Greg Laden is a biological anthropologist and science communicator. His research has covered North American prehistoric and historic archaeology and African archaeology and human ecology. He is an OpenSource and OpenAccess advocate. Greg's wife, Amanda, is a High School biology teacher, his daughter Julia is a world traveler and his son Huxley is 2.
QUEST visits the National Ignition Facility in Livermore, where scientists will soon aim the world's largest laser at a target the size of a pencil eraser. The goal? Nuclear fusion -- and, they say, the answer to the world's clean energy needs.
I've already announced to you, twice, the emergence of a new web site called "Expelled Exposed" developed by the National Center for Science Education. Chances are you already went and looked at the site.
But, as of a few minutes ago, the site has been totally refined and updated. The site that…
John Wheeler may have been one of the few living individuals who actually worked with Einstein, until his death at the age of 96 two days ago. He is famous for his work on the Unified Field Theory (which did not come to fruition), the Harrison-Wheeler equation which has to do with high-density…
That elephants have an aquatic ancestry has been suspected for some time now. Moreover, the idea of elephant aquatic origins and elephant origins in general is part of a growing realization that many of the world's aquatic mammals originated in a couple of regions of Africa that were for a very…
"Academic Freedom" bills seem to come in two flavors: Those that protect students from the possibility of learning certain things, and those that protect subversive teachers from getting in trouble for being bad teachers. In both cases, they are bills typically introduced into state legislatures…
I don't think this is too new, but I certainly missed it.
For the busy viewer, watch the first 15 seconds or so to get the idea, then skip ahead to 3 minutes 1 second to get to the meat of it.
(Hat tip: Frischer Wind)
It seems to me that all you need, with these devices, is a kind of "smoke…
Pangea Day is May 10th. Everybody is going to get together and hold hands to bring the world together. We'll call it "Hands Across the Mid Ocean Ridges..."
Well, OK, that may not work, but there will be events of interest. Today we have a little pre-Pangea Day warm up, with a selection of…
On April 9, 2008, numerous dust plumes blew off the Libyan coast and over the Mediterranean Sea. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite captured this image the same day. Although contrasting strongly with the underlying ocean water, the tan plumes are…
This is a press release pertaining to an article coming out next month in the American Journal of Public Health:
The widespread assumption that pandemic influenza is an exceptionally deadly form of seasonal, or nonpandemic, flu is hard to support, according to a new study in the May issue of the…
Check out this film. My friend Marta plays "Holy Mary, Mother of God" a part especially well suited for her.
Details:
In this video:
Adri Mehra (videos), Kristen Swenson, Louie McCoy, Lydia Schwartz (videos), Marta Haftek, Nicole LeDuc (videos), Peter Kenyon (videos), Taylor Park (videos)
We…
When Life Nearly Died: The Greatest Mass Extinction of All Time is a book by Michael Benton on the Permian Extinction now out in paperback. From the press release:
Today it is common knowledge that the dinosaurs were wiped out by a meteorite impact sixty-five million years ago, which killed half…
Rokia Traore sings the moving "M'Bifo," accompanied on guitar and on the n'goni, a lute-like Malian stringed instrument with a soulful tone. A quietly mesmerizing performance.
I'm home sick, so I'm not going to be able to hug very many atheists... But you'all go hug each other now, ya hear?
Here is the facebook link to the event.
On April 14, 1912, the RMS Titanic hit an iceberg in the North Atlantic. In less than three hours, the unsinkable ship sank to the bottom of the sea. A total of more than 1,500 lives were lost.
The events surrounding the sinking of the Titanic may be more of a reflection of human social…
State of the Wild 2008-2009: A Global Portrait of Wildlife, Wildlands, and Oceans (State of the Wild) is a production of the Wildlife Conservation Society.
...State of the Wild is a collection of evocative essays featuring emerging issues in the conservation of wildlife and wild places. The book…
Do you know that this is National Poetry Month?
Inspired by national poetry month, I've gone ahead and written a poem. I call it "Ode to Ben Stein" ... but really, it is only a limerick.
There once was an actor named Ben
He wrote speeches for Nixon and then
Drank too much kool-ade
While on a…
Former conservative speech writer discusses economy (he feels that the economy is very strong) and intelligent Design Creationism here.
[Hat Tip: Peter M.]
Leonardo Da Vinci's life and work is well known -- but his own face is not. Illustrator and activist Siegfried Woldhek used some thoughtful image-analysis techniques to find what he believes is the true face of Leonardo. Here, he walks viewers through exactly how he did it.
Shouldda kept the guy with the hooker.....
New New York Governor David Paterson will likely sign a bill now working its way through the final legislative steps that will add a sales tax to items purchases on the internet by New Yorkers.
The controversial bill ends what for many New Yorkers had…
Dawkins Admits to Not Being Perfect Atheist: Consideres Possibility that Fairies and Green Unicorns May, just May Exist. (But almost certainly not.)
Hat tip: Science and Religion News
The Open Source content management system PLONE runs the newly released NASA Science web site.
The site has something for everyone (researchers, educators, kids, and "citizen scientists"). The Plone seems to be working quite nicely.
Some of it is still a little rough. The Space Calendar link…
Filmmaker David Hoffman shares footage from his feature-length documentary Sputnik Mania, which shows how the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik in 1957 led to both the space race and the arms race -- and jump-started science and math education around the world.
While in Asia in 2007, TEDster Paul Koontz got the priceless chance to spend a few days in North Korea. He brought his two kids -- and his camera, capturing both quotidian detail (like the military bearing of a lonely traffic warden) and the grand spectacle leading up to the Mass Games. It's a rare…
