clock | August 14, 2008Middle age is the awkward period when Father Time starts catching up with Mother Nature.
- Harold Coffin
clock | August 14, 2008A very nice column by Olivia Judson:
The third reason to teach evolution is more philosophical. It concerns the development of an attitude toward evidence. In his book, "The Republican War on Science," the journalist Chris Mooney argues persuasively that a contempt for scientific evidence -- or indeed, evidence of any kind -- has permeated the Bush administration's policies, from climate change to sex education, from drilling for oil to the war in Iraq. A dismissal of evolution is an integral part of this general attitude.
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But for me, the most important thing about studying…
clock | August 14, 2008One of the cool perks of being a scienceblogger and going to a meetup this year was the opportunity to go and see the Horse Exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City and to recieve (as we were not allowed to take pictures in there) a CD with some of the pictures. You can also see a lot more text and pictures, pretty closely following what is on the exhibit itself, on the excellent Horse Exhibit wesbite.
So, on Saturday afternoon, after the Meet-the-Readers event, several of us got on the subway and went up to the Museum. And I was not disappointed. You know I love…
clock | August 14, 2008So, let's see what's new in PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology, PLoS Pathogens 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:
Mutant Screen Distinguishes between Residues Necessary for Light-Signal Perception and Signal Transfer by Phytochrome B:
Adapting to the light environment, plants have evolved several photoreceptors, of which the phytochromes are specialized in perceiving the red and…
clock | August 14, 2008Sleep Selectively Preserves Emotional Memories:
As poets, songwriters and authors have described, our memories range from misty water-colored recollections to vividly detailed images of the times of our lives. Now, a study led by researchers at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC) and Boston College offers new insights into the specific components of emotional memories, suggesting that sleep plays a key role in determining what we remember - and what we forget.
Hard Day's Night? Enhancing The Work-life Balance Of Shift Workers:
Introducing a Compressed Working Week may enhance the…
clock | August 14, 2008Kevin has posted another very long and picture-rich essay from his China survey. Many pictures of interesting reptiles and amphibians, yummy food, and stunning Chinese landscapes.
clock | August 14, 2008I've been saving this picture for more than a year, not showing it to anyone or posting it anywhere online, not wanting to break the embargo:
This was a picture I took of one of the fossils brought to SciFoo'07 by Paul Sereno and Gabrielle Lyon, together with the skull of Nigersaurus.
Apparently, while digging for dinosaurs in Niger, Paul and the crew discovered an enormous and fascinating archaeological site - Gobero. They teamed up with anthropologists and archaeologists and spent two digging seasons analysing the site. The first results of this study are now finally published in my…
clock | August 14, 2008My old neighbor, while I was living in Raleigh, is making some headlines now: Power to the People:
Within weeks of completing his master's degree in advanced analytics at North Carolina State University, Arren Fisher scored a job in data analysis at the Laboratory Corporation of America.
"It involves predictive modeling," Fisher explains. "In layperson's terms, super duper data mining."
Despite the tight national economy, Fisher and his classmates are getting lots of job offers because they're experienced users of the advanced software programs that marketing firms utilize to predict consumer…
clock | August 13, 2008I think laughter may be a form of courage.... As humans we sometimes stand tall and look into the sun and laugh, and I think we are never more brave than when we do that.
- Linda Ellerbee
clock | August 13, 2008My old friend John Burns is in jail! OK, he voluntarily went there. But, the only way he can get out is if he pays bail, and the only way he can pay bail is if you donate to the Muscular Dystrophy Assocation in his name!
* $85 -Fund One Minute of Research
* $100 - Support Group Session
* $800 - Send one child to MDA Summer Camp
* $2,000 - Assist with Wheelchair or Leg Braces
clock | August 13, 2008Reed Elsevier caught copying my content without my permission:
I was not asked for, and did not give, permission for my work to appear on that page, much less in that format. Needless to say, I felt a little slighted.
The website in question appears to be a custom version of the LexisNexis search engine. This particular version appears to be Elsevier's own custom version, intended for internal use. I don't have conclusive proof of that, but the title bar at the top of the page reads, "Elsevier Corporate", and the person who accessed my blog from that page had an IP address that's registered…
clock | August 13, 2008During our trip to NYC we stayed at the Millennium UN Plaza Hotel (see the reviews here and here):
The hotel was built specifically to aid the business of the United Nations next door:
The hotel was actually very nice - big room with a big comfy bed. Great location as well (on Friday we took a looooong walk from there all the way to the tip of the island; and it was just a few blocks away from the location of the Saturday night party) - an easy walk to Grand Central Station (and from there to the American Museum of Natural History - a subject for an entirely new post tomorrow), etc. -…
clock | August 13, 2008Larry Lessig reports some exciting, huge and important news: free licenses upheld:
So for non-lawgeeks, this won't seem important. But trust me, this is huge.
I am very proud to report today that the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit (THE "IP" court in the US) has upheld a free (ok, they call them "open source") copyright license, explicitly pointing to the work of Creative Commons and others. (The specific license at issue was the Artistic License.) This is a very important victory, and I am very very happy that the Stanford Center for Internet and Society played a key role in…
clock | August 13, 2008Four Stone Hearth #47 is up on Almost Diamonds
The 93rd Skeptic's Circle is up on City of Skeptics