July 9, 2008
When I go around proselatizing for Open Access, I always try to remember to point out that the potential users are not just scientists and physicians in the developing world, or researchers at low-tier or community colleges, but also high schools. So, I was very happy to hear about the existence…
July 9, 2008
There is a new (temporary) blog on scienceblogs.com - Next Generation Energy:
For the next three months, Seed editors and a hand-picked team of guest bloggers will delve into energy policies of all kinds--from carbon capture to windmills.
Every Wednesday, we'll post a new topic or question about…
July 9, 2008
You can watch John Edwards give a keynote address about "The Challenge of Reducing Poverty" at the 2008 Campus Progress National Conference in Washington, DC. on C-Span3 and hear him talk about campaign and about poverty on NPR's Talk of the Nation.
July 8, 2008
The prizes go to those who meet emergencies successfully. And the way to meet emergencies is to do each daily task the best we can.
- William Feather
July 8, 2008
There are 57 new articles in PLoS ONE this week, and it is hard to choose which ones to highlight!
Superfast Vocal Muscles Control Song Production in Songbirds:
Birdsong is a widely used model for vocal learning and human speech, which exhibits high temporal and acoustic diversity. Rapid acoustic…
July 8, 2008
The first installation of Hourglass, a blog carnival devoted to the biology of aging, is up on Ouroboros
Carnival of the Blue #14 is up on Blue Economy
Carnival of the Green #135 is up on Greentime
Grand Rounds, Vol 4, No 42 are up on The Blog That Ate Manhattan
July 8, 2008
Rare Microorganism That Produces Hydrogen May Be Key To Tomorrow's Hydrogen Economy:
An ancient organism from the pit of a collapsed volcano may hold the key to tomorrow's hydrogen economy. Scientists from across the world have formed a team to unlock the process refined by a billions-year old…
July 7, 2008
Do each daily task the best we can; act as tough the eye of opportunity were always upon us.
- William Feather
July 7, 2008
Several people e-mailed me to alert me to the new blog post on BibliOdyssey that depicts several old maps of Belgrade, some very intriguing, some very beautiful.
July 7, 2008
As you probably know by now, we have monthly themes in PLoS ONE. This month, the topic is Gene Expression, where there are more than 140 articles already, mainly looking at genome-wide expression and epigenetics. Of course, we want more. And I am still looking for a group to do a Journal Club on…
July 7, 2008
A Gene Wiki for Community Annotation of Gene Function:
Gene portals (e.g., Entrez Gene [1] and Ensembl [2]) and model organism databases (e.g., Mouse Genome Database [3], Rat Genome Database [4], FlyBase [5]) are popular and useful tools for researching gene annotation and enforcing data standards…
July 7, 2008
My friend, neighbor and uber-blogger Pam Spaulding, has an article about her in today's New & Observer. Very nice! Good read. And also, Happy Birthday, Pam - what a great present you got from the corporate media today ;-)
July 7, 2008
Oh, how I hate this (mis)use of the term!
Male Biological Clock Also 'Ticking': Fertility Problems Greater For Men Over 35:
Pregnancy rates decrease and miscarriages increase when a father is over 35 years of age, a scientist will tell the 24th annual conference of the European Society of Human…
July 7, 2008
Encephalon #49 is up on Neuroscientifically Challenged
The 61st Carnival of Space is up on The Bat Page
Carnival of the Godless #95 is up on The Atheist Blogger
The 68th edition of Carnival of the Liberals is up on Globally Rational
July 6, 2008
Character isn't inherited. One builds it daily by the way one thinks and acts, thought by thought, action by action. If one lets fear or hate or anger take possession of the mind, they become self-forged chains.
- Helen Gahagan Douglas
July 6, 2008
Circadian Phase Resetting via Single and Multiple Control Targets:
The robust timing, or phase, of the circadian clock is critical in directing and synchronizing molecular, cellular, and organismal behaviors. The clock's failure to maintain precision and adaption is associated with sleeping…
July 6, 2008
This snake was sighted about a week ago in Burlington NJ by one of my readers. Can anyone here identify the species? Please place your guesses in the comments:
July 5, 2008
I like the man who faces what he must,
With steps triumphant and a heart of cheer;
Who fights the daily battle without fear.
- Sarah Knowles Bolton
July 5, 2008
Too busy all week to write about this, but last weekend we went on a family trip to NYC. Old-timers here may remember that we took the kids there two years ago, so they were eager to visit again. We spent four days there, flying JetBlue (always happy with their service), and generally having…
July 5, 2008
Agriculture Linked To Frog Sexual Abnormalities:
A farm irrigation canal would seem a healthier place for toads than a ditch by a supermarket parking lot. But University of Florida scientists have found the opposite is true. In a study with wide implications for a longstanding debate over whether…
July 5, 2008
Thursday, July 10
6:00 - 8:00 PM
With support from our friends at Burroughs Wellcome Fund, SCONC (Science Communicators of North Carolina) is hosting an introduction to podcasting (think of it as radio over the Internet). National authority Ryan Irelan of Podcast Free America will lead a two-hour…
July 5, 2008
Last night I thought I had fun, hearing both thunder and fireworks, but these guys could not just hear but also see not two but three spectacular things simultaneously - fireworks (left), comet McNaught (center) and lightning (right). And this was all captured in one of the most exciting photos I…
July 5, 2008
Yes, this is me, Bora Borg, at least parts of it. Ably photoshopped by McDawg:
July 5, 2008
As expected, most of them are free to download. Peter Suber has all the relevant links:
Open Access Opportunities and Challenges: A Handbook (PDF) by Barbara Malina (ed.).
Science Dissemination using Open Access by Canessa and Zennaro.
Understanding Open Access in the Academic Environment: A…
July 5, 2008
Heather Morrison just finished teaching her class on Open Access and the student projects are now all online for you to see.
July 5, 2008
That is, in a nutshell, the conclusion of this study. If you have free access to a lot of literature, you are much more likely to click on links and download PDFs (which hopefully means you will read the papers, learn from them, improve your science, and cite them when writing your own manuscripts…
July 5, 2008
Thanks to Heather for the heads-up:
Instructions for NIH-funded authors have been prominently placed on the PubMed home page.
There is a link to a list of journals that will manage the submission process with the NIH guidelines on behalf of authors - very handy! - as well as instructions for…
July 5, 2008
Last night, the skies opened. And that sky-opening business is always kinda tricky - the sky-trap-door engineer has to make sure that everything goes well. And last night, as Jesse Helms was going up in the sky to meet his Maker, the trap-door kinda got stuck. Or perhaps ol'e Jesse wanted to send…
July 5, 2008
Scientiae Carnival is up on PodBlack blog
