Maintained by Seed's editors, web editors, and the other people who make Seed tick, Page 3.14 points you in the direction of some of ScienceBlogs' finest offerings, plus the tastiest tidbits of science news and opinion from around the web.
"Friday cat blogging," or the practice of posting something light-hearted and whimsical, is an end-of-week tradition in the blog world.
While no one at Sb regularly puts up pictures of their furry pets, many of the ScienceBloggers do post weekly features on Friday.
What follows is my attempt to orchestrate a complete guided tour of Fridays at ScienceBlogs.
- Phylogeny Friday at Evolgen
- Friday Politics at NoSeNada
- Friday Sprog Blogging at Adventures in Ethics and Science
- Friday Cephalopods at Pharyngula.
- Friday Weird Sex Blogging at A Blog Around the Clock
- Your Friday Dose of Woo at Respectful Insolence
- Fatastical Fridays at The Scientific Activist
- Friday Fractals at Chaotic Utopia
- Map that Campus at The Daily Transcript
- Digtal Biology Fridays at Discovering Biology in a Digital World
- Friday Flower Porn at Dr. Joan Bushwell's Chimpanzee Refuge
- Friday 'Know Your Primates' at Afarensis
- Friday Pathological Programming Language at Good Math, Bad Math
- The Friday Fermentable at Terra Sigillata
- Schoolhouse Rock! at Living the Scientific LIfe
- SchadenFriday at Neurotopia
- Casual Fridays at Cognitive Daily
- Grey Matters at Retrospectacle
- iPod iChing at Dynamics of Cats
"Phylogeny Friday is back, bitches! In the glorious return of PhyFridays, I give you the root of the tree of life. In the upcoming editions we'll zoom in on a few parts of the tree to illustrate the diversity of certain taxa of interest. It'll be kind of like a reverse Ancestor's Tale."
On Fridays, Kevin at NoSeNada blogs about poltics. Kevin has a PhD (or "phud," to you) in physical oceangraphy, and now lives and studies public policy in the mountain west. He writes about "anything within the Earth sciences but especially issues surrounding climate change and surrounding natural hazards/disasters, space and NASA, internet and computer technology, energy, and a few other topics."
"My kids talk a lot," says Dr. Free-Ride. "When that talk turns to science, I blog it." Every Friday she transcribes a conversation with her children that is both educational and cute as buttons. Occasional bonus material includes the wee sprogs' scientific illustrations, and reviews of child-friendly TV programs and books.
A different gorgeous cephalopod every Friday. What more could you ask?
Each Friday, Bora rolls out a fresh example of "some cool organism involved in a strange reproductive practice." Last week, he covered something called "corkscrewing."
Orac is a tireless crusader against medical misinformation, aka 'woo,' perpetuated in the name of 'alternative medicine.' On Fridays, he offers up his thoughts on the week's most flagrant instance of "altie woo."
Every Friday, Nick takes a break from his more serious scientific activism to enjoy one of the stranger, more outlandish, and more lighthearted aspects of science. His entry on "Organic People Chemistry" was a big hit.
Karmen makes fractals, and tells stories about them. It's actually really cool, and also hard to describe. Maybe you'll want to look at her last one, here.
So you think you're pretty smart...can you identify a university campus from only a satellite photo? Try your hand at Alex's blog.
Everything you ever wanted to know about digital biology but were afraid to ask. Sandra guides you through a tutorial on her favorite topic, and then invites you back to discuss the results.
Prefectly innocent...and totally filthy.
Did you know there was a kind of primate called the Indris? I didn't.
Mark Chu-Carroll knows a lot of programming languages.
Wine facts for everyone, and wine reviews for the discerning yet financially-challenged (starving grad students, anyone?) oenophile.
Get your milk and cookies and cozy up to the screen for an afternoon break. Each Friday, GrrlScientist posts an entire streaming episode of the beloved TV series, 'Scoolhouse Rock.'
It is what it sounds like, and it will probably make you smile, unless you are some kind of humorless automaton, or so angelic that you are never, even a teeny tiny little bit, amused by the misfortunes of others.
Participate in a scientific study from the comfort of where you are sitting.
Shelley is the proud owner of an African grey parrot named Pepper. On Fridays, she offers information about her favorite type of bird.
Steinn has raised the fine art of iPod divination to - dare I say it? - a science.
Comments
Yes, Katherine (and dear readers), my proposed feature, "The Friday Fermentable," has been delayed due to a terrific case of gastroenteritis contracted while on vacation. I had intended to spend last evening in my hotel bar with a really wonderful bartender to live-blog the inaugural column but, if you can believe it, I was feeling too miserable to even type.
Posted by: Abel Pharmboy | July 14, 2006 10:25 AM
Rats! Feel better. Too miserable to type is too miserable, period.
Posted by: Katherine Sharpe | July 14, 2006 4:38 PM
Although Mr. Beck's young feline, "Dawkins," might make a future appearance on any other day of the week, you won't find kitty cats at the Chimp Refuge on Fridays. Nope. Instead, the subject is steamy botanical pornography, a.k.a. "Friday Flower Porn!" Sex sells.
Posted by: Doc Bushwell | July 21, 2006 12:25 PM
The Friday Feature at The Scientific Activist is actually called Fantastical Fridays (not Fatastical Fridays).
Posted by: Nick Anthis | August 25, 2006 10:18 AM
And FYI, Casual Fridays is up for this week, after a long summers break. Come on by and give it a shot:
http://scienceblogs.com/cognitivedaily/2006/08/casual_fridays_is_back.php
Posted by: Dave Munger | August 25, 2006 3:18 PM