elerner
Posts by this author
Ever since the giant squid's star-turn in 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, cephalopods have shown promise in the world of film. Though sharks may get the glory (and the title roles), their tentacled nemeses stole a scene in Oldboy and were conspicuous by their absence in Watchmen. Now they're stealing…
Today we celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, an environmental "teach-in" first promoted by Senator Gaylord Nelson in 1970. The environment of Nelson's day was a little different than the one we now possess, not only in terms of an extra four decades of pollution, but in the attitudes and…
Though airplanes are starting to take off from various parts of continental Europe, UK airspace will remain locked down for at least another day. Eyjafjallajökull's ill temper has been an unexpected object lesson in the complexity and interconnectedness of our environment, technology, and social…
[This post comes courtesy of the State Department's Katherine Musgrove, who is an economic officer in the Office of Economic Policy and Summit Coordination in the Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs. The Energy and Climate Partnership of the Americas is having its first ministerial right now in…
The webcast of day two is , starting at 8:30 Eastern.
Update:The feed is down until 12:30, when Todd Stern (U.S. Special Envoy for Climate Change) and Jacques Gabriel (Minister of Transportation and Communications, Haiti) will speak.
Generally, it takes the threat of imminent death or disaster to get earth science onto the front page of newspapers, and today is no exception. A massive plume of ash emanating from the tongue-twisting Eyjafjallajökull eruption in Iceland has thrown a wrench into much of Europe's travel plans; the…
At last summer's Summit of the Americas, President Obama announced the formation of a multinational organization aimed at increasing renewable energy usage, confronting climate change, and promoting tech transfer and sustainability practices amongst its members.
The Energy and Climate Partnership…
Yesterday's edition of the journal Current Biology featured an interesting study on Williams Syndrome, a genetic condition marked by cognitive deficits but also a several common personality traits. People with Williams are excessively outgoing and friendly, are often musically talented, and, most…
Yesterday, we welcomed Jason Goldman of The Thoughtful Animal to ScienceBlogs. And if you liked his post about desert ants on stilts, you're going to love the blogger who has joined us today: Alex Wild of Myrmecos. Like Goldman, Wild's no stranger to SB or the science blogosphere; his awesome…
Start your week off by welcoming the newest member of the to the ScienceBlogs family: Jason Goldman of The Thoughtful Animal. Jason is a doctoral student studying cognition and behavior at the University of Southern California. You may already be familiar with Jason's blog, his Pi Day Contest pie,…
Every other year, the National Science Board publishes its Science and Engineering Indicators report: data points from various aspects of academia, industry, and public life that aspire to gauge the nation's scientific strengths and weaknesses. One of the more interesting indicators is a survey…
If you're reading a science story today, chances are you're going to see the name Australopithecus sediba in it. That's the designation of the hominid fossil discovered in South Africa in 2008, which is making its debut in tomorrow's edition of Science. And now that the embargo has been lifted, you…
World Water Day may have come and gone, but ScienceBloggers re still searching the depths of the oceans and the rivers of tropical islands for great new research. Today, Nick Anthis of The Scientific Activist points to the discovery of the first truly anaerobic animal. These microscopic creatures…
Since 2006, Bora Zivkovic of A Blog Around the Clock has been in charge The Open Laboratory, a series of collections of -- as the subtitle says - the best science writing on blogs. The "open" in this case is not only about exposing the inner workings of science, but the democratic and transparent…