ejohnson

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July 1, 2010
Late Wednesday evening, a terrible disaster began to unfold in the ScienceBlogs universe: word emerged that a zombie attack was taking place in our bloggers' homes. While the attack was believed to have begun somewhere in the southeastern United States, with patient zero Scicurious, it has now…
June 24, 2010
In addition to author Mark Pendergrast, we have four more outstanding contributors here to discuss Inside the Outbreaks over the next few weeks. Though they all come from public health backgrounds, their experiences in and with the Epidemic Intelligence Service are all different. Check out their…
June 22, 2010
We here at ScienceBlogs are pleased to announce that beginning today, we will be helping to spark the next generation of research communications by introducing new blogs to our network from the world's top scientific institutions. The initial list includes: CERN, Howard Hughes Medical Institute (…
June 21, 2010
Before writing Inside the Outbreaks: The Elite Medical Detectives of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, Atlanta native Mark Pendergrast authored a history of another of the city's cornerstone institutions, the Coca-Cola company, in addition to a history of coffee and two other books. Pendergrast…
June 14, 2010
Is it distant thunder? A passing freight train? World Cup fans celebrating a goal? Nope...that's the sound of the ScienceBlogs Book Club becoming active again! It's been awhile since we hosted a Book Club discussion here on the blog - not since Paul Offitt's Autism's False Prophets back in 2008…
May 11, 2010
Do you have a burning question to put to the ScienceBlogs bloggers? Perhaps it's ethical - should companies be able to patent specific genes? Should primates have the same rights in laboratory settings as humans? Maybe it's silly - would you rather pet a dinosaur, or shake hands with a…
March 22, 2010
When we think of our planet's water, we usually think of the vast saltwater oceans that contain 97 percent of it. But the other three percent is equally important to ecosystems and to life as we know it: freshwater found above ground in lakes, rivers, and ponds, and underground in aquifers and…
March 16, 2010
The 2010 Pi Day Bake-Off was such a smashing success that it would be a challenge for even the most extreme pie enthusiast to fairly judge all 35 entries. So we've gone ahead and narrowed it down for you to what we hope you will agree are ten very deserving finalists. We based our choices on a…
March 15, 2010
We're running out of pie references to use here, so bear with us. In this post we have a Chicken Tikka Masala pie from Duchess Shiraz, a classic Apple Pi pie from Kate Gaudry, a Stuffed Mac & Cheese Pie with 4-Herb Crust and an Avocado's Number Pie from Veronica Vadakan, and a Cookie Cake Pie…
March 14, 2010
Well, it is finally Pi Day—mathematicians and scientists rejoice! The number of pies in our inbox doubled overnight, and we woke up to a virtual bakery's worth of pastries. What did we find? We'll have to break it into two posts... In the first we have Stephanie Patterson's Corned Beef Hash pie and…
March 13, 2010
As the deadline for the 2010 Pi Day Pie Bake-Off approaches, the entries are stacking up. In addition to the pies we've already posted here on Page 3.14, three of our own ScienceBloggers have thrown their hats in the ring. It's a good thing we don't actually have the pies here at ScienceBlogs…
March 13, 2010
Either we set our oven temperature too high or the competition is heating up here in the 2010 Pi Day Pie Bake-Off. Yesterday we posted Annie Wang's Archi-meaty pie, Leigh's Rabbiteye Blueberry Pie, and Stephanie's "Grown-Up" S'mores Pie with Guinness, and ScienceBloggers James Hrynyshyn and Pamela…
March 12, 2010
The first entries in the ScienceBlogs/Serious Eats 2010 Pi Day Pie Bake-Off are starting to roll in, and it already looks like its going to be difficult to choose come voting day. We probably shouldn't be writing this post at lunchtime, but here we go anyway with the first three pies: First, from…
January 5, 2010
My journey to the world of snowflakes started about 15 years ago and began with my love for microscopes. Upon showing images from the microscope to friends they had little interest in all the wonderful biology, but were fascinated by the images of snowflakes. There had been little done in this…
December 8, 2009
If your loved ones are at a loss this holiday season as to what shiny objects might most set your cardiac muscle aflutter, quick! You're running out of time. But you are not alone! It's tougher to shop for science nerds than might be imagined. After all, a Sagan lover is not a Kevin J. Anderson…
December 4, 2009
Dear Readers, It is our great pleasure to bring you news of an exciting new partnership, starting today, between ScienceBlogs and National Geographic. ScienceBlogs and National Geographic have at their cores the same ultimate mission: to cultivate widespread interest in science and the natural…
November 30, 2009
Fluids are a constant source of inspiration for high speed photography. Water and milk are two of the common liquids around us every day, but still their complex behavior is a source of wonder. Fluid scientists are still pioneering some of the basic equations that are responsible for the…
November 16, 2009
In the increasingly competitive and admissions-driven world of high school, learning doesn't always come cheap. SAT-prep programs and college admissions counselors charge a pretty penny for the advantages they (claim to) bestow upon anxious juniors and seniors, and even younger students, including…
November 6, 2009
This week, Jessica Palmer of Bioephemera posted an illuminating report on the politics that govern—and often hamper—scientific research for drug abuse treatment. In her post, Jessica points out, "research to help [cigarette] smokers quit is generally portrayed as necessary and important," but the…
November 5, 2009
In the past five years, technology has played a major part in influencing the way we functions, even in the least mechanical of human behaviors--like socializing. Today, ScienceBloggers are taking a close look at how the social media explosion is affecting the world. On The Primate Diaries, Eric…
November 3, 2009
The human brain has an uncanny ability to see the human form in the most unlikely places. Religious icons in toast and faces in the clouds are but a few examples. Here it is droplets of water colliding with each other. I call the shot above "Man and Woman." This tendency to create order out…
November 3, 2009
Last week, Dan Delong, an English teacher at Southwestern High School in Piasa, Illinois was suspended for allowing students to read an article on homosexuality in the animal kingdom. The article in question, "The Gay Animal Kingdom," was written by ScienceBlogger Jonah Lehrer of The Frontal…
November 2, 2009
What if your clothes grew themselves in response to your body's temperature, becoming thicker in areas that needed more insulation and thinner in areas that were warm enough? Sounds pretty much ideal. No worrying about whether you're going to need a scarf later in the evening or if a down parka…
November 2, 2009
In honor of Halloween this weekend, we scared up some classic spooky ScienceBlogs posts. Brian Switek of Laelaps discusses ghosts, UFOs, psychics, witchcraft and other "paranormal rot" many people use to explain "rather ordinary phenomena." On SciencePunk, Frank Swain contemplates the mathematical…
October 30, 2009
Photo Credit: Herederos de Santiago Ramón y Cajal Recently, ScienceBlogger Mo Costandi of Neurophilosophy penned a photo essay for MIT's Technology Review magazine, taking readers on a visual tour of the history of brain imaging, from the first Purkinje cells viewed through a light microscope to…
October 29, 2009
In honor of Halloween this week, ScienceBloggers are offering some creepy crawlies to intrigue and frighten you. Ed Yong of Not Exactly Rocket Science began spinning the spider web with his fascinating coverage of the Bagheera kiplingi, a "mostly vegetarian" jumping spider found throughout Latin…
October 27, 2009
President Obama declared the swine flu epidemic a national emergency on Saturday, after more than 1,000 US deaths--over 100 of them children--were confirmed as linked to the virus. The Centers for Disease Control report that this is purely a step towards preparedness, but many are wondering how…
October 26, 2009
How do we remember, collect, and recognize faces, and do sex and race have any role in how we process and treat faces, and ultimately people? On Collective Imagination, Peter Tu writes about how researchers can use differing theories of facial recognition to further developments in digital security…
October 23, 2009
This week, the Oprah Winfrey Show aired an episode reporting on the quality of life in Denmark. Here, Oprah sat down with a group of Danish atheists and discussed the role of religion--as well as expansive access to healthcare and education--in an improved lifestyle. In somewhat of a surprise to…
October 21, 2009
On October 1, 2009 paleontologists announced the discovery of the oldest known primitive hominid fossil, Ardipithecus ramidus dubbed "Ardi," after 17 years of quietly studying its significance. Nearly a month after its grand unveiling to the media, biologists, paleontologists, and evolutionary…