clock | April 10, 2008Just arrived at the Cambridge office of PLoS. Internet works fine so, after catching up with some work first, I will try to post yesterday's pictures later today. I also have another interview to post.
clock | April 10, 2008This post, originally published on January 16, 2005, was modified from one of my written prelims questions from early 2000.
EVOLUTIONARY PHYSIOLOGY OF BIOLOGICAL CLOCKS
"Circadian clocks allow organisms to predict, instead of merely react to, cyclic (predictable) changes in the environment". A sentence similar to this one is the opening phrase of many a paper in the field of chronobiology. Besides becoming a truth by virtue of frequent repetition, such a statement appeals to common sense. It is difficult to imagine a universe in which it was not true. Yet, the data supporting the above…
clock | April 9, 2008What then have I done? What, except yield to a natural feeling, inspired by beauty, sanctioned by virtue and kept at all times within the bounds of respect. It's innocent expression prompted not by hope but by trust.
- Vicomte de Valmont
clock | April 9, 2008A May 9, 2007 post, wondering to telecommute or not.
I will be offline for a couple of days so I will not be able to post at my usual frantic pace. Instead, I decided to write something that will take you a couple of days to read through: a very long, meandering post, full of personal anecdotes. But there is a common theme throughout and I hope you see where I'm going with it and what conclusions I want you to draw from it.
Pigeons, crows, rats and cockroaches
I was born and grew up in a big, dirty city and I am not going back (my ex-Yugoslav readers have probably already recognized the…
clock | April 9, 2008
This is the third in the series of posts designed to provide the basics of the field of Chronobiology. This post is interesting due to its analysis of history and sociology of the discipline, as well as a look at the changing nature of science. You can check out the rest of Clock Tutorials here.
It appears that every scientific discipline has its own defining moment, an event that is touted later as the moment of "birth" of the field. This can be a publication of a paper (think of Watson and Crick) or a book ("Origin of Species" anyone?). In the case of Chronobiology, it was the 1960…
clock | April 9, 2008Thanks to Anton for a pleasant drive to the airport last night. Had a great flight on a B 777 and arrived in London on time. Mo picked me up at Heathrow and we went walking around town, taking lots of picture that I'll post later (my own laptop cannot currently get on the internet here and now, so, for instance, I cannot check the PLoS mail). His wife and kids are lovely and we are having great fun. Then, we'll go and do other stuff and meet local bloggers. Stay tuned...
clock | April 8, 2008If you teach a poor young man to shave himself, and keep his razor in order, you may contribute more to the happiness of his life than in giving him a thousand guineas. This sum may be soon spent, the regret only remaining of having foolishly consumed it; but in the other case, he escapes the frequent vexation of waiting for barbers, and of their sometimes dirty fingers, offensive breaths, and dull razors.
- Benjamin Franklin
clock | April 8, 2008A post from December 5, 2007:
Communication
Communication of any kind, including communication of empirical information about the world (which includes scientific information), is constrained by three factors: technology, social factors, and, as a special case of social factors - official conventions. The term "constrained" I used above has two meanings - one negative, one positive. In a negative meaning, a constraint imposes limits and makes certain directions less likely, more difficult or impossible. In its positive meaning, constraint means that some directions are easy and obvious and…
clock | April 8, 2008As many of you may be aware, yesterday was the first day of the implementation of the new NIH law which requires all articles describing research funded by NIH to be deposited into PubMed Central within 12 months of publication. Folks at SPARC have put together a list of resources one can consult when looking for answers about the implementation of the access policy.
Bloggers on Nature Network as well as here on Scienceblogs.com will write posts about the NIH bill and its implementation throughout the week (the 'OA week'), informing their readers about the implementation, the next steps to be…
clock | April 8, 2008
This is the second in the series of posts designed to provide the basics of the field of Chronobiology. See the first part: ClockTutorial #1 - What Is Chronobiology and check out the rest of them here - they will all, over time, get moved to this blog.
Here is a brief overview of the concepts and terms used in the field of chronobiology. I will write much more detailed accounts of various aspects of it in the future.
Seasons of the year, phases of the moon, high and low tides, and alternation between night and day are examples of cyclic changes in the environment. Each presents a different…
clock | April 7, 2008Bee and Michael and Chad and Eva and Timo and Cameron will be there. And so will I. And many other interesting people. Where? At the Science in the 21st Century conference at the Perimeter Institute (Waterloo, Ontario) on Sep. 8th-12th 2008. And it will be fun. This is the blurb of the meeting:
Times are changing. In the earlier days, we used to go to the library, today we search and archive our papers online. We have collaborations per email, hold telephone seminars, organize virtual networks, write blogs, and make our seminars available on the internet. Without any doubt, these…
clock | April 7, 2008The Science Communication Consortium presents:
Science and Congress: The Role of Think Tanks and Congressional Science Committees
Thursday, April 24, 2008
7:00-8:30pm
CUNY - 365 Fifth Avenue, NY NY (directions below)
Recent years have seen a rise in prominence of legislative issues that control how scientists work or that require scientific information for decision making. How do legislators receive this information, and what are the potential effects of distortion or misunderstanding of it on science in the United States? Join us for a discussion on how science-related think tanks and…
clock | April 7, 2008ConvergeSouth 2008 is ready to roll:
The Web site is online and registration is open: http://2008.convergesouth.com/
We're calling for presentations - see the schedule and apply to present.
There's a brand-new Video Walking Tour on Thursday, October 16, with Robert Scoble and Tom Lassiter leading two groups around Greensboro.
Lots more new stuff is happening. Keep up with ConvergeSouth on the blog: http://2008.convergesouth.com/blog/
See you in October!
clock | April 7, 2008Latest from Project Exploration
Project Exploration has just released Discover Your Summer 2008, a summer science resource guide. The guide includes more than 160 programs for middle and high school students throughout the Midwest, along with tips on how to apply for programs successfully. Thanks to a special partnership with the Self Reliance Foundation, students can also access information about programs in Discover Your Summer in Spanish.
SPECIAL LIMITED OFFER - We have print copies available on a first-come, first-served basis. We can give you up to 100 copies of the guide. If you can…
clock | April 7, 2008Bioethics Grows Up:
When I taught my first course in bioethics to first-year students at Columbia University's College of Physicians and Surgeons in the spring semester of 1981, bioethics was still in its formative years. There were scant few textbooks around and even fewer anthologies, and I could not assume that any of my students had ever read anything by a bioethicist or about bioethics. The key institutions in the field at that time, the Hastings Center, then in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York, and the Kennedy Institute at Georgetown University in Washington, DC, were barely over a decade…
clock | April 7, 2008Bats Play A Major Role In Plant Protection:
If you get a chance to sip some shade-grown Mexican organic coffee, please pause a moment to thank the bats that helped make it possible. At Mexican organic coffee plantations, where pesticides are banned, bats and birds work night and day to control insect pests that might otherwise munch the crop.
Animals Are 'Stuck In Time' With Little Idea Of Past Or Future, Study Suggests:
Dog owners, who have noticed that their four-legged friend seem equally delighted to see them after five minutes away as five hours, may wonder if animals can tell when time…
clock | April 7, 2008The Boneyard XIII is up on Greg Laden's blog
International Carnival of Pozitivities 2.10 is up on Mshairi
Carnival of the Green # 122 is up on Agroblogger
clock | April 7, 2008
This post is perhaps not my best post, but is, by far, my most popular ever. Sick and tired of politics after the 2004 election I decided to start a science-only blog - Circadiana. After a couple of days of fiddling with the templae, on January 8, 2005, I posted the very first post, this one, at 2:53 AM and went to bed. When I woke up I was astonished as the Sitemeter was going wild! This post was linked by BoingBoing and later that day, by Andrew Sullivan. It has been linked by people ever since, as recently as a couple of days ago, although the post is a year and a half old.…
clock | April 7, 2008 This is the first in a series of posts from Circadiana designed as ClockTutorials, covering the basics of the field of Chronobiology. It was first written on January 12, 2005:
There are traditionally three approaches to research and teaching of physiology: biochemical, energetic, and homeostatic. The three are by no means exclusive and all good physiologists will include all three in their work and teaching, but each with a different emphasis.
Biochemical approach is typical of human/medical physiology. Physiological mechanisms are described at lower and lower levels, until the molecules…