clock | March 16, 2008Learn everything you need to know about protein structure, explained clearly and as simply as the topic allows:
Beta Strands and Beta Sheets
Loops and Turns
Levels of Protein Structure
Examples of Protein Structure
Evolution and Variation in Folded Proteins
I think these should be included into the Basic Concepts collection.
Update: Larry has put together a compilation of all his bog posts on Protein Structure.
clock | March 16, 2008So, this post is almost ten days old, but I just now found some time to actually read the 35 comments on it as well as what others wrote about it on their blogs. I guess it is time to continue that conversation now.
First, let me be clear about the origin of that rant: I've been teaching for quite a long time now and always graded individuals without ever thinking about that assumption. The Facebook scandal triggered the new thought that perhaps all grades should be group grades. As a blogger, I put up a rant, spiced it up with strong language to elicit commentary (which bland stuff cannot…
clock | March 16, 2008John Wilkins is in Arizona attending a Philosophy of Biology conference (another one of those "I wish I could be there" things) and liveblogging the whole thing:
When philosophers really embarrass themselves
Liveblogging the conference: Mishler
Liveblogging the conference: Piotrowski
Liveblogging the conference: Jim Griesemer
Liveblogging the conference: Bill Wimsatt
Liveblogging the conference: Stephen Peck
Liveblogging the conference: Jay Odenbaugh
Liveblogging the conference: Julia Clarke and Todd Grantham
Liveblogging the conference: Jon Seger
Liveblogging the conference: Roberta…
clock | March 16, 2008The OpenOffice challenge: can you do what needs to be done?
Exploring OpenOffice: what did we learn?, part I
Exploring Open Office: part II, can we have our pie and eat it too?
clock | March 16, 2008Will one man's tryst mean a $200-billion heist will go unreported?
Reading Habits of the Liberal Media (via Melissa).
Getting the Politics of the Press Right: Walter Pincus Rips into Newsroom Neutrality
High-level right-wing discourse
Immigration irrationality
What's Wrong With This Broadcast: NPR Edition
America will not rest until Obama says Jesus had blue eyes
Feds shift strategy in bid to snare Spitzer: Campaign finance
Your Funny for Today
The Press Has Always Been Sycophantic...
The Fake Science News: Eisen Resigns in Disgrace Over Scandal
clock | March 16, 2008Early Bird Doesn't Always Get The Worm:
Competing against older brothers and sisters can be tough work, as any youngest child will tell you. But new research from a biologist at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill shows that when it comes to some birds, you should reserve any underdog sympathies for the first born -- or rather, first laid -- siblings as well.
Many Teens Spend 30 Hours A Week On 'Screen Time' During High School:
While most teenagers (60 percent) spend on average 20 hours per week in front of television and computer screens, a third spend closer to 40 hours per week…
clock | March 16, 2008Visualizing biblical social networks (via)
Publishing and blogging pseudonymously.
What to carry with you when you go birding?
What blogs do journalists read? And the Science of Getting Money Out of Rich People
Vibrations make you sleepy (as in a car, on a train or a plane).
When the media boil over.
The Cost of Copyright
The spring came early to North Carolina. Not everywhere, though....
Inter-laboratory communication....
Aldous makes a comeback, and, Can The World Afford a Global Middle Class?
Flux
The Halo Effect
Destination Sleep
clock | March 15, 2008What is a thousand years? Time is short for one who thinks, endless for one who yearns.
- Alain (Ãmile-Auguste Chartier), 1868 - 1951
clock | March 15, 2008Carel Brest van Kempen, the artist who painted my blog's banner, shows how it is done, in a time-lapse painting clip:
clock | March 15, 2008The early orders of the XO laptop arrived quickly. My wife and daughter have been enjoying them for three months now. But the late orders got pretty much stuck - they were overwhelmed with the numbers. We got a couple of apologetic e-mails offering to send us back the money if we are sick of waiting, but we decided to be patient. Finally, this morning, my son's XO arrived. And so did Anton's. Now I am mad at myself for not getting one for me as well...
clock | March 15, 2008When we see a brain 'light up,' [most of] our brains shut off which explains The functional neuroanatomy of science journalism.
clock | March 15, 2008Just a reminder that you can make me your friend on Facebook, as well as join the groups of fans of A Blog Around The Clock, or the ScienceBlogs Fan Club or the PLoS group. I am also on Dopplr, LinkedIn, Flickr and Stumbleupon so you can find me there if you search and make a connection. I don't care for my profiles on MySpace, Change.org, Pownce and probably some other sites I don't even remember. And I am still resisting Twitter.
clock | March 15, 2008
Bird Brains Suggest How Vocal Learning Evolved:
Though they perch far apart on the avian family tree, birds with the ability to learn songs use similar brain structures to sing their tunes. Neurobiologists at Duke University Medical Center now have an explanation for this puzzling likeness.
Alligators' Muscles Move Lungs Around For Sneaky Maneuvers In Water:
Without a ripple in the water, alligators dive, surface or roll sideways, even though they lack flippers or fins. University of Utah biologists discovered gators maneuver silently by using their diaphragm, pelvic, abdominal and rib…
clock | March 14, 2008Was there a weight attached to the wheel of time, hanging from the month of May? Time went so slowly the rest of the year, as though it shoved a weight before it. In April, the wheel was in balance and didn't want to go further. It tipped back to winter or could give a hint of summer. But when May came, the weight began to pull and it was difficult to hang on. And before you knew it, it was summer.
- Kari Boge
clock | March 14, 2008The SuperReaders, site-wide around scienceblogs.com, have been selected. I had considered a number of people (some contacted me, I contacted some), some said No, and after a long and hard deliberation (it was tough, I wish I could have chosen ten people or so) I chose my two SuperReaders and sent in the names. They have been green-lighted by the Overlords and contacted. Unfortunately, their identities will have to remain secret. But they will be the select few (OK, 70 blogs X 2 = 140 people) who will have the ability to form the new RSS feed as well as a special advisory focus group that…
clock | March 14, 2008Toronto SciBarCamp starts tonight and I am so jealous for not being there. Perhaps next time. For now, I'll just follow it via blogs.
clock | March 14, 2008Got an e-mail from AAAS and will try to go if at all possible:
The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), in partnership with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and North Carolina State University, will be holding a one-day workshop "Communicating Science: Tools for Scientists and Engineers" on Thursday, April 3, 2008. We aim to extend an invitation to the faculty scientists, engineers, and Ph.D. students at your institution who would like to attend this workshop, in order to learn more about communicating science to news media and the general public. Please feel free…
clock | March 14, 2008Faraday's Cage is where you put Schroedinger's Cat
Monkey Fluids
Sociological Images: Seeing Is Believing
Playing Chess with Pigeons
Punk Professor