Technology
clock | February 7, 2008Moshe Pritsker and I first met at Scifoo, then shared a panel at the Harvard Millennium Confreence and finally met again at the Science Blogging Conference two weeks ago. Moshe is the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Visualized Experiments, the innovative online journals that publishes videos demonstrating laboratory techniques.
Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Who are you? What is your background? What is your Real Life job?
I am a co-founder and Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Visualized Experiments (JoVE). It is my full…
sb admin | February 5, 2008The push for a presidential candidate science debate is stronger than ever: Yesterday, the National Academies joined other prestigious organizations to co-sponsor the effort.
"This would provide a nonpartisan setting to educate voters on the candidates' positions on key science, technology, and health challenges facing the next administration, while giving the candidates an opportunity to discuss issues that are often overlooked in presidential candidate debates but that are critical to U.S. competitiveness," the presidents of the NAS, NAE, and IOM said in a statement.
"A discussion focused…
scientificactivist | February 4, 2008
Since the movement for an official presidential debate focused on science was launched in December 2007, Science Debate 2008 has gained momentum continuously. For evidence of this, just check out its news page, or take a look at the long lists of influential organizations and individuals, bloggers, and signatories in general supporting this initiative.
And, as of today, Science Debate 2008 can add a few more to the list:
February 4 -- The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine are joining the American Association for the Advancement of…
tfk | February 4, 2008Chris Mooney, one of the originators of ScienceDebate2008 quotes the press release:
The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine are joining the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Carnegie Institution, the Council on Competitiveness, and several other organizations and universities in an effort to co-sponsor a presidential candidate debate on science, technology, health, and the economy. "This would provide a nonpartisan setting to educate voters on the candidates' positions on key science, technology, and health challenges…
cmooney | February 4, 2008Let us quote the source:
February 4 -- The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, and Institute of Medicine are joining the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the Carnegie Institution, the Council on Competitiveness, and several other organizations and universities in an effort to co-sponsor a presidential candidate debate on science, technology, health, and the economy. "This would provide a nonpartisan setting to educate voters on the candidates' positions on key science, technology, and health challenges facing the next administration, while…
gregladen | February 2, 2008The Google Summer of Code is a project run by Google which matches up ideas, programmers (focusing on students) and OpenSource development project to advance the technology.
Speaking at open source conference Linux.conf.au yesterday (Thursday), Google's head of open source programs, Leslie Hawthorn, hinted that the IT giant is evaluating a southern hemisphere version of the Summer of Code during the Australian summer months.
Stopping short of confirming the program, Hawthorn said Google is looking into finding the human resources - as opposed to the financial resources - to make it happen.…
sheril | February 1, 2008
Lots going on just one day into February...
In Science magazine, Donald Kennedy has an excellent editorial called 'The Real Debate':
We in the United States are sliding down a ramp that will take us, in just 4 days, to the much anticipated "Super Tuesday" in the presidential nomination cycle, when voters in over 20 states participate in preliminary elections to select their favorite candidate. I have prepared for this by watching, in alternating stages of boredom and disbelief, the numerous "debates" staged by the creative powers who run television. I wonder whether the same sensations haven…
cmooney | January 31, 2008Folks: Here's another old article I wrote that wasn't online. You could say this is the article that started it all...my 2001 report on how John Marburger had been marginalized in the Bush administration. We're talking old school....but at the same time, this kind of writing ultimately led to The Republican War on Science.
Political Science: The Bush administration snubs its science adviser
The American Prospect
December 3, 2001
MOST PEOPLE ARE DEMOTED FOR POOR PERFORMANCE. Dr. John H. Marburger, President Bush's newly confirmed science adviser, was kicked down a notch before he even started…
jstemwedel | January 29, 2008Since much of what I write about the responsible conduct of research takes them for granted, it's time that I wrote a basic concepts post explaining the norms of science famously described by sociologist Robert K. Merton in 1942. [1] Before diving in, here's Merton's description:
The ethos of science is that affectively toned complex of values and norms which is held to be binding on the man of science. The norms are expressed in the form of prescriptions, proscriptions, preferences, and permissions. They are legitimatized in terms of institutional values. These imperatives, transmitted…
clock | January 28, 2008The second annual North Carolina Science Blogging Conference, held January 18 and 19, 2008, was an unqualified success. Find a comprehensive listing of links to the many blog entries and video clips posted before, during and after the conference to learn about the conversations and networking at the conference.
Like our inaugural event, this second conference was a collective activity — many, many organizations, companies and individuals pitched in, in ways large and small, to keep this conference free, attendees fed and the discussion lively.
Please join us in thanking them. (We thanked…
sb admin | January 24, 2008Yesterday, the American Association for the Advancement of Science â the worldâs largest general scientific society â announced its co-sponsorship of the Science Debate 2008 campaign (which we at The Pump Handle support, and blogged about here).
In light of recent economic events, the press release announcing AAASâs co-sponsorship focused on the link between science and economic success:
âScience and engineering have driven half the nationâs growth in GDP over the last half-century,â said AAAS CEO Alan Leshner, âand lie at the center of many of the major policy and economic challenges the…
grrlscientist | January 23, 2008tags: ScienceDebate2008, AAAS, American Association for the Advancement of Science, presidential elections
Hey, everyone. I know I have told you several times that things are really gaining momentum with regards to the proposed ScienceDebate2008, an idea that originated here on ScienceBlogs by my SciBlings, Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirschenbaum, but here is yet more proof that the idea is gaining more appeal: the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) today announced that it has joined our effort to mount a presidential debate on science, technology and the economy.
"…
jfiore | January 21, 2008Our Sunday newspaper magazine section features a two page ad for a new "miracle" heating device that looks like a fireplace and features a "hand-crafted Amish mantel". Check this out:
The HEAT SURGE miracle heater is a work of engineering genius from the China coast, so advanced you simply plug it into any standard wall outlet. It uses less energy than it takes to run a coffee maker. Yet, it produces an amazing 5,119 BTU's. An on-board Powerful hi-tech heat turbine silently forces hot air out into the room so you feel the bone soothing heat instantly. It even has certification of…
clock | January 17, 2008The Science Blogging Conference is tomorrow and Saturday. We have 214 registered participants and the registration is now closed.
I have been highlighting the participants for the past couple of months, and today is the time for the final part of this roll-call:
Stuart Pimm is the Doris Duke Professor of Conservation Ecology at the Nicholas School at Duke University
Nancy Shepherd is the Director of Technology Licensing and Worldwide Business Development at GlaxoSmithKline
Tania Mucci is a medical student at Jefferson Medical College
Clinton Colmenares is the Research Editor at UNC News…
jrosenhouse | January 12, 2008I just got back from six days in San Diego, participating in the annual Joint Mathematics Meetings. Why “Joint”? Because they are jointly sponsored by the two major American mathematical organizations. I refer, of course, to the Mathematical Association of America (MAA) and the Amercian Mathematical Society (AMS). (No Monty Python jokes, please.)
The Joint Meetings are one of the highlights of the mathematical calendar. It's an enormous affair, with several thousand mathematicians attending. That day in December when the book-length program arrives is an exciting one in my little corner…
nisbetmc | January 11, 2008Next week on Wednesday I will be joined by several stellar panelists for a Science Cafe discussion at the Swedish Embassy aka the House of Sweden. Built last year, the embassy is an architectural marvel sitting on some of the best real estate in the Georgetown waterfront.
You don't want to miss this. I hear that they are expecting an audience topping a 100 and I am sure people will be gathering afterwards to go out for beers in Georgetown. Details below. Notice the RSVP requirement.
For my talk, I will be discussing the paradigm shift in science communication, focusing in on the continued…
grrlscientist | January 11, 2008tags: ScienceDebate2008, Science Friday, Ira Flatow, National Public Radio, NPR, podcast
Remember how we have been lobbying for a presidential debate that specifically focuses on each candidate's planned policies regarding science and technology? And remember how things were picking up momentum fairly rapidly in the main stream media? Well, now National Public Radio's Science Friday with Ira Flatow is hosting a one hour call-in discussion regarding this very topic! [free podcast]. This show is being broadcast TODAY at 2pm EST, so be sure to call them in support of ScienceDebate2008! If you…
tqa | January 11, 2008
There was only one catch and that was Catch-22, which specified that a concern for one's safety in the face of dangers that were real and immediate was the process of a rational mind. Orr was crazy and could be grounded. All he had to do was ask; and as soon as he did, he would no longer be crazy and would have to fly more missions. Orr would be crazy to fly more missions and sane if he didn't, but if he was sane he had to fly them. If he flew them he was crazy and didn't have to; but if he didn't want to he was sane and had to. Yossarian was moved very deeply by the absolute simplicity of…
terrasig | January 10, 2008This question, posed by Michigan Tech professor Dr Seth W Donahue while hiking in the Sierra Nevada, has led to the discovery of an extremely potent form of parathyroid hormone produced by black bears (Ursus americanus). In an unusual take on my usual topic of natural product therapeutics, Donahue's hope is that the ursine form of the hormone might serve as the basis for novel drugs to treat osteoporosis in humans, hibernating (on the couch) or otherwise.
Dr. Donahue's research on bears has advanced far enough toward a treatment for humans to capture commercial interest. Apjohn Group, a…
catdynamics | January 9, 2008As the 211th meeting of the American Astronomical Society powers on in Texas, us homebodies bring you the 36th Carnival of Space, for your reading pleasure...
Fraser, at Universe Today is streaming a steady flow of space and astro related news from the AAS meeting, as is Therese at Random Thoughts of an Astro Major and the Bad Astronomer.
Hey, they had a blogger party?! Bummer.
So, what goodies do we have this week?
Advanced Nanotechnology tells us about low mass density high temperature high current density superconductors based on cuttlefish bones. There are space applications.
Pradeep at…