levels of your scuzzy roommate. But recent work from the University of Michigan, to be published next week in PNAS, shows that water is...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:15 AM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

If You Write It, They Will Come

Category: Stupidity

Stupid is as stupid says. And this guy is verbose..........

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 1:13 PM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Traditional African Potion As AIDS "Cure"? (No, just Woo)

Category: AIDS

Anti-retroviral alternatives in Africa are just big fat woo.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 7:31 AM • 1 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Shelley Does The Dentist

Category: Health Care

Ugh, in a few short hours (8am Wednesday) I'll be under the nitrous gas at the dentist. I really hope I don't get loopier than absolutely necessary, as I *do* need to go to lab today/tomorrow. As to what I'm...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 12:55 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Dear Billionaires, Thanks For All the Stem Cells, Love America

Category: Stem Cells

Stem cell research in America is being funded privately by billionaires interested in developing therapies and cures.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:15 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

SciBlogger Tag Line: The Death Penalty and War Mongering

Category: Law and Ethics

Are you for or against the death penalty, or (if its conditional), in what cases? Furthermore, do you believe that societies that sanction war are hypocritical for opposing the death penalty?

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 10:23 PM • 20 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Book Review: Coming to Life by Christiane Nusslein-Volhard

Category: Book Reviews

It is truly a challenge to write both scientifically, informatively, and accessibly. However, Christiane Nusslein-Volhard is able to strike a remarkable balance in her new book on developmental biology, Coming to Life. She succinctly summarizes crucial discoveries and experiments...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 6:46 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Synapse Issue #5

Category: Carnivals

Welcome to the 5th edition of The Synapse, ScienceBlog's home-grown carnival on all things Neuro! Glad to see this carnival, much like a precocious child or bad hair day, is growing up and gaining a life of its own. Thanks...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 4:19 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Note To Self: Carnivals Hate Me

Category: Carnivals

I have submitted to Tangled Bank (Landis testoterone article) and Grand Rounds (hair cell regeneration), and both have snubbed me. Hmph....

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 12:42 PM • 9 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Minor's Legal Rights Redux: Cancer Boy

Category: Law and Ethics

Cancer kid wants to forego chemo for unsubstantiated quackery---the Hoxsey method.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 12:20 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Random Quotes Meme

Category: Memes

Random quotes meme

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 11:42 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Friday Grey Matters: The Neuroscience of Birdsong

Category: Friday Grey Matters

The neuroscience of bird song and its correlates to speech acquisition is discussed.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:48 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

You Killed Cubby Update: Troy Gentry's Side

Category: Stupidity

From Montgomery Gentry's website (Hat tip to jc): Troy is accused of conspiring with a professional hunting guide to improperly fill out a hunting tag. To back up this charge, the indictment claims that Troy shot a tamed bear in...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 3:40 PM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Weird Science and Shoddy Science Reporting

Category: Tastes Like Neuroscience

Scientists find "brain evolution gene" !!! Looking at 49 areas that have changed the most between the human and chimpanzee genomes, Haussler zeroed in on an area with "a very dramatic change in a relatively short period of time." That...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 10:15 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

You Killed Cubby! You Bastards!!!

Category: Stupidity

Country music macho man kills tame black bear in a pen.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:08 AM • 10 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

JonBenet Killer Finally Found?

Category: Red Herrings

I've always had a passing interest in the JonBenet Ramsey case. Mostly because I thought her parents were demonized by the media, driving then from their home in Colorado, and her mother to an early grave. Now, it seems they...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 5:56 PM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

No Incentive for a Cure?: What Really Scares Me About AIDS

Category: Ask A ScienceBlogger

We SciBloggers were posed with this question: To what extent do you worry about AIDS, either with respect to yourself, your children, or the world at large? Here's what really worries me about AIDS (from the old Retrospectacle): The Federal...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 3:52 PM • 3 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Could Princess Leia Have Been a Scientist?

Category: Feminism

Steinn over at The Dynamics of Cats brought my attention to an interesting topic intially broached over at Bitch PhD. That issue is a little pet peeve of mine: the representation of women in media, advertising, and entertainment. Specifically, guest...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:00 AM • 16 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

What Is So Endearing About this Guy???

Category: YouTube Obsessions

Geriatric blogger spills his guts about his time in the war, academia, marriage, and more on YouTube.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 5:46 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

London Cabbies, GPS Navigation, and the Hippocampus

Category: Tastes Like Neuroscience

London cab drivers reject GPS systems, and the neuroscience to back up their choice.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 10:14 AM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

"Amsterdam-ed"---Open Thread on the Netherlands

Category: Travel

Gimme your stories and info on the Netherlands!

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:48 AM • 28 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

UM Researchers Fighting Tumors With....Bubbles?

Category: Health Care

University of Michigan researchers are using gas bubbles to block the flow of oxygen to tumors, like a cork in a bottle. They can also be used to deliver drugs to tumors. The theory behind this is to create a...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 2:59 PM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Neuro-Carnival Encephalon #4 Up!

Category: Announcements

Go check out Issue #4 of Encephalon, a neuroscience carnival, over at the Neurocritic....

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 2:23 PM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Wi-fi Talking Bunny Set to Take the US by Storm

Category: Things I Wish I Could Afford

You know all those times you wish you'd had a cute plastic wabbit to read you your email? Well, wish no more, for yout wildest dreams are fufilled! The plastic bunny with ears like TV antennae can read out...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 10:38 AM • 4 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Where 'Thin Means AIDS' African Women Become Obese

Category: Health Care

South African women are becoming obese to appear HIV negative.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 8:13 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Shelley Does Sick.......

Category: Blather

I'm sick. Note to self: eating Taco Bell and then drinking NOT a good idea. Somebody leave me some links to cheer me up........:(...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 1:27 AM • 22 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Friday Science Cartoon: Intelligently Designed Drugs

Category: Science Cartoons

Would you like the "Noahs Ark" version of antibiotic treatment?

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 12:09 PM • 5 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Friday Grey Matters.........Sort-of?

Category: Announcements

Ugh, I'm writing a paper today and swamped until the afternoon. And there seems to be some problem with file uploading right now, so i'm gonna check back later. So Grey Matters will be out around 3 or 4 pm...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 1:20 AM • 0 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

X Axis: Happiness, Y Axis: Acceptance of Evolution ?

Category: The War on Science

John over at Stranger Fruit has posted an infogram from Science, which ranks 34 countries acceptance of evolution. I have hijacked it below: John notes that only Turkey has beaten us in evolutionary ignornace. But I immediately was struck by...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 6:55 PM • 11 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Taxicab Confessions: The Earwax Episode

Category: Inner Ear Biology

Once when i was in a taxi, the driver was attempting to make conversation and asked what I did. I usually try to avoid the subject with some people, because when i say "I study the inner ear" a lot...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 4:22 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Submit to Me! Synapse #5 To Be Hosted At Retrospectacle

Category: Announcements

The fifth issue of The Synapse, our homegrown Neuroscience carnival, will be hosted here August 20th. Submission guidelines are here. I really want to see some quallity work from some new bloggers here! Pass the word around to your friends,...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 11:54 AM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

The Maori, MAO Inhibitors, and the "Warrior Gene"

Category: Tastes Like Neuroscience

"New Zealand's indigenous Maori population reacted angrily on Wednesday to a researcher's findings that Maori have a high representation of a gene linked to aggression, as the nation faces a domestic violence crisis." According to a Yahoo news story, genetic...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 9:17 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Hillary for President? Not If You're Old.

Category: 2008 Presidental Election

Recent polls regarding Hillary's chances for President, and the general emotions associated with her. Old people are cranky.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 11:25 AM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Hair Cell Regeneration as a Therapy for Deafness

Category: Inner Ear Biology

Recent work in hair cell regeneration by my lab is reviewed.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 9:18 AM • 15 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

African Grey Parrot Apparel for a Good Cause

Category: Things I Wish I Could Afford

Cool parrot stuff. A recent attack of nerdy-item envy strikes.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 4:00 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Kudos to the Aussies: Parrot-Friendly Wind Farm

Category: Pepper

From down under, news of parrot conservation! A 52-turbine wind-farm was shot down by local senators due to the large threat it posed to the endangered orange-bellied parrot (pictured above). After blocking the wind farm in April because of...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 3:20 PM • 2 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Offshore Clinics Offer Cosmetic Stem Cell Therapy

Category: Stem Cells

Apparently, an increasing trend is "stem cell tourism"---but not for Alzheimer's or a spinal cord injury. No, rather for aging, wrinkles, cellulite, and general "rejuvenation." This is obviously quackery, as the methods they describe (which range from smearing dead cow...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 1:25 PM • 6 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Tentacle-Love Tattoos!!!

Category: Red Herrings

I just had to post this for PZ. This is a tattoo my friend Jenni has on her foot, and I love it! I know all those out there with a tentacle fetish will appreciate this....

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 9:19 AM • 12 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Can I Have a Plate of Wings With My Hooters-ectomy?

Category: Law and Ethics

So, Terra Sigillata recently posted this question: How can Hooters support the fight against breast cancer, all without being perceived as capitalistic, misogynistic, or otherwise demeaning to women? While a very interesting and noble question, my feelings can be summed...

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 4:22 PM • 7 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Fallacy in the Media: Teen Sex Caused By Sexy Music

Category: Babel Fish

Does sexy music cause teen sex? Does drinking Diet Coke cause obesity? You be the judge!

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 3:48 PM • 14 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

More Funding Headaches: NIH FY 2007 Budget and Training Grants

Category: Can't Spell "Funding" Without "Fun"

A hard look at the NIH's FY 2007 budget and how that relates to project funding.

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Posted by Shelley Batts at 10:52 AM • 8 Comments • 0 TrackBacks

Sunday Link Dump: Scandals, Masturbation, and Disasters!

Category:

Former Tour de France champ Floyd Landis is now disgraced. His