clock | December 1, 2007A lifetime of happiness! No man alive could bear it: it would be hell on earth.
- George Bernard Shaw
clock | December 1, 2007Allan Stewart Konigsberg was born at Brooklyn, New York on this day in 1935. By age fifteen he was selling one-liners to New York gossip columnists. He dropped out of college and sold jokes to several prominent comics of the day, and started doing standup comedy himself in 1960. Five years later, under the name Woody Allen, he wrote and acted in "What's New, Pussycat?".
All men are mortal. Socrates was mortal. Therefore, all men are Socrates.
I will not eat oysters. I want my food dead - not sick, not wounded - dead.
If it bends, it's funny; if it breaks, it's not funny.
It's not that I'm…
clock | December 1, 2007There are 49 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 161 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we'll cap at about 200). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Ayse Erginer blogs on Arse Poetica
Will Raymond, twice candidate for the…
clock | November 30, 2007Whenever you find yourself on the side of the majority, it's time to pause and reflect.
- Mark Twain
clock | November 30, 2007
[Bumped up for visibility - and it makes it easier for me to keep updating with new entries] Now that the Science Blogging Conference is getting very close, it is time to remind you that the new edition of the Science Blogging Anthology, "Open Laboratory 2007", is in the works and is (still) accepting your suggestions.
Although the entire process, from the initial idea all the way to having a real book printed and up for sale, took only about a month, the Open Laboratory 2006 was a great success. This year, we have had much more time so we hope we will do an even better job of it.
More…
clock | November 30, 2007Tomorrow is the World AIDS Day:
The WAC's slogan for their work is "Stop AIDS: Keep the Promise". This is an appeal to governments, policy makers and regional health authorities to ensure that they meet the many targets that have been set in the fight against HIV and AIDS, and especially the promise of universal access to HIV treatment, care, support and prevention services by 2010. This campaign will run until 2010, with a related theme chosen for World AIDS Day each year.
So, I hope you choose to blog about this tomorrow and raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic, rallying your readers…
clock | November 30, 2007The editors of American Scientist magazine invite you to join them next week for the current installment of the fabled Pizza Lunch Seminar. This time, they have invited Alan Finkel, a neurologist at UNC Hospital, to describe his studies on migraines, cluster headaches and other, similarly delightful topics next Wednesday, December 5 at 12:00 noon at the Sigma Xi Center in RTP. The official title of his talk is "Headaches and Migraines: Causes, Treatments and Effects on Behavior." To put people in the right "frame of mind," a continuous loop of Alvin & the Chipmunks' "Chipmunk Song (…
clock | November 30, 2007Let's see what is new in PLoS Pathogens, PLoS Genetics, PLoS Computational Biology and PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases:
A new installment in the "Ten Simple Rules" series: Ten Simple Rules for Graduate Students
Choosing to go to graduate school is a major life decision. Whether you have already made that decision or are about to, now it is time to consider how best to be a successful graduate student. Here are some thoughts from someone who holds these memories fresh in her mind (JG) and from someone who has had a whole career to reflect back on the decisions made in graduate school, both…
clock | November 30, 2007Reed has assembled more than 30 judges and provided a secret online place for them to start working today on the difficult job of choosing the 50 best posts, one poem and one cartoon for the 2007 Open Laboratory science blogging anthology. You have only 20 days left to submit your own or your favourite bloggers' antries.
clock | November 30, 2007Ocean Fertilization 'Fix' For Global Warming Discredited By New Research:
Scientists have revealed an important discovery that raises doubts concerning the viability of plans to fertilize the ocean to solve global warming, a projected $100 billion venture.
Separating The Therapeutic Benefits Of Cannabis From Its Mood-altering Side-effects:
Scientists from Queen Mary, University of London, have discovered a new way to separate the therapeutic benefits of cannabis from its mood-altering side-effects.
Human Genome Has Four Times More Imprinted Genes Than Previously Identified:
Scientists at Duke…
clock | November 30, 2007Peter Suber reports that the Charleston Advisor gave its 2007 Lemon Award to PRISM. I first learned about this from an e-mail:
"The Charleston Advisor (TCA) announced its seventh annual Reader's Choice Awards for products and services in academic libraries, although "winning" one of these awards isn't always a good thing. For example, the 2007 Lemon Award went to the Association of American Publishers for PRISM (The Partnership for Research Integrity in Science and Medicine), the controversial web initiative created to oppose efforts to make publicly-funded research free on the web. "These…
clock | November 30, 2007CBC has started a series of interviews (later available as podcasts) with scientists and others about the nature of science, the public undrestanding of science and related issues. Let me know what you think and feel free to blog about individual interviews if you particularly like or dislike what someone there said.
(Hat-tip)
clock | November 30, 2007Kate describes an unusual reproductive system in topi antelopes in which the fertile females are extremely promiscuous (but choosy) and aggressive. Not what you learned in school under the "mate choice" and "male-male competition" topics in your Animal Behavior classes....
clock | November 30, 2007Philosophia Naturalis #15 is up on Sorting Out Science
Friday Ark #167 is up on the Modulator
Change of Shift: Vol 2, Number 12 is up on Doctor Anonymous
clock | November 30, 2007Shift Work May Be Cancer Risk:
In an announcement to be published Saturday in the journal Lancet Oncology, the International Agency for Research on Cancer, part of the World Health Organization, will label shift work as a "probable cause" of cancer.
The designation -- rooted in the theory that the disruption of circadian rhythms could be a culprit -- puts shift work on a par with ultraviolet radiation or anabolic steroids as suspected carcinogens, but does not say it is a definitive cause of cancer, such as cigarette smoking.
A random schedule of shifts - working a couple of days a week at…
clock | November 30, 2007There are 50 days until the Science Blogging Conference. The wiki is looking good, the Program is shaping up nicely, and there is more and more blog and media coverage already. The anthology should be published in time for the event. There are already 158 registered participants and if you do not register soon, it may be too late once you decide to do so (we'll cap at about 200). Between now and the conference, I am highlighting some of the people who will be there, for you to meet in person if you register in time.
Joshua Rosenau is the Public Information Project Director at the National…
clock | November 30, 2007Samuel Langhorne Clemens was born on this day in 1835. The picture is from his visit to Nikola Tesla's lab:
clock | November 29, 2007Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.
- Joel Barker
clock | November 29, 2007When I first read about a new paper about the behavior and ecology of maned wolves, I immediately thought of the blogger most uniquely qualified to write about it. Anne-Marie's research is on maned wolves and in her latest post she describes an ecological love-hate triangle in which the maned wolves flush out birds, mostly tinamous, out of the bushes - just to have them preyed upon by hawks. Anne-Marie provides more details, the back-story and the cute pictures.