clock | July 2, 2008The 25th edition of the Festival of the Trees is up on Earth, Wind and Water
The 178th Carnival of Education is up on An (aspiring) Educator's Blog
The 131st Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Beverly's Homeschooling Blog
And don't forget to submit your entries to the inaugural edition of The Giant's Shoulders
clock | July 2, 2008Check this out, from the ScienceDebate 2008 team: 14 Questions the candidates for President should answer about Science & America's Future.
Compare to my questions (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6).
clock | July 2, 2008Yes, I know, Gavin is a dear colleague and a friend, but his latest article, Excluding the poor from accessing biomedical literature: A rights violation that impedes global health, is just brilliant. A must-read for all concerned with healthcare, medical information and OA publishing:
In this article, I take a rights-based view of this current crisis of restricted access to the results of scientific and medical research. Such research is conducted in the interests of the public, and yet the results are largely kept out of the public domain by traditional corporate publishers who own them,…
clock | July 2, 2008Malagasy Chameleon Spends Most Of Its Short Life In An Egg:
There is a newly discovered life history among the 28,300 species of known tetrapods, or four-legged animals with backbones. A chameleon from arid southwestern Madagascar spends up to three-quarters of its life in an egg. Even more unusual, life after hatching is a mere 4 to 5 months. No other known four-legged animal has such a rapid growth rate and such a short life span.
Newcomer In Early Eurafrican Population?:
A complete mandible of Homo erectus was discovered at the Thomas I quarry in Casablanca by a French-Moroccan team co-led…
clock | July 2, 2008Archy tackles that question expertly. He's on a roll these days! And this is the mammoth story, so of course, his blog is the place to go for such answers.
clock | July 2, 2008There are 62 articles published this week in PLoS ONE. There are also two Journal Clubs going on right now - here and here. Here are some of my picks for the week - go read, rate, comment and send trackbacks:
A Comparison of Wood Density between Classical Cremonese and Modern Violins:
Classical violins created by Cremonese masters, such as Antonio Stradivari and Giuseppe Guarneri Del Gesu, have become the benchmark to which the sound of all violins are compared in terms of their abilities of expressiveness and projection. By general consensus, no luthier since that time has been able to…
clock | July 2, 2008Peter Suber, a thoughtful essay, as always:
In telecommunications the "last-mile problem" is the problem of connecting individual homes and businesses to the fat pipes connecting cities. Because individual homes and businesses are in different locations, hooking up each one individually is expensive and difficult. The term is now used in just about every industry in which reaching actual customers is more difficult than reaching some location, like a store or warehouse, close to customers.
We're facing a last-mile problem for knowledge. We're pretty good at doing research, writing it up,…
clock | July 2, 2008All the usual suspects were there (I was supposed to go but I could not possibly fit it into my calendar) and now you can watch all the videos from all the presenters - just click here and choose:
San Diego, CA, June 30, 2008 -- More than 20 experts presented their views on the future and use of new media and communications in the biological and other sciences. The New Communications Channels in Biology Workshop at UC San Diego was organized by the Calit2-based Community Cyberinfrastructure for Advanced Marine Microbial Ecology Research and Analysis (CAMERA) with funding from the Gordon and…
clock | July 1, 2008You do not need the bible to justify love, but no better tool has been invented to justify hate.
- Richard A. Weatherwax
clock | July 1, 2008For those of you who remember the adventures of Kevin in China from two years ago, he is there again, doing his herpetology fieldwork and reporting regularly. Instead of this blog, he is posting his adventures and pictures on a herp forum - probably the best way to follow is to check out his posts there.
clock | July 1, 2008New Map IDs The Core Of The Human Brain:
An international team of researchers has created the first complete high-resolution map of how millions of neural fibers in the human cerebral cortex -- the outer layer of the brain responsible for higher level thinking -- connect and communicate. Their groundbreaking work identified a single network core, or hub, that may be key to the workings of both hemispheres of the brain.
Neuroscience Teaching Using Multi-Media:
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded Williams College $228,987 to redesign the way introductory science of the brain is…
clock | July 1, 2008Chris Patil wrote:
Ouroboros' second anniversary is coming up this weekend, and I thought it might be nice to do something special to commemorate the occasion.
There's enough good science blogging about the biology of aging that the community deserves its own monthly carnival (along the lines of the general-biology carnival Tangled Bank, or the neuroscience carnival Encephalon, both of which we've hosted here before). So let's start one. I thought long and hard about names and settled on "Hourglass," which is topical enough to be appropriate, but general to be inclusive.
I'll host the first…
clock | July 1, 2008You can listen to the short and sweet Takeaway podcast:
A look at Charles Darwin's legacy as the theory of evolution turns 150:
One hundred and fifty years ago, Charles Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection were presented at the Linnean Society of London. A year and a half later, Darwin published what is now a monumental work: "The Origin of the Species." The Takeaway looks at Darwin's legacy and the continuing debate surrounding evolution.
By John Hockenberry and Adaora Udoji.
clock | July 1, 2008Came to my e-mail inbox:
The Harvard Summer School is pleased to announce the addition of a
three-day special seminar for teachers in the sciences. Based on the
well-known "Chautauqua Seminars" model, there is no cost to participants
other than a $50 registration fee. The course is taught by distinguished
Harvard faculty and provides an opportunity for invited scholars to share
new knowledge, concepts, and techniques directly with teachers in ways
which are immediately beneficial to their teaching. The primary aim of
this rejuvenating session is to enable teachers to keep their teaching…
clock | July 1, 2008Conference Programme for the Science Blogging 2008: London is now online. I wish I could afford to go - it looks delicious! I hope everyone there takes and posts a lot of pictures, videos, podcasts and blog-posts so we can all vicariously participate.
clock | July 1, 2008Penguins Setting Off Sirens Over Health Of World's Oceans:
Like the proverbial canary in the coal mine, penguins are sounding the alarm for potentially catastrophic changes in the world's oceans, and the culprit isn't only climate change, says a University of Washington conservation biologist.
Evolution Of Fruit Size In Tomato:
Domesticated tomatoes can be up to 1000 times larger than their wild relatives. How did they get so big?
Carbon Hoofprint: Cows Supplemented With RbST Reduce Agriculture's Environmental Impact:
Milk goes green: Cows that receive recombinant Bovine Somatotropin (rbST)…
clock | July 1, 2008You have probably already heard that Carl Zimmer has moved his blog The Loom from scienceblogs.com to a new URL (which, of course, you need to bookmark) of the new The Loom.
As he started his journalistic career at the Discover magazine, this was a hard invitation to reject. Discover has just started their own blog network. Carl is not the only celebrity to move - Phil Plait has also moved his Bad Astronomy blog from here to the new Bad Astronomy site.
As of now, it is impossible to see all of their blogs - there is no blogroll yet - but so far I could see Discoblog, 80 beats, Better Planet…
clock | July 1, 2008Berry Go Round #6 is up on Seeds Aside
Grand Rounds, Vol 4, No. 41 are up on The Covert Rationing Blog
clock | June 30, 2008A man can believe a considerable deal of rubbish, and yet go about his daily work in a rational and cheerful manner.
- Norman Douglas