clock | November 22, 2008Last week, Terry Gross interviewed William Ayers on Fresh Air on NPR - you can listen to the podcast here.
James Fallows and Dave Winer have completely opposite reactions to the interview. What do you think?
clock | November 22, 2008We are in the final strecth! The submissions have been trickling in all year, and a little bit more frequently recently, and many more over the past couple of weeks, so, if you have not done it yet, it is high time now to dig through your Archives for your best posts since December 20th 2007 and submit them. Submit one, or two, or several - no problem. Or ask your readers to submit for you.
Only submissions received through this form are valid.
Then take a look at your favourite bloggers and pick some of their best posts - don't worry, we can deal with duplicate entries. Do not forget new…
clock | November 21, 2008There is nothing you can say in answer to a compliment. I have been complimented myself a great many times, and they always embarrass me - I always feel that they have not said enough.
- Mark Twain
clock | November 21, 2008Check out the new NHM's interactive Voyage of the Beagle:
[Hat-tip, of course, to Karen]
clock | November 21, 2008
Darwin Was Right About How Evolution Can Affect Whole Group:
Worker ants of the world, unite! You have nothing to lose but your fertility. The highly specialized worker castes in ants represent the pinnacle of social organization in the insect world. As in any society, however, ant colonies are filled with internal strife and conflict. So what binds them together? More than 150 years ago, Charles Darwin had an idea and now he's been proven right.
Evolutionary biologists at McGill University have discovered molecular signals that can maintain social harmony in ants by putting constraints on…
clock | November 20, 2008While theoretically and technically television may be feasible, commercially and financially I consider it an impossibility, a development of which we need waste little time dreaming.
- Lee De Forest
clock | November 20, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens, PLoS ONE and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases this week. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Copying and Evolution of Neuronal Topology:
We propose a mechanism for copying of neuronal networks that is of considerable interest for neuroscience for it suggests a neuronal basis for causal inference, function copying, and natural selection within the…
clock | November 20, 2008The last of the old Yugo cars rolled off the production line today.
Here is some history of it. Yugo cars, known abroad, never came even close to Zastava 750 for its emotional meaning for Yugoslavs. Hey, I learned to drive in one of those:
clock | November 20, 2008This image came from the website of Eshel Ben-Jacob a Professor of Physics and artist. You can see more fascinating science-related images on the Seed Portfolio page - there are bacterial colonies growing into strange shapes, amazing flight patterns of birds, close-ups of hairy insects, etc, well worth your time.
clock | November 20, 2008Politicians persuaded to save Canada boreal forest:
Politicians actually listened when experts told them to protect Canada's boreal forest, a potent weapon against global warming, and the plan for this vast green area could work on some of the world's other vital places, scientists told Reuters.
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Jeremy Kerr, a biogeographer at the University of Ottawa, said he and other scientists were surprised and delighted that Canadian politicians have been persuaded by science.
More info...
clock | November 20, 2008Garrett Lisi's Exceptional Approach to Everything:
When Lisi published his physics paper, "An Exceptionally Simple Theory of Everything," to an online archive last year, it created a media buzz about his lifestyle and an onslaught of support and skepticism about his model. Although the verdict is still out on whether Lisi's theory will prove predicatively accurate, the means by which he released and vetted his research point to a larger trend in the scientific community.
Barriers to data are falling, a cross-disciplinary community of commenters is replacing journal-selected peer reviewers,…
clock | November 20, 2008
Eva Amsen uncovered some important information for the international travelers into the USA: International travel info - Science Online '09:
For those of you who are traveling to the Science Online '09 conference from Europe, Australia, NZ, South Korea, Singapore, or on a passport from one of those parts of the world, this is of importance:
As of January 12 2009, travelers using the Visa Waiver Program to enter the US (that is when you don't need to apply for a visa but you get one of those green forms to fill out at the border) will need to register online before their trip.
I had a look at…
clock | November 20, 2008An interesting and insightful article by Vivian Siegel:
It is ironic that, in an era known for the great speed and availability of information - where we could choose to blog our results rather than submit them to journals - publishing papers seems slower and more painful than ever before.
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I believe our best hope for fair and constructive decisions is to relieve reviewers of the responsibility to make recommendations for or against publication and to maintain a separate, much smaller pool of editors who can be dedicated to the journal and to its standards, and…
clock | November 20, 2008The Economist:
But the odds in favour of an imminent renaissance look long. Many conservatives continue to think they lost because they were not conservative or populist enough--Mr McCain, after all, was an amnesty-loving green who refused to make an issue out of Mr Obama's associations with Jeremiah Wright. Richard Weaver, one of the founders of modern conservatism, once wrote a book entitled "Ideas have Consequences"; unfortunately, too many Republicans are still refusing to acknowledge that idiocy has consequences, too.
Politico:
That there is no simple solution for what ails the party is…
clock | November 19, 2008Most people work the greater part of their time for a mere living; and the little freedom which remains to them so troubles them that they use every means of getting rid of it.
- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
clock | November 19, 2008Light Inside Sponges: Sponges Invented (and Employed) The First Fiber Optics:
Fiber optics as light conductors are obviously not just a recent invention. Sponges (Porifera) -- the phylogenetically oldest, multicellular organisms (Metazoa) -- are able to transduce light inside their bodies by employing amorphous, siliceous structures.
Pollinator Decline Not Reducing Crop Yields Just Yet:
The well-documented worldwide decline in the number of bees and other pollinators is not, at this stage, limiting global crop yields, according to a new study.
Turtles Alter Nesting Dates Due To Temperature…
clock | November 19, 2008The 24th edition of the Four Stone Hearth is up on Moneduloides
Gene Genie Edition #40 is up on Human Genetics Disorders
clock | November 19, 2008A nice article in the HHMI Bulletin:
Slowly, however, the culture is changing, not only through blogs but also by means of open notebooks, open publishing, and other interactive models. Those involved call it Science 2.0, an effort to harness the capabilities of the Internet to help scientists communicate better among themselves as well as to the public at large.