clock | August 16, 2007Oekologie #8 is up on Direction not Destination
Four Stone Hearth: volume 21 is up on Archaeolog
The 13th installment of Philosophia Naturalis is up on Cocktail Party Physics.
Skeptics' Circle #67: Giant Robot Edition is up on The Bronze Blog
Carnival of Space #16 is up on Advanced Nanotechnology
clock | August 15, 2007Sometimes I think we're alone. Sometimes I think we're not. In either case, the thought is staggering.
- R. Buckminster Fuller
clock | August 15, 2007There are 29 new papers on PLoS ONE this week, and it is difficult to narrow down to just a few of my own 'choices':
An Inhibitory Sex Pheromone Tastes Bitter for Drosophila Males:
For animals to breed successfully they must avoid trying to mate with individuals of the same sex. Lacaille and colleagues show that an organic compound, Z-7-tricosene, is carried on the cuticular surface of the fruit fly Drosophila. This compound tastes bitter to flies and acts as a pheromone that prevents male-male courtship.
Protistan Diversity in the Arctic: A Case of Paleoclimate Shaping Modern Biodiversity?:…
clock | August 15, 2007John Wilkins just published a paper (..."a review of the centenary festschrift for Mayr...") and got a book accepted for publication (the book grew out of series of excellent blog posts about species definitions - who says that blogging is bad for your health?)
Congratulations!
clock | August 15, 2007Tangled Bank #86 is up on Fish Feet
132nd Carnival of Education is up on EducationMatters.US!
Carnival of the Liberals #45 is up on The Greenbelt
Carnival of Homeschooling #85 is up on Dewey's Treehouse
clock | August 15, 2007The Science Blogging Anthology is meant to showcase the quality and diversity of writing on science blogs. 'Diversity' does not mean only the range of scientific disciplines, but also the diversity of topics, styles and, yes, forms. We have included one poem last year and we'd like to receive some more poetic submissions this year as well.
But, new this year, we will also accept cartoons and comic strips. So, if you draw your own in black & white and own the copyright to your drawings, please submit the URLs to the submission form.
clock | August 15, 2007Key findings of a new study by the National School Boards Association and Grunwald Associates LLC exploring the online behaviors of U.S. teens and 'tweens show:
* 96 percent of students with online access use social networking technologies, such as chatting, text messaging, blogging, and visiting online communities such as Facebook, MySpace, and Webkinz. Further, students report that one of the most common topics of conversation on the social networking scene is education.
* Nearly 60 percent of online students report discussing education-related topics such as college or college…
clock | August 15, 2007Just had coffee with Emile Petrone, the developer of Knowble, a social networking site for scientists (and yes, this includes social scientists as well). The site is already open if you want to join and look around (find me and ping me), but watch this space for future information - there will be a big official rollout soon and I will provide more information at that time.
clock | August 15, 2007Interaction Of Just Two Genes Governs Coloration Patterns In Mice:
Biologists at Harvard University and the University of California, San Diego, have found that a simple interaction between just two genes determines the patterns of fur coloration that camouflage mice against their background, protecting them from many predators. The work, published recently in the journal PLoS Biology, marks one of the few instances in which specific genetic changes have been linked to an organism's ability to survive in the wild.
More...
Birds Learn To Fly With A Little Help From Their Ancestors:
A…
clock | August 14, 2007There was a time when the reader of an unexciting newspaper would remark, 'How dull is the world today!' Nowadays he says, 'What a dull newspaper!'
- Daniel Joseph Boorstin
clock | August 14, 2007Paul, Danica and Daveawayfromhome recently tagged me with the Eight Random Facts Meme, although I have already done it before, so let me try to come up with Random Facts Nine Through Sixteen.
9. I used to sing karaoke every Tuesday while in grad school (well, everyone goes crazy in grad school), always singing the most unlikely songs, e.g., country, the sappiest oldies and the songs by female vocalists. I do a mean "I Will Survive"- even DJs crack up.
10. I got fired once - I was 14 or 15 at the time. So, instead of mucking out horse stalls, I spent some time clipping hedges and mowing…
clock | August 14, 2007So, you look around to see if there is anything edible!
Of course, it's easy if you work with tasty animals....(just ask the guys in the next door lab who work on lobsters, crayfish and oysters...or wait until you get some brains out of quails and notice the plump breastmeat....just joking).
clock | August 14, 2007A nice integration over several levels of analysis:
Adaptive Variation in Beach Mice Produced by Two Interacting Pigmentation Genes by Cynthia C. Steiner, Jesse N. Weber, and Hopi E. Hoekstra:
The tremendous amount of variation in color patterns among organisms helps individuals survive and reproduce in the wild, yet we know surprisingly little about the genes that produce these adaptive patterns. Here we used a genomic analysis to uncover the molecular basis of a pale color pattern that camouflages beach mice inhabiting the sandy dunes of Florida's coast from predators. We identified two…
clock | August 14, 2007After meeting Anton Zuiker a few days ago, I also managed to catch up with Brian Russell and Paul Jones, catching up on everything, but most importantly, shifting the organization of the 2nd Science Blogging Conference into a faster gear.
The wiki needs only a few more tweaks (some of the links are to the 2007 equivalents instead of the 2008 pages) which will be all fixed by the day we open the registration - on September 1st (mark your calendars). I know the 1st is a holiday, but this will save our server as thousands of interested participants will spread themselves over a few days…
clock | August 14, 2007Corie Lok notes an article which claims that Boston is the most bloggerific per capita city in the USA. They must have only looked at the biggest cities. Because nobody beats Blogsboro Greensboro NC. Is there anyone in Greensboro who does not have a blog?
clock | August 14, 2007That must be this one:
Rove quitting to spend more time with his iPhone:
Rove is considered one of the nation's foremost experts on e-mail deletion, although he - like the rest of us -- is relatively new to making things disappear from the iPhone. Rove has long been an innovator in leveraging the phone for "competitive advantage" in the often rough-and-tumble world of national politics.
Paul adds:
The funniest "Rove resigns" entry may be the most factual. I do hope he figures out how to do mass email deletions on the iPhone and that he shares that info with the rest of us.
clock | August 14, 2007Navigation: Using Geometry To Navigate Is Innate, At Least For Fish:
Many animals, including humans, frequently face the task of getting from one place to another. Although many navigational strategies exist, all vertebrate species readily use geometric cues; things such as walls and corners to determine direction within an enclosed space. Moreover, some species such as rats and human children are so influenced by these geometric cues that they often ignore more reliable features such as a distinctive object or colored wall.
This surprising reliance on geometry has led researchers to suggest…
clock | August 13, 2007There are times when you have to choose between being a human and having good taste.
- Bertolt Brecht
clock | August 13, 2007I don't know why this post is one of the most popular of all times here, but I just discovered a relevant illustration to go with it: Bosco wrote a post in which he links to a whole bunch of pictures of a popular mascot (almost as popular as Professor Steve Steve).
clock | August 13, 2007A serious one, for advanced courses. I held it in my hands the other day (Jonathan Eisen brought a copy to Scifoo to show). I hope to get one soon. Check it out at its homepage and order yourself a copy. It looks great!