February 16, 2007
It does not matter if you care or not about Behe's silly creationist claims, but they sure provide great starting points for cool science blog posts. Here, Ian Musgrave uses this tactic to educate us all about the ancient roles of some molecules we use in blood-clotting, but invertebrete Chordates…
February 16, 2007
This is less than a year old (March 05, 2006), but instructive now that the campaigning has actually started...Also, click on the spiderweb icon to see interesting comments on the original post.
----------------------------------------
In his latest op-ed (here is a link from News and Observer:…
February 16, 2007
I use it all the time. Today's Merriam-Webster Word Of The Day:
grok \GROCK\ verb
: to understand profoundly and intuitively
Example sentence:
No matter how many times I try to explain it, my grandmother just can't grok what a blog is and why anyone would want to read one.
Did you know?
"Grok" may…
February 16, 2007
Escalating Truth:
Words have meanings; they express ideas and ideas are important. The word "surge" came with the idea of a relatively small short-term increase in force that would be effective. Such previous troop increases had been ineffective and the joint chiefs saw no reason that this one…
February 16, 2007
'Regressive Evolution' In Cavefish: Natural Selection Or Genetic Drift:
"Regressive evolution," or the reduction of traits over time, is the result of either natural selection or genetic drift, according to a study on cavefish by researchers at New York University's Department of Biology, the…
February 15, 2007
Times are bad. Children no longer obey their parents, and everyone is writing a book.
- Marcus Tullius Cicero
February 15, 2007
The latest issue of Conservation Magazine has picked several 'people to watch in 2007', including Randy Olson and Martin Wikelski.
Who do you think are 'people to watch in 2007'?
February 15, 2007
Amanda Marcotte explains it all.
February 15, 2007
Remember this, and use it next time you are debating religion, politics or pseudoscience:
"....someone wearing nothing but a Peter Gibbons-esque cheerful smile and having nothing but kind words for anyone will always be wrong if he says 2 + 2 = 5, and that if I call him a douchebag on wheels and…
February 15, 2007
You know I love Pilobolus (the fungus, not the danced troupe), as I wrote a very long post about it before, the cutely titled Postscript to Pittendrigh's Pet Project - Phototaxis, Photoperiodism and Precise Projectile Parabolas of Pilobolus on Pasture Poop.
Then I returned to it later to point out…
February 15, 2007
Nature Network website just had a major rehaul and redesign. Corie Lok explains the details.
February 15, 2007
Global warming change is the topic of a symposium, free and open to the public, in NC State's Campus Cinema, located in Witherspoon Student Center, February 26-28, and featuring excellent speakers. Elizabeth Kolbert, author of FIELD NOTES FROM A CATASTROPHE, opens the meeting on Monday, Feb. 26,…
February 15, 2007
Raleigh Leaders Plan Test of LED Lighting:
Raleigh officials have teamed up with Cree, Inc. in Research Triangle Park to save money and help the environment. Raleigh public works employees will test and implement Cree's Light Emitting Diode lighting components across the city.
In a pilot program…
February 15, 2007
I have read "The God Delusion" by Richard Dawkins and "Breaking The Spell" by Daniel Dennett a couple of months ago, could not bear to slog all the way through "The End of Faith" by Sam Harris, and am still waiting to get my copies of "God: the Failed Hypothesis" by Victor Stenger and "Evolving God…
February 15, 2007
This is the last in the 16-post series of BIO101 lecture notes for a speed-course targeted at adults. As always, I welcome corrections and suggestions for improvement (June 17, 2006)...
--------------------------------------
Last week we looked at the organ systems involved in regulation and…
February 15, 2007
History Carnival #48 is up on Aardvarchaeology
February 15, 2007
Litbrit (also check the comments on the re-post here) tells it beautifully:
That is why so many of us have spoken out--we don't want government telling us what we should believe and how we should run our private, personal lives or how we should use our private, personal bodies. Not because we "hate…
February 15, 2007
Bats Prey On Nocturnally Migrating Songbirds:
It was until now believed that nocturnally migrating songbirds, while venturing into the unfamiliar night sky for accomplishing their long, challenging trans-continental migrations, could at least release anti-predator vigilance thanks to the…
February 15, 2007
Not every bloggers' meetup has to be talking about blogging. We can also just get together and have fun. And so we did last night. A bunch of us went bowling.
On Wednesday nights they have great family rates. We got four lanes - one for kids, three for adults. My daughter tends to start out…
February 15, 2007
The 54th Skeptic's Circle is up on Action Skeptics.
February 14, 2007
Space and time are modes by which we think, not conditions under which we live.
Albert Einstein
February 14, 2007
Last week, John Edwards put forward his healthcare plan which got pretty positive reviews - not an all-out single-payer system, but a good step in the right direction, pitting private and state providers in direct competition with each other (and since state can provide better care more efficiently…
February 14, 2007
Considering the name of this blog, you may not be surprised that I am a sucker for clocks and watches. If I had more walls and more money, I'd collect them by dozens (hundreds?). Grow-a-Brain has been collecting links to sites showing all kinds of clocks.
I wish I could have something like this,…
February 14, 2007
Jennifer Ouellette has an article in the new issue of Nature about the travails of married science couples.
February 14, 2007
Oh, and we are all Spartacus
(driftglass started the blogswarm)
February 14, 2007
The Carnival Of Education: Week 106 is up on The Education Wonks.
This Week's Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Nerd Family
February 14, 2007
Chris Bowers: More Resignations! More Apologies! and Terrorism Remains A Key Political Tool Of the Right
Aldon Hynes: Fighting for Democracy
Lane Hudson: Right-Wing Attack Puts Bloggers' Lives in Danger
February 14, 2007
Carnival of the Liberals - Valentine's Day Edition - is up on The Greenbelt
February 14, 2007
This (from March 09, 2006) was a precursor to this...
--------------------------------------------
Every now and then I see articles about the "future of the car", like this one. I am trying to figure out what is so smart about the mindset of the people who think these things up. Leaving comfort…
February 14, 2007
Tonight at 6pm, bloggers go bowling. Bring your lap-top - the bowling place has wifi.
Monday, some of us will go and get the NBC ascertainment.
Next week (2/21/2007) at 6pm free food and drinks for bloggers, courtesy of Duke University and its new DukeEngage initiative. Read more about it here…
