clock | February 16, 2008I am a strong advocate for free thought on all subjects, yet it appears to me (whether rightly or wrongly) that direct arguments against christianity & theism produce hardly any effect on the public; & freedom of thought is best promoted by the gradual illumination of men's minds, which follow[s] from the advance of science. It has, therefore, been always my object to avoid writing on religion, & I have confined myself to science. I may, however, have been unduly biassed by the pain which it would give some members of my family, if I aided in any way direct attacks on religion.
-…
clock | February 16, 2008Dung Happens And Helps Scientists: Scoop On Poop And Climate Change:
When scientists around the world think of dung, they think of Jim Mead. Mead, a researcher at Northern Arizona University, is one of the world's foremost authorities on animal dung, and he's got the poop to prove it.
Neanderthals Moved From Place To Place, Tooth Analysis Shows:
A 40,000-year-old tooth has provided scientists with the first direct evidence that Neanderthals moved from place to place during their lifetimes. In a collaborative project involving researchers from the Germany, the United Kingdom, and Greece,…
clock | February 16, 2008Oekologie #14 is up on A DC Birding Blog
The Boneyard #13 is up on Greg Laden's blog
Friday Ark #178 is up on the Modulator
clock | February 16, 2008Aaron Rowe writes for WIRED Science blog and we have first met at the Science Blogging Conference three weeks ago.
Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Who are you?
I am an Eagle Scout, doctoral student in biochemistry, colossal foodie, storyteller, and amateur comedian. My recreational tastes are far from the mainstream. I don't enjoy watching sports, drinking alcohol, eating meat, amusement parks, or loud music.
Most of my hobbies could be described as constructive -- cooking, writing, making videos. What I want to do more than anything is assist, educate, entertain,
and protect people.
The…
clock | February 15, 2008As for myself I believe that I have acted rightly in steadily following and devoting my life to Science. I feel no remorse from having committed any great sin, but have often and often regretted that I have not done more direct good to my fellow creatures. My sole and poor excuse is much ill-health and my mental constitution, which makes it extremely difficult for me to turn from one subject or occupation to another. I can imagine with high satisfaction giving up my whole time to philanthropy, but not a portion of it; though this would have been a far better line of conduct.
- Charles R.…
clock | February 15, 2008Singing In The Rainforest: Public Vs. Private Signaling By A Tropical Rainforest Bird:
According to the Chinese proverb, a bird sings because it has a song, not because it has an answer. A team of French and Brazilian researchers, however, may have the answer as to how the song of Brazilian white-browed warbler has become so well-adapted to the acoustic properties of the rainforest environment.
New Meat-eating Dinosaur Duo From Sahara Ate Like Hyenas, Sharks:
Two new 110 million-year-old dinosaurs unearthed in the Sahara Desert highlight the unusual meat-eaters that prowled southern…
clock | February 15, 2008When Harvard does something, all the others follow. Perhaps this is the tipping point for Open Access as a whole. Peter Suber and Gavin Baker have the best commentary and all the links to other worthy commentary in a series of posts worth studying:
More on the imminent OA mandate at Harvard
Harvard votes yes
Text of the Harvard policy
Roundup of commentary on Harvard OA policy
More on the Harvard OA mandate
Stevan Harnad's proposed revisions to the Harvard policy
Three on the Harvard OA mandate
More comments on the Harvard OA mandate
Also read Revere: Unfettered access to scientific work…
clock | February 15, 2008Via Peter Suber, there is now something new - PLoL, or, Public Library of Law:
Searching the Web is easy. Why should searching the law be any different? That's why Fastcase has created the Public Library of Law -- to make it easy to find the law online. PLoL is the largest free law library in the world, because we assemble law available for free scattered across many different sites -- all in one place. PLoL is the best starting place to find law on the Web.
It's just like PLoS, but the material is law, not science (and the two are not affiliated with each other in any way, just thinking in…
clock | February 15, 2008Gabrielle Lyon is the Executive Director and Cofounder of Project Exploration. But the story is much longer. She went to grad school (U. of Chicago) with my brother and he thought that Gabe and I would be interesting to each other due to our shared interest in dinosaurs. So we got in touch and kept it over e-mail over many years. She sent me a vial of Sahara sand and a small plant fossil from the trip, Project Exploration materials and t-shirts, etc. and I promoted PE here at my blog. We finally met in person at Scifoo last summer and conversations we had there, led, through some…
clock | February 15, 2008Jennifer and I are ready - you can start submitting your entries for the Open Laboratory 2008 using this automated form. We'll have buttons/badges ready in a few days as well (or if you are idle, you can make them and help us out: the color for the year is orange-red).
What is eligible? Blog posts written by you (or a favourite blogger you read) and posted between December 21st 2007 and December 1st 2008. Bookmark the form and keep the entries coming throughout the year - whenever you read a cool science post remember to submit it.
clock | February 14, 2008Nothing before had ever made me thoroughly realise, though I had read various scientific books, that science consists in grouping facts so that general laws or conclusions may be drawn from them.
- Charles R. Darwin
Support The Beagle Project
Read the Beagle Project Blog
Buy the Beagle Project swag
Prepare ahead for the Darwin Bicentennial
Read Darwin for yourself.
clock | February 14, 2008Sex in Space
Oceanographic Research Vessel Alguita
Ship-2-Shore Education
The Oyster's Garter
Deus Ex Malcontent
The Beauty Brains
Science Fair
Talk Like A Physicist
clock | February 14, 2008The elephants in the room: How the GOP lost its way by Hal Crowther
Kafkaesque Bureaucracies Impede Import of Scientific Goods in Brazil by Mauro Rebelo
Open Science and the developing world: Good intentions, bad implementation? by Cameron Neylon
Alternative Agriculture in Cuba (pdf) by Sara Oppenheim
clock | February 14, 2008I found two articles interesting to me in today's issue of PLoS Computational Biology - the first one about becoming a good scientist, the other on circadian rhythms:
On the Process of Becoming a Great Scientist:
In the vein of promoting further debate and discussion, I provide here a different and perhaps deeper look at what makes a successful scientist. While I can't claim to have the reputation of Hamming, I grew up in a family of well-known scientists, and have had plenty of chances to observe the trajectories of scientific careers over my lifetime. Based on that experience, I propose the…
clock | February 14, 2008Via Ed Cone (also see SteveK and McDawg) I see that CNN did Teh Stupid - they
fired their producer Chez Sapienza. Why? Because he is blogging! On his own blog as well as on HuffPo. He writes about the industry as a whole and writes well, though nothing specifically about CNN or his job there, so this is not a classical case of being Dooced, but a case of total blindness. The corporate media is used to controlling the message. Blogs drive them crazy. They cannot fire you and me, but they can fire one of their own, just for the sin of being a blogger, i.e., being the Enemy #1. Idiots.…
clock | February 14, 2008Yes, I know, Scienceblogs.com is The Borg. But we like our little sister, the Nature Network and they have made some impressive strides over their first year in existence:
Nature Network turns 1 today: progress report
Happy 1st Birthday!
Happy Birthday Nature Network
clock | February 14, 2008We have already covered, in quite some detail the problems of passing gas in space. Not so much a problem inside a spaceship, but potentially a problem on a space walk, especially if the said activity, if particularly powerful, produces a rip in the scafander. The air leaves and it's all over for you. Perhaps those beans tasted too well last night, eh?
The holes in the hulls of spaceships and in space-suits are incompatible with human life.
Then, there is the perennial question about sex in space. Did they or didn't they? Officially, nothing ever happened. Unofficially, sure it did.…
clock | February 14, 2008Skeptics' Circle #80 - Valentine edition - is up on Bug Girl's Blog
Carnival of Education #158 is up on Instructify
clock | February 14, 2008Bill Hooker blogs on Open Reading Frame, is a vocal proponent of Open Access publishing, has attended both Science Blogging Conferences to date, and I am happy to call him a friend.
Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Who are you? What is your background? What is your Real Life job?
I'm a molecular biologist. I did my graduate degree through the University of Queensland, cloning and characterizing proteins from Schistosoma japonicum with potential as vaccine targets. My first postdoc was with David Harrich, working on…
clock | February 14, 2008...and block off two days: from mid-day Friday, January 16th through mid-day Sunday January 18th, 2009.
You will be too busy to do anything else because you will be in North Carolina, at Sigma Xi, attending the Third Conference....