October 10, 2011
I know a lot of you will be interested in this and may want to comment on it. It is obvious to me that Netflix pays close attention to this blog, so your comments will matter a great deal. It is almost like you were on the board of directors or something:
Dear Greg,
It is clear that for many of…
October 10, 2011
My first job as an archaeologist in Boston (having moved there from New York) had to do with Deer Island, the northern of two islands that separate Boston's Inner and Outer Harbors. The actual archaeology was uninteresting but the historical research was fascinating. Among the things I learned is…
October 10, 2011
Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims have won the Nobel Prize for economics for their work on cause and effect in the macroeconomy.
Sample their work here.
October 10, 2011
The following photograph is a Facebook Peme (Pic Meme, sometimes spelled "peem"). In its original form it had a caption that was sexist and offensive, feeding the idea that girls can't do math (innately) and also suggesting that a good backup plan for a middle schooler frustrated with academics is…
October 8, 2011
The magazine:
Biomedical researchers have lost a respected source of information--and science journalists have lost yet another publication for which they can write--with the news that The Scientist will stop publishing immediately. The news comes just after the magazine celebrated its 25th…
October 8, 2011
And other things....
Episode 31:
INTRO: Belinda, Jason, Jack and James. New panelist, James Cooper, TAM 9, Belinda's Masters studies.
ON THE STREET: Martin Pribble at Think Inc. 2011.
INTERVIEW: Eugenie Scott.
NEWS: Faster-ââthan-ââlight neutrinos, Blackmores' pharmacy deal, secularism in the…
October 8, 2011
Curiosity is a new Mars Rover that looks like a UFO when it's all folded up in its space-pod, but looks like a Transformer when it is deployed.
The space travelling robot has been folded up and sealed into its anti-germ container (to avoid letting germs out into the Martian ecosystem, the rover…
October 8, 2011
You know you want to! This is just one of the many project you can help out:
My Students: Kids love to find out what's happening inside them! From their blood to their bones, we study the human body. Our health book is a good resource for students, but having a model for them to look at and touch…
October 8, 2011
is ... here, at Kevin Zelnio's blog at Scientific American. Go read it, click on stuff, and pass it around!
October 7, 2011
Sunday, May 22nd, 2011: That is a day people around here will never forget. I remember standing in the maw of my open garage holding an iPad with the weather radar running on it. The weather map showed that a tornado was on top of me. Amanda, Julia and Huxley were in the basement preparing for…
October 7, 2011
Check it out:
OK, you have fought hard to deny or challenge the realities of climate change, perhaps because you are afraid of the policies that might have to be put in place; or are afraid of the possibilities of increased government intervention; or you don't think it will be that bad; or you…
October 7, 2011
The Republic of the Marshall Islands is now home to the world's largest shark sanctuary. The Nitijela, the Marshallese parliament, unanimously passed legislation this week that ends commercial fishing of sharks in all 1,990,530 square kilometers (768,547 square miles) of the central Pacific country…
October 7, 2011
Remember the gravity mapping project on the moon?
NASA's Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL)-B spacecraft successfully executed its first flight path correction maneuver Wednesday, Oct. 5. The rocket burn helped refine the spacecraft's trajectory as it travels from Earth to the moon…
October 7, 2011
Three women who have worked for peace and women's rights in Liberia and Yemen have been awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, it was just announced at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.
Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Roberta Gbowee and Yemeni protest…
October 6, 2011
I'm very excited to have the opportunity to interview Don Prothero this coming Sunday on Atheist Talk Radio. If you are local to the Twin Cities, you can listen in on AM 950. If not, you can get there via the Minnesota Atheist web site (where you will have to pretend you live in a twin cities zip…
October 6, 2011
A study incorporating over 12,000 prior peer reviewed publications, addressing the question of vaccine safety, is due for release by the National Academies of Science. The study attempts to understand adverse effects of vaccines and to assign causality to supposed negative outcomes. The 667 page…
October 6, 2011
How do we search for alien life if it's nothing like the life that we know? At TEDxUIUC Christoph Adami shows how he uses his research into artificial life -- self-replicating computer programs -- to find a signature, a 'biomarker,' that is free of our preconceptions of what life is
Timing…
October 6, 2011
Look at this map, of a small part of the state of Minnesota:
See the wide channel that runs from left to right with the windy river in it? You are looking at one of the most amazing stories in geological history ever. I'd like to tell you about it.
When not in flood, the meandering river is…
October 6, 2011
First, the version by the Eagles:
And now, LeRoy Bell (and some other people):
Yeah, they've all got notes, but LeRoy can sing!
HERE is where you can go to make a positive comment about LeRoy, if you want.
October 5, 2011
I'll be interviewing Don on the radio in the AM, then, later that day:
Sunday, Oct. 9, 2011, 1:30 p.m.
Party Room of Larpenteur Estates
1276 Larpenteur Ave. W.
St. Paul, MN 55113
(Park in the back of the apartment complex and go to the gap between buildings near the east end. Signs will point to…
October 5, 2011
He was 56, and just recently stepped down from his position at the helm of Apple.
October 5, 2011
This is important if you are considering that choice:
October 5, 2011
Did you know that the British scientific journal Nature publishes a section, called Futures, edited by Henry Gee, which presents a short science fiction story every issue?
Well, if you go to this week's Futures in Nature, which is available on line (and not behinda firewall) you will see something…
October 5, 2011
As a result of our last posting on Fukushima, we had a discussion initiated by commenter Daedelus2u about radioactive istopes of Cesium becoming concentrated in fish. I thought I'd take this opportunity to expand on that discussion a little. This relates to the possibility that radioactive…
October 5, 2011
Every day there are news reports of new health advice, but how can you know if they're right? Doctor and epidemiologist Ben Goldacre shows us, at high speed, the ways evidence can be distorted, from the blindingly obvious nutrition claims to the very subtle tricks of the pharmaceutical industry…
October 5, 2011
The finding for which this year's Chemistry Nobel was awarded earlier today was sufficiently unexpected and counter to the orthodoxy of the time that today's prize winner was tossed out of his own research group for reporting it. His 1982 discovery has to do with how atoms are organized in solid…
October 4, 2011
The Amazon Kindle originally promised a technology that would improve your reading experience, at the same time cutting the cost of books in half. Those books would arrive on your Kindle through the magic of the Whisper Net, a free space age delivery service. The Kindle itself would be easier to…
October 4, 2011
... Martin Hertzberg did a grave disservice to your readers by making false and defamatory statements about me and my climate scientist colleagues ...
It's hard to imagine anyone packing more lies and distortions into a single commentary. Mr. Hertzberg uses libelous language in characterizing the…
