ejohnson
Posts by this author
August 10, 2009
For many Americans, it is difficult to imagine what going to the doctor would be like under a government-sponsored health care system. But members of the military and their dependents have firsthand experience with such a system under the US Department of Defense TRICARE program. On The…
August 10, 2009
Were our human ancestors ocean-dwelling? In a TED talk on Greg Laden's Blog, writer Elaine Morgan makes the case that human traits like subcutaneous fat, nearly hairless skin, and bipedalism—traits which distinguish us from chimpanzees and other close relatives—evolved during an aquatic stage in…
August 6, 2009
Below, Saleem Ali responds to the question:
The boundaries of science are continually expanding as scientists become increasingly integral to finding solutions for larger social issues, such as poverty, conflict, financial crises, etc. On what specific issue/problem do you feel we need to bring the…
August 5, 2009
A recent post by Megan McArdle on her Atlantic blog about the heritability of obesity prompted a discussion on ScienceBlogs about the often confused meaning of heritability. As Razib explains on Gene Expression, "Heritability is the proportion of trait variance within the population explainable by…
August 5, 2009
Below, Gladys Kalema-Zikusoka responds to the question:
The boundaries of science are continually expanding as scientists become increasingly integral to finding solutions for larger social issues, such as poverty, conflict, financial crises, etc. On what specific issue/problem do you feel we need…
August 4, 2009
A rainforest in...Iran? A volcanic eruption...on Venus? This week, ScienceBloggers are bringing our attention to places where nature is defying our expectations. No matter how well we think we know the patterns and forces of the universe, we are constantly surprised: On Gene Expression, Razib…
August 4, 2009
Below, Lambros Malafouris responds to the question:
The boundaries of science are continually expanding as scientists become increasingly integral to finding solutions for larger social issues, such as poverty, conflict, financial crises, etc. On what specific issue/problem do you feel we need to…
August 3, 2009
Here at ScienceBlogs, we're generally fans of the Discovery Channel. MythBusters is great. Man vs. Wild is thrilling. Planet Earth is, of course, one of the most sublime ways to spend an hour—or if you're lucky enough to get your hands on the boxed DVD collection, eleven hours. Straight.
But we…
August 3, 2009
In this week's episode of Science Saturday, John Horgan and George Johnson address the controversy over last week's episode, which featured creationist Paul Nelson and science historian Ron Numbers. Also in this week's episode, John and George take a stab at explaining rising health-case costs,…
August 3, 2009
The Internet may have largely replaced many traditional means of storing and sharing information, but as ScienceBloggers are pointing out, it has far to go before its potential is fully realized, particularly in research. On Built on Facts, Matt Springer discusses what it would take to digitize…
August 3, 2009
As any working scientist knows, writing grant proposals is a necessary skill to learn if your lab relies on government or other outside funding to operate. And ScienceBloggers know the process well: From how to allocate investigator effort across multiple grants, to who ought to be allowed access…
August 3, 2009
Below, Skylar Tibbits responds to the question:
The boundaries of science are continually expanding as scientists become increasingly integral to finding solutions for larger social issues, such as poverty, conflict, financial crises, etc. On what specific issue/problem do you feel we need to bring…
July 31, 2009
Below, Josh Ruxin responds to the question:
The boundaries of science are continually expanding as scientists become increasingly integral to finding solutions for larger social issues, such as poverty, conflict, financial crises, etc. On what specific issue/problem do you feel we need to bring the…
July 31, 2009
Since 2006, the Seed Revolutionary Minds series has identified over 50 individuals who are breaking the barriers between science and art, architecture, design, and communication—the interpreters, the game changers, the re-envisionaries.
Earlier this year, we posed three questions to these…
July 29, 2009
In 2007, the Arctic saw its lowest levels of sea ice coverage than any year in recorded history, and trends for 2009 indicate that we may be on our way to a new record low. The low summer coverage follows a winter that saw an unprecedented disappearance of thick, multiyear ice, which is more…
July 28, 2009
Dope A. Mean and the Glut-Tang Clan may not be a household name yet, but if the debut video of their smash hit Synaptic Cleft is any indication, they're poised to be the breakout group of the summer.
S to the YNAPSE!
July 28, 2009
As President Obama continues to garner support for his healthcare reform plan, ScienceBloggers are also taking a look at the issues in play. Peter Lipson of White Coat Underground investigates the perception that centralized, salary-based medicine is more efficient than a system based on private…
July 27, 2009
Around midnight on July 19, an Australian astronomer named Anthony Wesley noticed something new while looking through his telescope at Jupiter: a black spot in the planet's south polar region, similar to one that appeared in 1994 after it was struck by the Shoemaker-Levy 9 comet. Wesley rushed to…
July 27, 2009
Since 2003, the Atheist Alliance International has annually presented the Richard Dawkins Award to "an outstanding atheist whose contributions raise public awareness of the nontheist life stance." Past recipients of the prize have included James Randi, magicians Penn Jillette and Raymond Teller,…
July 23, 2009
"One of the difficulties with trying to broaden the usual definition of scientists is that there's not a lot of press for non-academic science," Chad Orzel wrote recently on Uncertain Principles. So he decided to give it some exposure himself. Chad's call for scientists with non-academic careers…
July 23, 2009
Four decades ago, Neil Armstrong became the first person to step foot on the Moon. His "one giant leap for mankind" is one of the most recognizable achievements in the history of American science. The success of the Apollo 11 mission represented not only the possibilities of space exploration, but…
July 21, 2009
If you've been running into time-outs and submission errors while commenting lately, you're not alone—our system has been suffering some growing pains and it's time for a network-wide rehaul of sorts.
Tonight we'll be transferring over to shiny new servers, and we hope that this will make things…
July 20, 2009
Like the Marvel Comics villain Mysterio who blocks Spiderman's spider-sense by emitting a special gas, a species of tiger moths can jam the sonar signals emitted by bats in order to escape the grisly fate of becoming a midflight meal. The tiger moths, Bertholdia trigona, possess a unique structure…
July 17, 2009
In 1964, Richard Feynman delivered a series of seven lectures to students at Cornell University on "The Character of Physical Law." Decades later, the video footage of the lectures was purchased by Bill Gates—who has said that Feynman could have inspired him to go into physics rather than software…
July 16, 2009
On Wednesday, an article by Amanda Carpenter in the Washington Times riled ScienceBlogger Jessica Palmer and others for its sensational claims and misrepresentation of facts. The article accuses presidential science advisor John Holdren of advocating extreme population control methods like mass…
July 15, 2009
Why do some people lie much more frequently than others? A new study in PNAS indicates that consistently honest people don't have to struggle to overcome temptation—they simply don't feel it. Psychologists at Harvard scanned the brains of 35 volunteers while they predicted the outcome of a…
July 14, 2009
In Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum's newly released book, Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future, they roundly condemn ScienceBlogger PZ Myers and other "New Atheists" for their uncompromising stance against religion. When PZ, in return, posted a scathing review…
July 9, 2009
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The Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM), published by the American Psychiatric Association, is used by psychiatrists to accurately diagnose patients along five different axes of disorders. Four versions have been produced since the first publication in 1952, and a…
July 7, 2009
Human nature is often cited as an explanation for behavior—not a result. But as Eric Michael Johnson of The Primate Diaries explains, human nature is as much a product of individual actions as it is a driving force. And knowing how social structures arise out of individual patterns of behavior may…