I am a graduate student in Developmental Psychology at the 
It's here! After more than a month of reviewing, I am pleased to announce the list of posts that will be included in this year's edition - the fifth - of The Open Laboratory!
In no particular order:
- Givin' props to hybrids by DeLene Beeland
- The decade the clones came: Beware the mighty Marmokrebs! by Zen Faulkes
- Can seabirds overfish a resource? The case of cormorants in Estonia by Hannah Waters
- The Data Speak by Andrew Thaler
- Testing the flotation dynamics and swimming abilities of giraffes by way of computational analysis by Darren Naish
- Shark week! by EcoPhysioMichelle
- Size really does matter! Well endowed male earwigs have their cake and eat it too... by Carin Bondar
- Comparative medicine: what is a wallaby? by The Dog Zombie
- But did you correct your results using a dead salmon? by Iddo Friedberg
- J.B.S. Haldane and the case of the revivified head by Jeremy Yoder
- The First Trilobite by John McKay
- Neuronistas vs. Reticularistas by Namnezia
- How aqua regia saved Nobel Prize medals from the Nazis by Captain Skellett
- Smells From the Past: The Fulton Fish Market by Krystal D'Costa
- Oliver Sacks on Vision, His Next Book, and Surviving Cancer by Steve Silberman
- Sacrifice on the Serengeti by Eric Michael Johnson
- Man's new best friend? A forgotten Russian experiment in fox domestication by Jason Goldman
- The antidepressant reboxetine: A "headdesk" moment in science by Scicurious
- When a deaf man has Tourette's by Emily Anthes
- Why Johnny Can't Name His Colors by Melody Dye
- Neurocriminology in prohibition-era New York by Mo Costandi
- The Tight Collar: The New Science of Choking Under Pressure by David Dobbs
- Laughing rats and ticklish gorillas: Joy and mirth in humans and other animals by Jesse Bering
- Rump-Shaking Red-Eyed Treefrogs by Kelsey Abbott
- Gut bacteria in Japanese people borrowed sushi-digesting genes from ocean bacteria by Ed Yong
- Skull Caps and Genomes by Carl Zimmer
- Giraffes - Necks for food or necks for sex? by Brian Switek
- The Ape That Wouldn't Grow Up by Anna Barros
- Divide and Diminish by Olivia Judson
- Living fossils don't exist... by Lucas Brouwers
- It's more than genes, it's networks and systems by PZ Myers
- Science Is More Like Sumo Than Soccer by Chad Orzel
- Ecosystems In the Age of Cassandra by Kristen L. Marhaver
- Knowledge is Power by Christina Agapakis
- My IVF story: pregnancy and My IVF story: conclusions , combined into a single essay, by Kate Clancy
- Dancing with a Giant by Alistair Dove
- I have discovered Jupiter by Stephen Curry
- When do you move from living to dying? by Pal MD
- The Black History Month Post I never wanted to write by DN Lee
- Ten Things You Don't Know About Comets by Phil Plait
- Poison in the Night by Deborah Blum
- Invisibility physics: Kerker's 'invisible bodies' by Dr. Skyskull
- There is something out there -- part 1 and There is something out there -- part 2, combined into a single essay, by Mike Browns
- A tale of death, derring-do and barometers by Vivianne Raper
- Rapid canyon formation and uniformitarianism by Brian Romans
- Frickin' Laser Beams: Fact vs Fiction from The Martian Chronicles
- Reflections on the Gulf Oil Spill - Conversations With My Grandpa by Christie Wilcox
- Dispersants! A multi-part series to enlighten your brains. and Dispersants! Part II: Toxicity and Dispersants! Part III: Do dispersants really promote degradation of oil? , combined into a single essay, by Holly Bik
- Oiling The Devil's Darning Needle by Meera of the Science Essayist
- Pouring Oil on 'Troubled Waters' by Kevin Zelnio
- Tiny Oceans (poem) by Andrew Thaler
- Manipulations (poem) by Elissa Malcohn
- World View (cartoon) by Abstruse Goose
- Black Tide is Rising (poem) by Kevin Zelnio
- A Scientific Valentine (poem) by Digital Cuttlefish
- To A Rat, On Looking Back On Her Career, In The Lab (poem) by Digital Cuttlefish
- In Development (poem) by Elissa Malcohn
Determining the ultimate composition of Open Lab is no easy task, especially since we started out with an unprecedented nearly 900 entries. Competition was fierce! In the end, these 50 posts (plus 6 poems and 1 cartoon), are representative of the best science and the best writing in the science blogosphere from 2010. Not only is the science accurate and the writing top-notch, but they are highly accessible, and they truly make the reader care about the topic. I hope that this final list succeeds in the goal of showcasing the breadth and depth of the science blogosphere and of highlighting the incredible diversity and talent among science bloggers.
But I could not (and would not) have done it alone! In addition to the hours of time (and cups of coffee and bags of Doritos) I spent reading and evaluating posts myself, forty reviewers gave their time and energy - over winter break, Chanukah, Christmas, and New Years - to respond critically and thoughtfully to the almost nine hundred posts that were submitted. Each post that made it to the final list has been reviewed by no fewer than six individuals across three rounds of review!
My unending gratitude goes to (in no particular order):
- Andrew Thaler
- Brian Romans
- Brian Switek
- Carel Brest van Kempen
- Carin Bondar
- Carl T. Feagans
- Christie Wilcox
- Dan Simons
- Dave Munger
- David Wescott
- Dr. Becca
- Ed Yong
- Eric Michael Johnson
- Geeka
- Glendon Mellow
- Dr. SkySkull aka Greg Gbur
- Greg Laden
- Hannah Waters
- Janet Stemwedel
- Jeremy Yoder
- Josh Rosenau
- Kate Clancy
- Kevin Zelnio
- Krystal D'Costa
- Laurent
- Liz Borkowski
- Lucas Brouwers
- Biochem Belle
- Michael D. Barton
- EcoPhysioMichelle
- Miriam Goldstein
- Moheb Costandi
- Dr. Pamela L. Gay
- Pamela Ronald
- Rhett Allain
- Sam Tucker
- Scicurious
- Stephanie Zvan
- T. DeLene Beeland
- Zuska
Thanks also goes to Andrea Kuszewski, who designed the cover (which will be unveiled at Science Online next week), and thanks in advance to Blake Stacey, who has just begun working with me on designing and typesetting the book. And, of course, to Blogfather Bora, who is not only the Open Lab Series Editor, but a mentor and friend to me, and to us all.
Congratulations on a job well done, everyone!
Finalists: you can look forward to receiving an email from me in the next day or so with further instructions. If you do not, please get in touch by emailing me: thoughtfulanimal[at]gmail[dot]com. For those of you who will be at Science Online, please look for me at the Books and Beer happy hour on Friday evening - I will have a sticker for you to add to your name badges. And you are invited to proudly display one or more of the following badges on your blogs and websites!
Reviewers: You're done! For those of you who will be at Science Online, please look for me at the Books and Beer happy hour on Friday evening - I will have an Open Lab Reviewers' sticker for you to add to your name badges.
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Comments
And we should all thank Jason for a job well done.
Thanks for letting me help!
Posted by: Geeka | January 7, 2011 1:08 PM
props dawg.
Posted by: razib | January 7, 2011 1:09 PM
Wow, I can't believe I made the cut this year! Thanks! What an amazing list of posts -- I feel lucky to be among them.
Posted by: KBHC | January 7, 2011 1:14 PM
Not an easy undertaking, Jason! Congrats on completing it and coordinating the process.
Posted by: Ed Yong | January 7, 2011 1:15 PM
Awesome list Jason! What a huge undertaking!!
Posted by: Carin | January 7, 2011 1:25 PM
Mad props to Jason. Well done! See you next week!
Posted by: Southern Fried Scientist | January 7, 2011 1:28 PM
Great job, Jason! Thanks for all the hard work you put into it.
Posted by: Lucas | January 7, 2011 1:51 PM
Congratulations, Jason! I never doubted your ability to deal with this monumental task! Great list and I'm thrilled to be on it! :)
Posted by: Scicurious | January 7, 2011 2:00 PM
Thank you, Jason and massive list of reviewers, for all the hard work. That you performed one of the fastest turnarounds in a year with one of the biggest list of submissions deserves a round of applause.
Posted by: Zen Faulkes | January 7, 2011 2:27 PM
Jason, thanks so much for all your hard work and for that of everyone involved with the anthology. I am thrilled to be in such awesome company!
Posted by: Elissa Malcohn | January 7, 2011 2:48 PM
Wow--six reviewers and I still made it?
Seriously, having reviewed last year, I know what work it is--thanks for all the work, and congrats on a job well done!
Posted by: Cuttlefish | January 7, 2011 3:08 PM
I am SO buying you a drink at science online! Great job and thanks for all your hard work.
Posted by: Hannah Waters | January 7, 2011 4:14 PM
Well done, Jason! Thanks for pulling this edition together, as well as selecting one of my posts. I am delighted to have my essay included with those of so many friends and fellow writers. Congratulations to everyone who made it into the anthology!
Posted by: Brian Switek | January 7, 2011 5:20 PM
Fantastic stuff! You guys give me a warm fuzzy that science is still altruistic, educational and fun, and that blogging about it is worthwhile. Thanks everyone involved!
Posted by: Al Dove | January 7, 2011 6:10 PM
Can't believe the sheer magnitude of entries this year. Who knew science bloggers were suc prolific writers?
Can't wait to read all of the awesome science.
Posted by: DNLee | January 7, 2011 6:45 PM
Whoa! 50 chosen out of 900... that's about the admission percentage into Harvard isn't it? Congrats to all!
Posted by: Shecky R. | January 7, 2011 7:55 PM
thanks so much for the hard work.
Posted by: PalMD | January 8, 2011 9:21 AM
This is awesome! Thanks for all the hard work curating this collection.
Posted by: Brian Romans | January 8, 2011 7:46 PM
I'm so excited to be included!!! Thanks for putting it together Jason, reviewers, and everyone who gave up time & precious sleep working on it. Wish I could be at Science Online, instead I'll be following from Twitter @CaptainSkellett
Posted by: Captain Skellett | January 9, 2011 7:42 AM
Can't wait to see Andrea's cover!
Lots of fun to be a reviewer, thanks Jason!
Posted by: Glendon Mellow | January 9, 2011 10:42 PM
What an amazing list! I can't wait to read them all. Thank you (Jason, Bora, Andrea and all the reviewers) for all your hard work--and thanks for including me!
Posted by: Kelsey | January 10, 2011 12:45 PM