October 31, 2008
After making several potential designs in silico, my daughter chose one and we carved it. In order to participate in the Happy Hallo-Meme, we brought out the camera - first picture immediately after, the second once the darkness arrived and we lit up the candle inside:
Of course, Juno in costume…
October 31, 2008
Mathematician Cracks Mystery Beatles Chord:
It's the most famous chord in rock 'n' roll, an instantly recognizable twang rolling through the open strings on George Harrison's 12-string Rickenbacker. It evokes a Pavlovian response from music fans as they sing along to the refrain that follows:
It's…
October 31, 2008
So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, PLoS ONE and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week -…
October 31, 2008
Duncan Hull and colleagues just published an excellent, must-read article - Defrosting the Digital Library: Bibliographic Tools for the Next Generation Web:
Many scientists now manage the bulk of their bibliographic information electronically, thereby organizing their publications and citation…
October 31, 2008
Apart from the rhetoric, apparently not:
The election is right around the corner, and voters around the country have been subjected to politicians, pundits and commercials laden with allegations of class warfare and claims about which candidates cater to the rich and which candidates will best…
October 31, 2008
We are busy preparing for The Open Laboratory 2008. The submissions have been trickling in all year, and a little bit more frequently recently, but it is time now to dig through your Archives for your best posts since December 20th 2007 and submit them. Submit one, or two, or several - no problem…
October 31, 2008
Today is the last day! I know most of my readers are donating to Obama this year, but still, my challenge is on the very bottom of the Scienceblogs.com list....
October 31, 2008
Daylight Saving Time: Clock-shifts Affect Risk Of Heart Attack:
Adjusting the clocks to summer time on the last Sunday in March increases the risk of myocardial infarction in the following week. In return, putting the clocks back in the autumn reduces the risk, albeit to a lesser extent. This…
October 31, 2008
Friday Ark #215 - Trick or Treat - is up on Modulator
October 30, 2008
All of us who grew up before World War II are immigrants in time, immigrants from an earlier world, living in an age essentially different from anything we knew before.
- Margaret Mead
October 30, 2008
I am sure that you have already heard about the despicable TV ad that Elizabeth Dole aired against Kay Hagan. You probably heard about it online, perhaps on Twitter or FriendFeed or blogs. Here's a quick selection:
My godless money. Take it or leave it.
The Worst Insult of All?
Thou shalt not bear…
October 30, 2008
....using the Pumpkin Simulator:
October 30, 2008
She'll be a honeybee:
October 30, 2008
There are 33 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
The Political Gender Gap: Gender Bias in Facial…
October 30, 2008
On the Road: Charlotte, North Carolina:
An observation we've heard repeated in Obama offices across America, Crandall emphasized how beneficial the contested primary had been for building the foundation for record turnout. "We had real hints of it in the primary," Crandall said. The first-time…
October 30, 2008
In the end, I could not make it to the Obama rally in Raleigh, but other bloggers did.
If I did, I would have been one of the 28000 people to be the first to hear the "peanut butter and jelly" thing:
I think this is great framing - getting your mind back to the time you were a child. Who do you…
October 30, 2008
Ed Cone interviews the security guru Bruce Schneier about voting machines:
There are a couple of reasons that things like automatic teller machines and gas pumps are more secure. The first one is, there's money involved. If someone hacks an ATM, the bank loses money. The bank has a financial…
October 30, 2008
This is interesting:
But voter behavior is only part of the change drawing political attention to North Carolina. Presidential contenders are increasing their focus here because the state has more clout on the national stage than it did as recently as the 1980s. The same population boom that has…
October 30, 2008
The Great Limbaugh Con by Charles M. Kelly, published in 1994, is even more current and up-to-date than it was then. And it is not really about Limbaugh himself - he serves only as a starting point. There are many Limbaughs out there now who parrot the same stuff and what he pioneered in the…
October 30, 2008
"Would you get on a plane with a pilot who has never flown?" the announcer asks. Yes, if the only other option is the guy who has proven repeatedly that he cannot keep his plane in the air:
(cartoon from The Star)
October 30, 2008
I and the Bird #87 is up on Ecobirder
Tangled Bank #117 is up on Neural Gourmet
Gene Genie #39 is up on Genetics & Health
The new Carnival of Education is up on Leading From The Heart
Change of Shift, Volume 3, Issue 9 is up on This crazy mircale called Life
Carnival of Homeschooling #148 is up…
October 30, 2008
Programmable Genetic Clock Made Of Blinking Florescent Proteins Inside Bacteria Cells:
UC San Diego bioengineers have created the first stable, fast and programmable genetic clock that reliably keeps time by the blinking of fluorescent proteins inside E. coli cells. The clock's blink rate changes…
October 29, 2008
No man will ever bring out of the Presidency the reputation which carries him into it...To myself, personally, it brings nothing but increasing drudgery and daily loss of friends.
- Thomas Jefferson
October 29, 2008
Barack Obama for President - An endorsement from the editors of Seed:
Far more important is this: Science is a way of governing, not just something to be governed. Science offers a methodology and philosophy rooted in evidence, kept in check by persistent inquiry, and bounded by the constraints of…
October 29, 2008
Let's look at few other sessions on the Program - on topics that are rarely seen at either tech or science meetings:
Art and science -- online and offline:
This session is moderated by Jessica Palmer and Glendon Mellow:
Art is not just illustration. And it is not the opposite of science ("Two…
October 29, 2008
Just three more days...
October 29, 2008
Brain's 'Hate Circuit' Identified:
People who view pictures of someone they hate display activity in distinct areas of the brain that, together, may be thought of as a 'hate circuit', according to new research by scientists at UCL (University College London).
Soybeans No Longer 'A Musical Fruit…
October 28, 2008
We have got but one life here. It pays, no matter what comes after it, to try and do things, to accomplish things in this life and not merely to have a soft and pleasant time.
- Theodore Roosevelt
October 28, 2008
Here is the fourth interview in the series on Miss Baker's Biology class blog - Samantha's interview with Erica Tsai.
Previously in this series:
ScienceOnline09 - an interview with...me!
ScienceOnline09 - an interview with Eric Roston
ScienceOnline09 - an interview with Clinton Colmenares
October 28, 2008
There are 25 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Overall Alteration of Circadian Clock Gene Expression in…
