April 4, 2008
Speaking at TED in 1990, the not-yet-legendary architect Frank Gehry takes a whistlestop tour of his work to date, from his own Venice Beach house to the under-construction American Center in Paris. In this 50-minute slideshow (before TED's 18-minute limit), Gehry explains the site-specific nature…
April 3, 2008
"In the transmission of human culture, people always attempt to replicate, to pass on to the next generation the skills and values of the parents, but the attempt always fails because cultural transmission is geared to learning, not DNA."
-Gregory Bateson
April 3, 2008
... well, OK, maybe that is a slight exaggeration.
You know about giardia. Giardia intestinalis. It causes a nasty gut infection, and you get it by drinking water pretty much anywhere in the US (potentially). It is very hard to get rid of.
Giardia adapt to immune system attacks (of their host…
April 3, 2008
Accepting his 2008 TED Prize, author Dave Eggers asks the TED community to personally, creatively engage with local public schools. With spellbinding eagerness, he talks about how his 826 Valencia tutoring center inspired others around the world to open their own volunteer-driven, wildly creative…
April 2, 2008
"All sorts of computer errors are now turning up. You'd be surprised to know the number of doctors who claim they are treating pregnant men. "
-Isaac Azimov
April 2, 2008
I don't have time to really do this paper justice, but I wanted you to know about it. It's at PLoS, and therefore you don't have to be special to read it free.
Understanding the dynamics of human body weight change has important consequences for conditions such as obesity, starvation, and…
April 2, 2008
I came across this chilling misanthropic missive in support of home schooling.
The greatest pitfalls of public education are the humanistic philosophies taught at the expense of biblical truth, ungodly teachers and classmates seeking to influence our children, and the absence of spiritual or moral…
April 2, 2008
As she accepts her 2008 TED Prize, author and scholar Karen Armstrong talks about how the Abrahamic religions -- Islam, Judaism, Christianity -- have been diverted from the moral purpose they share to foster compassion. But Armstrong has seen a yearning to change this fact. People want to be…
April 1, 2008
"We are now at a point where we must educate our children in what no one knew yesterday, and prepare our schools for what no one knows yet."
-Margaret Mead
Quote
April 1, 2008
Syphilis is first clearly seen in Europe in 1495, when it appeared as a plague (though it was not "the blague" ... Yersinia pestis) among Charles VIII's troops. When these troops went home shortly after the fall of Naples, they brought this disease with them, staring an epidemic. The level of…
April 1, 2008
This image shows a large outcrop of layered rock in Aureum Chaos, an area that has apparently collapsed, leaving a region of irregular knobs and hills. Unlike many of the knobs, the light outcrop shows distinct, nearly horizontal layers. This may indicate that it was deposited after the collapse…
April 1, 2008
This is kinda like what my front yard looks like right now. Click the picture to see and learn more.
March 31, 2008
Canada, land of the holier than thou. Hey, some of my best friends are Canadians, but really, most Canadians look down on Americans for being all the bad things that we truly are. So fine, we deserve it. But if you are a non-Canadian of any nationality, the next time a Canadian condescends to…
March 31, 2008
Jennifer Gooch's mission was to create a simple Web site where people could go to find their lost gloves. Even if no happy reunions ever took place, she was just content to spread a little goodwill.
But just a month since http://www.onecoldhand.com went live, the Carnegie Mellon University art…
March 31, 2008
Fall, a very sunny, very breezy day on the lake, Amanda and I sitting in the cabin minding our own business.
Suddenly, ...thwack...
... well, it was a sort of tiny miniature thwack, but a thwack nonetheless. Peering outside through the window, we could see the the last death throws of a tiny…
March 30, 2008
How do you avoid having sex with your close relatives? Well, not you, specifically, but how is it done generally, or perhaps among mammals in particular?
One obvious way would be to use a part of the genome that seems to evolve rapidly, and that would be able to distinguish between even moderately…
March 30, 2008
Power lines kill raptors. Tens of thousands of raptors a year die on power lines. But there are ways to avoid this.
On 26 February, the Hungarian Ornithological and Nature Conservation Society (MME; BirdLife in Hungary) signed an agreement with the Ministry of Environment and Water (MEW), and…
March 29, 2008
The Penny Dreadfuls: works by Bohemian Press
U of M Printmaking Collective
Opening April 3rd 6-9 Northrup King Building
(1500 Jackson Street NE)
April 3-16 2008
Gallery hours:
Th-F 12-5
Sat 12-4
March 29, 2008
The question is basic: Is evolutionary change largely random or is it more often shaped by selective forces? The former is linked to what is called Neutral Theory, and it has a lot of support, to the extent that it most likely true. The latter is part of what is sometimes known as the…
March 28, 2008
... below the fold.
March 28, 2008
The Earth Hour, that is!
March 29th is Earth Hour Day. From 8pm to 8pm in your local time zone, you are to switch off the lights and stuff.
A number of astronomers out for an early evening look at the stars will thank you, and the Earth will thank you.
More details here.
March 28, 2008
The Friday Ark on Modulator
and
Carnival of the Liberals # 61 at Last Left Turn...
March 28, 2008
PZ Myers is not pulling punches with Expelled! and the enigmatically moronic producers of said movie.
