clock | October 7, 2008There are 9 new articles in PLoS ONE today (as well as another 3 articles published last night). 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:
Hybridization among Three Native North American Canis Species in a Region of Natural Sympatry:
Population densities of many species throughout the world are changing due to direct persecution as well as anthropogenic habitat modification. These changes may induce or increase the frequency of…
clock | October 7, 2008
Again, let me introduce a bunch of people who have registered to attend and participate in ScienceOnline09 in January. Today - folks associated with Duke University.
Anton Zuiker, one of the organizers of this conference, is a long-time blogger, the founder of BlogTogether.org, and manager of Internal Communications at Duke Medicine, which involved designing and running the Web-based Inside Duke Medicine as well as re-designing their print newsletter.
Andrea Novicki is the Academic Technology Consultant at the Center for Instructional Technology, Duke University Libraries.
Marsha Penner is…
clock | October 7, 2008
Key To Rapid Evolution In Plants: Reproduce Early And Often:
Yale researchers have harnessed the power of 21st century computing to confirm an idea first proposed in 1916 -- that plants with rapid reproductive cycles evolve faster.
Nerve Cell Actions Made Optically Visible In Mice:
Thought processes made visible: An international team of scientists headed by Mazahir Hasan of the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg has succeeded in optically detecting individual action potentials in the brains of living animals. The scientists introduced fluorescent indicator proteins into…
clock | October 7, 2008We are busy preparing for The Open Laboratory 2008. The submissions have been trickling in all year, and a little bit more frequently recently, but it is 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.
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 and up-coming blogs - they may not know about the anthology - and submit their stuff as well.
As we did last…
clock | October 7, 2008Open access publisher BioMed Central sold to Springer:
Those in the open access movement had watched BioMed Central with keen interest. Founded in 2000, it was the first for-profit open access publisher and advocates feared that when the company was sold, its approach might change. But Cockerill assured editors that a BMC board of trustees "will continue to safeguard BioMed Central's open access policy in the future." Springer "has been notable...for its willingness to experiment with open access publishing," Cockerill said in a release circulated with the email to editors.
clock | October 7, 2008Linnaeus' Legacy #12 is up on PodBlack Cat
Grand Rounds Vol. 5 No. 3 are up on M.D.O.D.
clock | October 7, 2008My DonorsChoose board includes challenges like this one, for example: Smile....We love science!:
I teach special need students in an Inclusion Kindergarten setting in North Carolina. Our school is a Title One campus and we serve many low income families.
I would like to increase and enhance my student's knowledge of science. The Simple Science Exploration tubs will include 4 fun, hands on experiments with simple picture direction as the student's work independently. Having these tubs will provide the student's with engaging hands on activities. Currently, I have a limited amount of material…
clock | October 7, 2008From SCONC:
Tuesday, Oct. 14
6:30-8:30 pm
Science Cafe Raleigh: The Behavior and Misbehavior of Dogs
Barbara Sherman, of NC State's College of Veterinary Medicine and president of the American College of Veterinary Behaviorists (pet whisperers) discusses dog behavior, and misbehavior. Tir Na Nog, 218 South Blount St, Raleigh
clock | October 6, 2008A man's penmanship is an unfailing index of his character, moral and mental, and a criterion by which to judge his peculiarities of taste and sentiments.
- Philip Dormer Stanhope, 4th Earl of Chesterfield
clock | October 6, 2008Published today in PLoS Medicine:
This essay makes the underlying assumption that scientific information is an economic commodity, and that scientific journals are a medium for its dissemination and exchange. While this exchange system differs from a conventional market in many senses, including the nature of payments, it shares the goal of transferring the commodity (knowledge) from its producers (scientists) to its consumers (other scientists, administrators, physicians, patients, and funding agencies). The function of this system has major consequences. Idealists may be offended that…
clock | October 6, 2008The latest edition of Medicine 2.0 Blog Carnival is up on USMLE blog for smart people
Carnival of the Green #148 is up on Sustainablog.
clock | October 6, 2008See here. Found on GearCrave:
GearCrave says:
If you are anything like me, you do not find anything as annoying as being jolted awake by a high-pitch electronic sound in the morning. Today, we bring you a soothing alternative. "Silence" is a conceptual alarm clock that will wake you up without emitting any sound. If you need to be awoken, you simply wear a special wireless rubber ring. When the designated alarm time comes, the clock will send a signal to the ring which will generate a tactile alarm. If you wish to continue your sleep, just shake your hand to activate the snooze function. As…
clock | October 6, 2008Jennifer Ouelette and Julianne Dalcanton chat about space, physics and science education:
Science Saturday: Our Humongous Sky:
Julianne lays claim to a comet (14:18)
The scientific sensibility infiltrates television (05:03)
Woes and wonders of the Hubble Space Telescope (08:38)
How astronauts prepare to go into space (09:00)
Jennifer defends corpse museums (04:15)
The right way to teach science to kids (04:12)
clock | October 6, 2008Gene Expression In Alligators Suggests Birds Have 'Thumbs':
The latest breakthrough in a 120 year-old debate on the evolution of the bird wing was published in the open-access journal PLoS ONE, October 3, by Alexander Vargas and colleagues at Yale University, the University of Wisconsin-Madison and Yale Peabody Museum of Natural History.
Galloping And Breathing At High Speed:
The coordination of two systems are key for any horse to walk, trot, gallop or win a race. The first are the lower limbs, which allow the animal to move along on a "spring-like" tendon. The second is a complicated…
clock | October 6, 2008
Today, instead of introducing people, I will introduce a session, or two or three.
Feedback from participants of the last two conferences indicated a lot of interest in sessions relevant to science educators at all levels. At both the 1st and the 2nd conference, we had one session on using blogs in the classroom. But this time, we want to heed the calls and provide, if possible, three such sessions, each targeting a somewhat different audience.
So, if you go to the conference wiki and check the Program page, you will see the following three sessions listed there:
Online science for the…
clock | October 6, 2008According to this article: Fascinating birds migration at EuroBirdwatch 2008:
Over the past weekend, 50.000 adults and children from over 30 European countries took up EuroBirdwatch 2008, BirdLife's invitation to observe the fascinating migration, as birds move south across Europe for the winter.
BirdLife Partners across Europe were involved - from Portugal to Turkey; Malta to Norway - between them putting together 2.700 different events.
And once again birds didn't disappoint: attendees counted 2.3 million of them passing overhead.
hat-tip
clock | October 6, 2008The 2008 Nobel prize in Physiology or Medicine was announced this morning.
The winners are HPV and HIV (OK, OK, the people who discovered them) - the year of the virus!
I don't pay much attention to these, as biology I care about has not received the prize since 1973, but I was happy to hear about a different kind of connection I have with one of this year's winners - Francoise Barre-Sinouss recently published a paper in PLoS ONE - this one: The CD85j+ NK Cell Subset Potently Controls HIV-1 Replication in Autologous Dendritic Cells
Well, if it's good enough for a Nobel prize winner, it's…
clock | October 6, 2008My DonorsChoose board includes challenges like this one, for example: Science Trip For Our Amazing Urban Students:
The he students deserve this. I teach 5th grade at an urban, diverse, 86% free & reduced lunch school. Our school is 55% latino population, many who do not speak English and many who were born in another country. Our school has about 12 different languages spoken throughout it. Our students come from families that are very limited financially and we want to offer them an opportunity to go on a trip that will change their lives. This trip is a once in a life time trip for…
clock | October 6, 2008From SCONC:
Tuesday, Oct. 14
6 to 8 p.m.
SCONC monthly meeting - Whither (wither?) Science Journalism
Durham science journalist Cathy Clabby, formerly of the N&O now of American Scientist, discusses the sorry state of her craft in U.S. newspapers and magazines and shares some of the new venues that journalists are finding to publish their work. NC Biotech Center, #15 Alexander Drive, RTP. Congressional Room. Please rsvp@ncbiotech.org