clock | July 31, 2007Going into more and more detail, here is a February 11, 2005 post about the current knowledge about the circadian organization in my favourite animal - the Japanese quail.
Japanese quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica), also known as the Asian Migratory Quail, are gallinaceous birds from the family Phasianidae, until 1960s thought to be a subspecies of European migratory quail (Coturnix coturnix coturnix), but now considered to be a separate species, designated as Coturnix japonica. The breeding range of the wild population encompasses Siberia, Mongolia, northeastern China and Japan, while the…
clock | July 30, 2007Is there a new Tuberculosis vaccine in the making?
Another movie is being made about Ivory-Bill woodpeckers.
A new astronomical explanation for the cycles of extinctions.
clock | July 30, 2007There are two kinds of people in the world: the Givers and the Takers. The difference between the two is that the Takers eat well, and the Givers sleep well at night.
- Joy Mills
clock | July 30, 2007This post, from January 25, 2006, describes part of the Doctoral work of my lab-buddy Chris.
Mammals have only one circadian pacemaker - the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Apparently all the other cells in the body contain circadian clocks, too, but only the SCN drives all the overt rhythms. Without the SCN, there are no rhythms - the peripheral clocks either get out of phase with each other, or their clocks stop ticking altogether.
If you place various tissues in a dish, the SCN cycles indefinitely. All other tissues are capable of only a few oscillations in the absence of a daily signal…
clock | July 30, 2007Now that I have finished reading HP7, I finally let myself go around and see what others are writing. Here is some of the best I found so far, to be read only if you have finished the book (or do not care for spoilers).
There is a paper that looks at sociopolitical aspects of the books.
And there is tons on the internets, e.g., this enormous comment thread on Pandagon, which touches on everything from quality of writing, through gender issues, to politics.
And there is a bunch about science of Harry Potter
And the greatest spoiler-full spoof of the seventh book, scene by scene. Hillarious.
clock | July 30, 2007How do air-conditioners and refrigerators work? Scientific explanations for this can be cranky or patient. You choose.
clock | July 30, 2007 This post was originally written on February 11, 2005. Moving from relatively simple mammalian model to more complex systems.
I have previously described the basic properties of the circadian organization in mammals. Non-mammalian vertebrates (fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds) have more complex circadian systems than mammals. While the suprachiasmatic area remains a site of circadian pacemakers, it is, unlike in mammals, not the only such site.
The pineal organ, which in mammals is a purely secretory organ, is directly photosensitive in other vertebrates (with the exception of snakes)…
clock | July 29, 2007It is a common experience that a problem difficult at night is resolved in the morning after the committee of sleep has worked on it.
- John Steinbeck
clock | July 29, 2007The Primate Diaries
Brettleighdicks - Biology Blog
Fnord
Psych Matters
Manifest Destiny
Wild Roses
clock | July 29, 2007First written on March 04, 2005 for Science And Politics, then reposted on February 27, 2006 on Circadiana, a post about a childrens' book and what I learned about it since.
When I was a kid I absolutely loved a book called "Il Ciondolino" by Ricardo Vamba - a book in two slim volumes for kids (how times change - try to publish a 200+ page book of dense text for children today!). I later found out that it was translated into English under the title The Prince And His Ants in 1910 (Luigi BERTELLI (M: 1858 or 1860 - 1920) (&ps: VAMBA) The Prince And His Ants [It-?]. Holt.(tr S F WOODRUFF) […
clock | July 28, 2007
Sleep-Wake Controls Identified: Implications For Coma Patients And Those Under Anesthesia:
How do we wake up? How do we shift from restful sleep to dreaming? Researchers at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) have discovered a new brain mechanism that just might explain how we do that. This new mechanism also may help us understand how certain anesthetics put us to sleep and how certain stimulants wake us up. In their first published study on this topic, researchers in the UAMS Center for Translational Neuroscience found that some neurons in the reticular activating system…
clock | July 28, 2007His house was perfect, whether you liked food, or sleep, or work, or story-telling, or singing, or just sitting and thinking, best, or a pleasant mixture of them all.
- John Ronald Reuel Tolkien
clock | July 28, 2007Electronic Eggs Used To Help Save Threatened African Bird:
This is an important summer for kori bustards at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. Four chicks of this threatened African bird have hatched in June and July. Along with the bumper crop of baby birds is a bumper crop of new information for scientists working to preserve the species, thanks to an electronic egg that transmits real-time incubation data from the nest.
Reef Corals: How To Structure A Complex Body Plan:
Phenotypic flexibility enables multicellular organisms to adjust morphologies to variable environmental challenges. Such…
clock | July 28, 2007Otpisani ('Written Off') is probably the most popular Yugoslav TV series of all times. It is surprising to me that there were only thirteen episodes - this was a cult production. We played them as kids (instead of cowboys and Indians). Two major movies were made. The cast reads like "who is who" of Yugoslav acting. The music theme is a local universal 'meme'.
The IMDB reviewer does an excellent job of describing the phenomenon:
Nowadays, over thirty years since "Otpisani" (aka "The Written-Off", a Serbian TV production, 1974) hit the Yugoslav screens, it is difficult to grasp the…
clock | July 28, 2007Why do conferences all tend to happen at the same time, hogging a couple of weekends per year, with vast chasms of free time in-between?
So, next weekend, there is going to be a lot of science content, including a science blogging session at YearlyKos. You'll be able to meet Tara, Chris, Sean, Ed, Karmen and Lindsay there, among many others.
At the exactly the same time, Alex, PZ and I (and many others who have not made their participation public yet) will be at Science Foo Camp, down at Google campus in Montain View (no link as the site is not open for public yet). That was not an easy…
clock | July 28, 2007Being out of the lab, out of science, and out of funding for a while also means that I have not been at a scientific conference for a few years now, not even my favourite meeting of the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms. I have missed the last two meetings (and I really miss them - they are a blast!).
But it is funny how, many years later, one still remembers some posters from poster sessions. What makes a poster so memorable?
I guess it has something to do with one's interests - there is just not enough time during a session to check out every single one out of hundreds (or…
clock | July 28, 2007Last night I went all the way to Alameda to meet my SciBling Chris Hoofnagle at a place called Lucky Juju. That was great fun!
Lucky Juju is a warehouse full of pinball machines. In addition to Chris' interns at Berkeley, there were also interns from Stanford's Center for Internets and Society there, ACLU of Northern California, EFF, Internet Archive, Creative Commons, and the First Amendment Project. And a couple of us from PLoS. And, of course, Professor Steve Steve, who displayed some real pinball wizardry while singing "See me, Feel me, Touch me, Heal me"....
clock | July 27, 2007It depends on your definition of asleep. They were not stretched out. They had their eyes closed. They were seated at their desks with their heads in a nodding position.
- John Hogan
clock | July 27, 2007
You can now register for the third ConvergeSouth conference in Greensboro, NC, October 19-20, 2007. Among many others, you will be able to meet me there. Keep and eye on the blog for new developments.
clock | July 27, 2007Carnival of Space #13 is up on LiftPort Staff Blog
Friday Ark #149 is up on The Modulator