ejohnson | May 26, 2009
Our physicists-in-residence at ScienceBlogs enjoy catching a few waves every now and then—but what kind? In the most recent installment of his Dorky Poll series, Chad Orzel asked his readers at Uncertain Principles which they preferred: Waves which oscillate perpendicular to their direction of motion—transverse waves—or longitudinal waves, which oscillate in a parallel direction. Matt Springer of Built on Facts had a ready answer for Chad: "Transverse or longitudinal waves, purely as a matter of aesthetic preference? Transverse all the way, of course."
Dorky Poll: How Do You Like Your Waves…
ejohnson | May 26, 2009
A paper published May 19 in PLoS ONE has the blogosphere in a frenzy over a 47 million-year-old primate fossil unearthed in Germany that might be the ancestor of all modern day humans, monkeys and apes. Scientists discovered the fossil—they're calling it Ida—in 1983, but only recently has it been restored. Ida was once a lemur-like animal and belongs to a newly classified genus and species, Darwinius masillae. The most intact primate fossil discovered to date, the find will have particular meaning to evolutionary biologists who have long searched for a "missing link," though ScienceBlogger…
ejohnson | May 18, 2009
In this week's episode of Science Saturday, philosopher Michael Murray and psychologist Paul Bloom debate whether naturalistic explanations for religious psychology should cast doubt on religious beliefs. They also discuss Paul's reasons for thinking religion is an accidental byproduct of evolution, rather than an adaptation, and the possibility that humans are wired to be polytheists rather than theists.
ejohnson | May 15, 2009
With the levels of obese individuals continuing to rise worldwide, new research hopes to illuminate some interesting associations related to this epidemic. On Gene Expression, Razib discusses an abstract that explores the idea that obesity might be related to the acquired genetic ability to process lactase late into life, which is common in European populations but uncommon in other parts of the world. On The Frontal Cortex, Jonah Lehrer gives us some insight on delayed gratification and the implications when it comes to certain foods. Also from Kevin Beck, a bit on Atkins mythology. Dig in…
ejohnson | May 1, 2009
With the recent addition of Patricia Fitzgerald to The Huffington Post's editorial staff as "Wellness" editor, ScienceBloggers are ripping apart the medical articles pushed through to the public eye by HuffPo and Fitzgerald--whose biography states is a "licensed acupuncturist, certified clinical nutritionist, and a homeopath"--with all the force of a black hole. Writes ScienceBlogger PalMD, "In the fight for truth and honesty in journalism, I propose the following more accurate titles for the HuffPo medical writers who are commonly referred to as "Dr": Patricia Fitzgerald, Doctor of…
ejohnson | April 9, 2009Welcome to ScienceBlogs' new photo blog, Photo Synthesis.
While doing our usual browsing of the blogosphere, we've become aware of the vast number of excellent blogs featuring science imagery, from neural networks captured with a light microscope to images of supernovae billions of light-years away. To take advantage of this wealth of visual content, we've decided to host our favorites here on ScienceBlogs, with a rotating line-up of photobloggers we'll select monthly.
To start us off, we've selected a photoblogger whose subjects are small but magnificent: The members of the class Insecta.…
ejohnson | March 25, 2009If climatologists saved the world and nobody experienced the alternative, would it make an impact? New research conducted at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center suggests that it should. The Center used cutting-edge computer modeling technologies to address the question: "What if the Montreal Protocol that regulated the emission of ozone-depleting chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) had not been signed?" The answer, it turns out, is catastrophe. The findings are a welcome change from the usual "doom and gloom" tune that frequently accompanies environmental reports, and gives evidence that intervention…
ejohnson | March 19, 2009Over the two weeks leading up to Pi Day, ScienceBloggers prepared by baking their tastiest pies for the first ever ScienceBlogs Pi Day Pie Bake-Off. Their submissions ranged from traditional—like the Stemwedel family's end-of-winter fruit pie—to patriotic, quirky, and flat-out, albeit mouth-wateringly, bizarre. On Pi Day, we opened up the voting, and readers voted for for their favorite pies from the entries, based on both picture and recipe.
Which pie took the...pie? Despite Aussie John Wilkins allegation that "Americans do not understand what a pie is," (after witnessing the abundance of…
ejohnson | March 18, 2009ScienceBlogs Brazil brings together the most original and influential voices within the Brazilian science community, some of whom have already won accolades for their blogging. Edited from São Paulo by Carlos Hotta and Atila Iamarino, ScienceBlogs Brazil launched Tuesday with 23 Portuguese-language blogs on topics ranging from genetics to the environment. "I think we need people committed to raising scientific awareness in Brazil," said Carlos Hotta, "and I am certain that ScienceBlogs Brazil will turn our local voices into global ones."
From Sb Brazil Community Managers Carlos Hotta and…
ejohnson | February 10, 2009
In this week's Science Saturday, George Johnson chats with Louisa Guilder, author of The Age of Entanglement, about the history and science of quantum entanglement and why we should care about conversations between great physicists decades ago. They also discuss the latest alarming twist on self-publishing and the recent news about experiments in quantum teleportation.
ejohnson | January 26, 2009If you happen to have been to the ScienceBlogs homepage recently, you will have noticed that Sb has a new look! Yes, in the spirit of the times, we decided a little change would do us good.
From an editorial standpoint, we're pretty excited about the flexibility this new design gives us- those modules for "Video," "Peer Review," and "Community" are all interchangeable with other features of our choice, and The Buzz will also have manual inputs. That means that the Buzz will no longer feature posts about dinosaurs when the buzz is about salmonella (unless we want it to). Also gone is the…
ejohnson | January 22, 2009Recently, ScienceBlogger Jonah Lehrer pondered if the Bush Administration's stifling of climatology data did more than influence the scientific process—if it effected American psychology as well. But with a new administration comes a chance for free scientific expression, and as President Obama was being inaugurated, a study was released that asserts louder than ever that scientists believe global warming is being caused by human activity with a bold 97 percent of the active climatologists surveyed in agreement. However, according to the study, reported by James Hrynyshyn from Island of Doubt…
ejohnson | January 21, 2009The annual ScienceOnline convention held in North Carolina concluded on Sunday after a weekend of rousing conversations on a variety of science- and blogging-related topics, and the blogosphere is abuzz in reflection. As pioneers in the science blogging comunity, ScienceBlogs 'Sciblings' were quite a presence at the event with 20 in attendance—many of whom led sessions on topics ranging from anonymity and pseudonymity to gender in science. Feedback from the conference, as gathered by ScienceOnline founder Bora from A Blog Around the Clock, is "very positive."
ejohnson | January 14, 2009Lately some ScienceBloggers have taken to tackling the age-old philosophical question, "What is science?" The ScienceBlogs mothership itself, Seed Media Group, has tackled this definition by assuming the mantra "Science is culture," while Matt Springer from Built on Facts argues the simplistic yet controversial view that science is "the testing of ideas," and Chad Orzel from Uncertain Principles endorses a more operational definition.
ejohnson | January 9, 2009Hi folks,
ScienceBlogs has grown an incredible amount since we got started—our 75 bloggers have composed over 88,000 posts, and as a community we have generated over a million comments. With all this activity, we've been feeling some growing pains recently, so this weekend we will be upgrading the software that drives the site.
Starting this afternoon (Friday, 1/9) at about 1pm Eastern time, we're going to shut down parts of the site for at least 24 hours (probably more like 36 hours)—specifically, the commenting and posting functions.
This means that the site will still be browsable, but…
ejohnson | January 7, 2009It's common for students to take tests in large groups, but a new study suggests being exposed to greater competition may inhibit individuals from excelling. ScienceBlogger Jonah Lehrer attributed this finding to a common tendency of the brain to shut down when intimidated instead of working harder. "When it knows that it won't win the competition—there are just too many competitors—the mind is less willing to put in the effort," he wrote on The Frontal Cortex.
ejohnson | December 17, 2008Getting prosthetic body parts to feel real to an amputee typically requires invasive surgery. But now, using an illusion similar to the body swap illusion, Swedish researchers have demonstrated a noninvasive way to allow hand amputees to experience rubber prosthetic hands as part of their own bodies. The sooner the technique is applied after amputation, the more convincing the illusion is.