September 29, 2008
An article just out in PLOS Biology explores one of the most important, but also difficult to observe, phenomena related to DNA regulation.
Figure 1 from the paper: "Atomic Force Microscopy of Lac Repressor-DNA Complexes (A) Schematic structures of biotin (bio)- and digoxigenin (dig)-labeled…
September 29, 2008
Fossils of a newly discovered species of dinosaur -- a 10-meter-long, elephant-weight predator -- were discovered in 1996 along the banks of Argentina's Rio Colorado, and are now being reported after a long period of careful study. This dinosaur dates to about 85 million years (which falls within…
September 29, 2008
Human societies tend to be at least a little polygynous. This finding, recently reported in PLoS genetics, does not surprise us but is nonetheless important. This important in two ways: 1) This study uncovers numerical details of human genetic variation that are necessary to understand change…
September 29, 2008
The Republicans failed to come up to the plate, and with 66 voting for and 132 voting against, the critically important bailout bill has failed in the house. As the vote turned against the bill, we watched the stock market dive precipitously. The Dow stands now at about 500 down, but it was much…
September 29, 2008
560 Billion Dollars
Cost of the Iraq War to the US so far.
700 Billion Dollars
Cost of the one time bailout to compensate for deregulation and greed in the financial markets.
560 Billion Dollars Pluse 700 Billion Dollars
The cost of two terms of Republican Leadership
Five
The approximate percentge…
September 29, 2008
Hat top: blgoSci
September 29, 2008
Here are excerpt from a list of things you will never see on Star Trek
1. The Enterprise runs into a mysterious energy field of a type it has encountered several times before.
2. The Enterprise goes to visit a remote outpost of scientists, who are all perfectly all right.
4. The crew of the…
September 28, 2008
The proof is finally in. John McCain has the uncanny ability to say whatever he wants no matter how utterly untrue it is and retain support in the double (albeit diminishing) digits. The Chinese are also able to say whatever they want (like, this girl can sing, and hey, look at the cool fireworks…
September 28, 2008
The waiting is over. Republican house representatives initially reluctant to support the newly crafted legislation to fix the markets have been meeting for the last two or three hours. It took a lot longer for these Republicans to go over the bill than it did for the Democrats, owing I assume to…
September 28, 2008
But Nova Scotia will take it in the neck, so to speak. Kyle has made a pretty hard right turn and is going to make landfall in Nova Scotia. This changes the landfall estimate by many hours, because of the complex shape of the New England/Maritime coast. Indeed, Kyle is essentially already there…
September 28, 2008
These parodies are getting better and better . This one is hysterical:
September 28, 2008
As a supplement to my essay on Maine here is the actual important information on Kyle.
Kyle is only barely being thought of as a hurricane at this moment. The forcasters are using terms like "Ugly" (which means not well formed as a hurricane) and "Convectivly Challenged" in their discussion.…
September 28, 2008
To go "down east" is to go "to Maine" ... or if you are already in Maine, to go to the "real" Maine.
As you drive down east on Route One, you can see the transition as clear as the gull shit on Schooner Head. This is to say, it is subtle and misleading. Geology, culture, the weather, and the…
September 28, 2008
Many people are frustrated with the level of debate these days, and it is not uncommon to wax nostalgic for the good old days, the days when debates were entirely live, in person, and went on and on until they were done, unconstrained by a television schedule. Bioephemera takes us down memory lane…
September 28, 2008
Hey, she didn't get where she is by eating moose burgers and popping out kids:
Talk to the hand, babe:
ADDED:
September 27, 2008
... of the blog Highly Allochon ... Highly Allochthon ... no, wait, .. Got it Highly Allochthonous.
September 27, 2008
Not only is our universe expanding, but with the LHC online we may even find the elusive Higgs Boson soon.
Tune in this Sunday for a discussion about the very small and very large in our universe with two prominent physicists:
Keith Olive, Physicist at the U of M's Theoretical Physics Institute,…
September 27, 2008
Carnival of Feminists #65
Carnival of Education, #190
Announcement: New Book Review Blog Carnival
Social Media Blog Carnival - September 24, 2008
Carnival Of The Liberals, #74
Working at Home Blog Carnival-104th Edition
Four Stone Hearth Anthropology Blog Carnival
Carnival of Eastern European…
September 27, 2008
It is a shame when a perfectly good research project gets picked up by a vote grubbing elected official to use in a derogatory way in a sound bite. It is embarrassing when we are talking about the presidential election and the candidate is incapable of hitting his mark properly ... mispronouncing…
September 27, 2008
It has been a while since I've updated you on the latest very important technology movies. If you are PC, don't bother watching. You won't like any of these They are below the fold.
September 27, 2008
(BTW: It does not "straddle both France and Switzerland" ... it straddles the border.)
Totally stolen from ABATC
September 27, 2008
A lot of people think the debate was pretty even. Obama supporters liked Obama, McCain supporters liked McCain, I assume (that is utterly obvious). But what matters is the effect on uncommitted voters. Aside from the effects of the three major gaffs that McCain made (the cost to him, to his…
September 26, 2008
Linux Dot Com has a piece comparing Obama and McCain. Here. This will be important to anyone with an interest in Open Source technology, the intertubes, all that stuff.
September 26, 2008
It was fourteen years ago today that New Gingrich, then Leader of the Republican Delegation to the United States House of Represented initiated the absurd stunt known as the Contract on America (or something close to that, anyway). The Contract was originally circulated as a joke internet meme…
September 26, 2008
I want to officially complain about T. Boone Pickens. What an offensive dit. I am tired of his commercials (the most recent having just been aired ... the post debate commercial) telling us that we need to become energy independent, and blaming the very same politicians that he has been buying…
September 26, 2008
This is McCain's preferred debating weapon:
And this is what he looked like during the debate:
While at the end, this is how Obama looked:
But McCain got a hug in the end...
September 26, 2008
From Kathleen Parker of the National Review:
If at one time women were considered heretical for swimming upstream against feminist orthodoxy, they now face condemnation for swimming downstream -- away from Sarah Palin.
Oh what fun. Parker, a very conservative columnist writing for a very…
September 26, 2008
Don't forget to watch the debates tonight. In watching the pre-debate coverage, we learn that Ted Kennedy has been brought to the hospital. For a man with brain cancer, this may be a not uncommon thing, and there are no details. Stay tuned (to the TV/Radio, not me. What do I look like, AP????)…
