Social Sciences
jtoney | April 13, 2011
Source.
On April 29, Prince William and Kate Middleton will exchange wedding vows with Dr. Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury presiding. More than two billion viewers are expected to witness the event with well wishes for this handsome couple, with Britain's future in mind. I wish them all the best, with opportunities and joy that they cannot even imagine today.
Archbishop Williams is a learned theologian but is not without controversy with his statements about the 9/11 attacks, Muslims and British law. My focus here, however, is to explore his thoughts about faith and science. I…
cmonforton | April 12, 2011The practice of posting a notice about meetings between regulated parties and OMB staff began during the GW Bush Administration, not a group known for transparency. Even that very secretive Administration saw the value in informing the public promptly of such meetings. The Obama Administration's OIRA is now 0-2 when it comes to disclosure of meetings about OSHA rules. (Their performance may actually be even worse. For all I know they've had other meetings. We just don't know to look for them on OIRA's website.)
Serious health effects related to overexposure to respirable crystalline…
dr. dolittle | April 11, 2011
Day 3- Monday!
Today was a great day for Comparative Physiology!!
I highly enjoyed both symposia offered by the Comparative and Evolutionary Physiology Section of the American Physiological Society.
-The first was entitled: "Elucidating Nature's Solutions to Human Diseases." In this symposium, Dr. Barbara Horwitz, University of California at Davis, discussed how hibernating animals protect their nervous system.
-The second talk was given by Dr. Sandy L. Martin, University of Colorado School of Medicine. Her talk was titled: "Biomarkers for the two phase switches of hibernation."
If only…
dr. dolittle | April 11, 2011
Day 2-Sunday
The comparative physiology seminars and posters are all being presented today (Monday) and tomorrow. Since there will be a comparative physiology symposium today on fuel utililization and energy metabolism, I decided to attend the symposium held yesterday morning on energy metabolism and how it relates to the pathology, treatment and prevention of obesity and diabetes. This was a fantastic session that provided much information on how changes in energy metabolism impacts human health. Leading researchers in this field who gave presentations were:
-Christopher Newgard, Duke…
jtoney | April 8, 2011
"Man"
The Tennessee General Assembly overwhelming passed Bill 368 yesterday (April 7), stating:
Teachers, Principals and School Personnel - As introduced, protects a teacher from discipline for teaching scientific subjects in an objective manner.
At first blush, it sounds reasonable. Is it?
From ScienceInsider:
In addition to AAAS {American Association for the Advancement of Science}, the Tennessee Science Teachers Association, the American Civil Liberties Union of Tennessee, and the National Center for Science Education (NCSE) have expressed their opposition to the bill.
"There has…
drorzel | April 8, 2011
How Much is a Dragon Worth? - Michael Noer - Backslash - Forbes
"To silence the skepticism and to give fans of the list some idea of just how deep the rabbit hole goes, I've decided to flash a little bit of imaginary ankle and walk through a typical Fictional 15 investigation, in this case of Smaug, the fire-breathing dragon from J.R.R. Tolkein's novel The Hobbit and the forthcoming Warner Bros. movies.
Certainly Smaug is depicted as being very rich in the novel. At one point, Bilbo Baggins, the book's hero, addresses him as "O Smaug, unassessably wealthy" and his gold is described as…
pharyngula | April 7, 2011Man, this article is bad.
Perhaps atheism is a luxury of the well-to-do. Put differently, everyone--even the most hardcore atheists, I think--will start believing in God if put under a high amount of stress. Think of the last time you prayed to God, and I will bet that, for many of you (whether you generally classify yourself as an atheist or not), it would have been when you were under stress. For most of us so-called atheists, when things go horribly wrong, we think of God.
PZ raises his hand. Hardcore atheist here. Nope. I've experienced stress, even thought I was dying once…no gods came…
oracknows | April 7, 2011After having been away for four days, it always takes me a little time to get back into the swing of things when it comes to blogging. Actually, it takes some time to get back into the swing of things at work, too. Sometimes it takes starting on something not too difficult and then working my way back up to the more difficult tasks. In terms of blogging, starting out with something not too difficult often means taking on a reliable source of utter nonsense. And what better source of utter nonsense exists in the world of pseudoscientific medicine? Certainly, it's hard to find a loonier,…
jtoney | April 4, 2011Find out what Congresswoman Michele Bachmann has to say about the weekly Prayer Meetings taking place in Room 219 of the U.S Capital. Also, her perspective of the sacrifices and faith of our Founding Fathers is sure to stir your heart. Find out more by visiting The Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation website at www.findroom219.com.
Since the national American Chemical Society meeting last week, I've had an ongoing dialogue with Sir Harold Kroto about his insightful seminar "Science, Anti-Science and Survival." He described the "power of irrationality" as one of the greatest challenges of…
tetrapodzoology | March 31, 2011PLEASE NOTE (ADDED 2012): IT SHOULD BE EXTREMELY OBVIOUS THAT THIS ARTICLE IS AN APRIL FOOL'S JOKE, NOT A DESCRIPTION OF REAL RESEARCH.
Today sees the publication of what is surely the century's most significant zoological discovery. After decades of searching, Africa's mystery Congolese swamp monster, the Mokele-Mbembe, has been discovered - it is a living sauropod dinosaur, and it radically alters our understanding of archosaur phylogeny, sauropod biology and diversity, and indeed the evolutionary process as a whole.
As is fitting for the discovery of a brand new, extant, hitherto…
jtoney | March 30, 2011
If you hate math, or know someone who hates math, Sir Harold Kroto describes an elegantly simple way to understand algebra - using shapes.
I had the pleasure and honor to meet Sir Harold Kroto yesterday at the National American Chemical Society meeting. He spoke on "Science, Anti-Science and Survival." The session topic was "Scientific Freedom and Human Rights in Chemistry and Related Sciences," in which I am deeply engaged {my seminar followed his, a very tough act to follow - but that may be a topic for another day.}
During lunch, Harry shared with me an important project that he has led…
jrosenhouse | March 29, 2011Having communicated for so long by blog and e-mail, it was a pleasure to finally meet Jerry Coyne in person last night. He was speaking at the University of Maryland. It was not the easiest trip in the world. Driving was out of the question since it would have involved braving the Beltway near rush hour. With all due respect to Jerry, there ain't no one worth that kind of trouble. But UM has its own Metro stop. So I drove to the Vienna station, took a long train ride that involved three of DC's five Metro lines, then a bus over to the campus, and then the following conversation:
ME (to…
jdupuis | March 28, 2011I read these five books over about the last year or so and they all represent something I really look for in books on complex subjects -- for the most part, they concentrate on things individual people can actually do to make a difference. In this case, a difference in the future of the planet.
Whether it's where you live, what you eat, what you buy or how you get around, the choice is ours. Each of us, me and you, can make choices that, in the aggregate, can make a difference.
Mark Bittman's Food Matters and Betty Fussell's Raising Steaks are at least as much about food and food culture…
tetrapodzoology | March 27, 2011
In the previous article we looked at the majority of taxa included within the 'plecotin' group. As discussed therein, while there may be a clade of 'core plecotins', the traditional concept of the group might be paraphyletic. Some plecotins - Idionycteris in particular - might even be outside the clade that includes plecotins and all other vespertilionines. Here we look at a particularly interesting group of vesper bat species that might, or might not, be part of the 'core plecotin' clade: the desert long-eared bats (Otonycteris). What makes desert long-eared bats especially interesting is…
pharyngula | March 27, 2011I had never heard of these before:
Papal knighthoods are awarded to lay men and women for conspicuous service to the church and society. They are among the highest honours the Pope can bestow.
Surprise, surprise, though…the "highest honours the Pope can bestow" can be purchased for £50,000. Somehow, the venality of the church is no surprise at all to me.
I also had to roll my eyes at this fact about the priest intermediary who has been selling knighthoods:
Fr Seed is honorary chaplain to the International Committee on Human Dignity
That an "International Committee on Human Dignity" has a…
jdupuis | March 27, 2011I have a whole pile of science-y book reviews on two of my older blogs, here and here. Both of those blogs have now been largely superseded by or merged into this one. So I'm going to be slowly moving the relevant reviews over here. I'll mostly be doing the posts one or two per weekend and I'll occasionally be merging two or more shorter reviews into one post here.
This one, of Wikinomics: How Mass Collaboration Changes Everything, is from May 18, 2008.
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It seems that at least half the time I mention this book to someone interested in the way the web is changing social patterns the…
sa smith | March 25, 2011Classic moment in ERV history:
Me: *ranting to my mother about my interactions with a big-box-store veterinarian not understanding what 'platelets' are and letting smaller dogs attack him while he was waking up from anesthesia when he was getting neutered and my inability to get across to the 'vet' how FUCKING STUPID her actions were*
Mom: Now honey, you know you dont deal well with those kinds of people.
Me: *stops mid rant*... What kind of people?
Mom: ... You know. Stupid people.
I dont. Some people are just so stupid I honestly cant figure out how they know how to 'feed themselves' or '…
sa smith | March 22, 2011Because I am having so much fun at mah conference, I missed my chance to plug a Q&A ninja/journalist Trine Tsouderos hosted with Paul Offit, vaccine inventor.
Im sorry you all missed the chance to participate (Im hoping most ERV readers are Respectful Insolence readers, so you all got the info that way). I mean, Im having so much fun interacting with people working with HIV-1 vaccines right now, and I get all giddy nuts about that, and you all could have gotten a taste of it by having the chance to interact with Dr. Offit.
I sorry :(
BUT!
On the bright side, the Q&A was recorded and…
gregladen | March 22, 2011With never-before-seen video, primatologist Isabel Behncke Izquierdo (a TED Fellow) shows how bonobo ape society learns from constantly playing -- solo, with friends, even as a prelude to sex. Indeed, play appears to be the bonobos' key to problem-solving and avoiding conflict. If it works for our close cousins, why not for us?
jtoney | March 22, 2011
Scholars at Risk calls for letters on behalf of Bahraini mechanical engineering professor, who "was taken forcibly from his home on March 17th and imprisoned without charge."
About Scholars at Risk:
Mission
Around the world today, scholars are attacked because of their words, their ideas and their place in society. Those seeking power and control work to limit access to information and new ideas by targeting scholars, restricting academic freedom and repressing research, publication, teaching and learning. The Scholars at Risk Network (SAR) is an international network of universities and…