My scientific specialty is chronobiology (circadian rhythms and photoperiodism), with additional interests in comparative physiology, animal behavior and evolution. I am not an MD so I cannot diagnose and treat your sleep problems. As well as writing this blog, I am also the Online Discussion Expert for PLoS. This is a personal blog and opinions within it in no way reflect the policies of PLoS. You can contact me at: Coturnix@gmail.com
Peter Suber reports that the Charleston Advisor gave its 2007 Lemon Award to PRISM. I first learned about this from an e-mail:
"The Charleston Advisor (TCA) announced its seventh annual Reader's Choice Awards for products and services in academic libraries, although "winning" one of these awards…
CBC has started a series of interviews (later available as podcasts) with scientists and others about the nature of science, the public undrestanding of science and related issues. Let me know what you think and feel free to blog about individual interviews if you particularly like or dislike what…
Kate describes an unusual reproductive system in topi antelopes in which the fertile females are extremely promiscuous (but choosy) and aggressive. Not what you learned in school under the "mate choice" and "male-male competition" topics in your Animal Behavior classes....
Philosophia Naturalis #15 is up on Sorting Out Science
Friday Ark #167 is up on the Modulator
Change of Shift: Vol 2, Number 12 is up on Doctor Anonymous
Shift Work May Be Cancer Risk:
In an announcement to be published Saturday in the journal Lancet Oncology, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, will label shift work as a "probable cause" of cancer.
The designation -- rooted in the theory that the…
There are 50 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 158 registered participants and if you do…
When I first read about a new paper about the behavior and ecology of maned wolves, I immediately thought of the blogger most uniquely qualified to write about it. Anne-Marie's research is on maned wolves and in her latest post she describes an ecological love-hate triangle in which the maned…
There are 51 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 153 registered participants and if you do…
Gene Study Supports Single Main Migration Across Bering Strait:
Did a relatively small number of people from Siberia who trekked across a Bering Strait land bridge some 12,000 years ago give rise to the native peoples of North and South America?
Greg Laden and Jake Young comment.
Dogs Can Classify…
A milestone for Abel PharmBoy and Happy Birthday to Olduvai George!
Chris asks: how to get alienated kids from inner cities interested in nature?
This year saw a sharp rise in the number of multi-author scientific papers. This reflects the increasingly collaborative nature of science - no more…
When Wilhelm Johannsen coined the word "gene" back in 1909 (hmmm, less than two years until the Centennial), the word was quite unambiguous - it meant "a unit of heredity". Its material basis, while widely speculated on, was immaterial for its usefulness as a concept. It could have been tiny…
There are 52 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 146 registered participants and if you do…
Until the 20th century, few people needed money. Apart from salt and iron, everything could be paid for in kind. Economic activity was more a means of making the time pass than of making money, which might explain why one of the few winter industries in the Alps was clock-making. Tinkering with…
There are 35 brand new papers on PLoS ONE tonight and it is difficult for me to pick the most exciting for the week. So, here is one on the effects of night-shift, one on melanopsin and light perception, one on time perception, one on limb regeneration in the Axolotl, a meta-analysis of the soil…
Bear Hunting Altered Genetics More Than Ice Age Isolation:
It was not the isolation of the Ice Age that determined the genetic distribution of bears, as has long been thought. This is shown by an international research team led from Uppsala University in Sweden in the latest issue of Molecular…
Carnival of Space #30 is up on Bad Astronomy Blog
The 79th Edition of Carnival of the Godless is up on Sexy Secularist!
Friday Ark #166 is up on Modulator
Grand Rounds 4.10 are up on Prudence, M.D.
Carnival of the Green #105 is up on Great Green Goods
Carnival of Homeschooling - Centennial Edition…
There are 53 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 145 registered participants and if you do…
I'll be there, of course:
Join Congressman Brad Miller for a discussion hosted by Ruby Sinreich of OrangePolitics.org and Brian Russell of Yesh.com about the impact of blogging on today's political environment.
When: Thursday, November 29, 5:30pm - 7:30pm
Where: Mill Town Restaurant, 307 E Main St…
..that is adolescence. And the research on what adolescents find attractive. For a few years. Until they gain the gift of speech and hearing, look up, and find beauty in the mind. Unfortunately, some never do.
Yup, it's Monday evening:
Light Activates Output from Evening Neurons and Inhibits Output from Morning Neurons in the Drosophila Circadian Clock:
Living organisms have evolved circadian clocks that anticipate daily changes in their environment. Their clockwork is fully endogenous, but can be reset…
Peter Suber reports the announcement of a new initiative by SAGE and Hindawi, starting a number of new Open Access journals. The platform will be unveiled in early December. They have decided not to switch their older, more established journals to OA yet.
This is really good news as SAGE is one…
Cameron Neylon is putting together a proposal for a UK research council to fund a network with the general theme of 'e-science enabling open science'. The network would fund meetings and travel with the specific aim of driving the open (notebook) science agenda forward. Cameron explains this in a…
