clock | May 3, 2007I don't watch TV almost at all, but I turned it on for a minute earlier today. I thought it was some kind of monthypythonesque satire, or perhaps that the 'American Funniest Videos' has really reached the bottom of the barrel since I last saw it several years ago...but then I noticed the title of the show was "The Republican Primary Debate"! Oh, that explains why there was no canned laughter all the time! There should have been.
It is really disheartening to see that these people are taken seriously, not laughed at by the pundits, and that their so-called Party is considered to be…
clock | May 3, 2007There is a new (nice and long) article by Laura Bonetta about science blogging in today's issue of the journal Cell.
Bloggers on A Blog Around The Clock, Pharyngula, Aetiology, Framing Science, The Daily Transcript, Sandwalk, In the Pipeline, Nobel Intent, Useful Chemistry, De Rerum Natura and Panda's Thumb are mentioned and/or interviewed. A couple of carnivals, e.g., Tangled Bank, Mendel's Garden and Gene Genie are also mentioned.
For those who have no access to The Cell, I am assuming that each one of us will egotistically quote the part about oneself (like we did last month with The…
clock | May 3, 2007Next Carnival of the Liberals will not be held here as previously announced. I will host on the 23rd of May instead. Next week the carnival will be hosted by That Is So Queer... instead.
clock | May 3, 2007NPR has started a year-long series on climate called Climate Connections. The other day, they broadcast the first in a series of their educational segments, starting at the very beginning: the carbon atom. You can read the intro here and watch the video here but just listening to the audio in the car was absolutely fascinating (the video is close, but much shorter and not identical to the first quarter of the audio segment for which the podcast is at the "listen" button).
The science was very basic yet completely correct and the entire segment was so fun to listen to. It was fast and…
clock | May 3, 2007I know, I know, many people are still skeptical, but opening one's lab notebooks is a part and parcel of the new world of Open Science. There is an opinion piece about it in Nature (also available on Nature's Nautilus blog). Attila Csordas added some very important points today, reminding everyone of the global nature of scientific collaboration.
The few pioneers who have opened their notebooks do it in different ways. Jean-Claude Bradley's group uses both a blog and a wiki. Rosie Redfield's group has one central blog plus each student's own blog (see them here, here, here and here).…
clock | May 2, 2007Good communication is as stimulating as black coffee, and just as hard to sleep after.
- Anne Morrow Lindbergh
clock | May 2, 2007Spiked and Pfizer are asking:
'What's the Greatest Innovation?' is a survey of key thinkers in science, technology and medicine, conducted by spiked in collaboration with the research-based pharmaceutical company Pfizer. Contributors were asked to identify what they see as the greatest innovation in their field. More than a hundred experts and authorities have responded already, including half-a-dozen Nobel laureates.
The survey will roll through May and June, and the discussion will go live at an event in central London on Wednesday 6 June
What is the difference between innovation and…
clock | May 2, 2007Rob identifies some old pernicious frames, makes suggestions how to counter them and offers more modern ways to frame the question of copyright in this three-part post:
Empty Rhetoric: 'Intellectual Property Is Property!'
Copyright and scientific papers
Copyright is Censorship
clock | May 2, 2007Of course, I was not the only one commenting on the recent duck phallus paper. You should check out the other blogospheric responses, e.g., by Carl, PZ, RPM, Grrrl, Laelaps, Neil, Belle, Zuzu, Guru and many others.
Unfortunately, most people link only to each other, or to the press release, or to the NYTimes article. The articles are fine, but they are simplified for the mass audience. If you are a scientist, you should read the original paper to get all the details.
Furthermore, many commenters on blogs have asked some very good questions about the research which remained unanswered, e.…
clock | May 2, 2007This was released to public today:
Conceived by Mathematica creator and scientist Stephen Wolfram as a way to bring computational exploration to the widest possible audience, The Wolfram Demonstrations Project is an open-code resource that uses dynamic computation to illuminate concepts in science, technology, mathematics, art, finance, and a remarkable range of other fields.
Its daily-growing collection of interactive illustrations is created by Mathematica users from around the world, who participate by contributing innovative Demonstrations.
Interactive computational resources have…
clock | May 2, 2007As the 2007 Science Blogging Conference was such a great success, we are already in full swing in organizing the 2008 conference and hoping to make it even bigger and better than the first one.
Our beta-version wiki is up - check out the homepage and the first, rough outlines of the program (feel free to edit the page and add your idea at the bottom or in the comments). At this point we are trying to get more sponsors so if you and your organization/company/magazine is interested, let us know soon.
Check out our blog for updates.
Last time, almost in time for the conference, we edited and…
clock | May 2, 2007Survivor Testimonies Engage Students in Holocaust History:
Through a program funded by the Claims Conference, a group of 8th graders in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania who had never before learned of the Holocaust found themselves deeply affected by these first-person narratives during a month-long educational unit on the Shoah.
Victoria Monacelli, a teacher of reading and language arts at the Warren G. Harding Middle School, incorporates technology into her curriculum in order to engage students. As part of her literacy program, her students produce a monthly "podcast," a recorded oral…
clock | May 2, 2007Corals -- More Complex Than You?:
The humble coral may possess as many genes - and possibly even more - than humans do. And remarkably, although it is very distant from humans in evolutionary terms, it has many of the immune system genes that protect people against disease. In fact, it is possible some of these were pioneered by corals.
Lizards Prefer Islands, At Risk With Climate Change, Survey Suggests:
A comprehensive survey of lizards on islands around the world has confirmed what island biologists and seafaring explorers have long observed: Animals on islands are much more abundant than…
clock | May 2, 2007Eye On DNA
Democrats Now
PSoTD
Bakachanaileen's journal
Paleo-Future
Smooth Pebbles
Minor Revisions
clock | May 2, 2007Scientiae Carnival: 5th Edition is up on Clarity.
Festival of the Trees #11: Trees in the Concrete is up on Flatbush Gardener
Bio::BLogs #10 is up on Nodalpoint
The 117th Carnival of Education: The Carnival of One Liners is up on Dr. Homeslice
Grand Rounds Vol. 3, No. 32 are up on Shrink Rap.
Carnival of the Green #75 is up on Enviropundit: Green Building Blog.
Radiology Grand Rounds XI are up on Sumer's Radiology Site.
Carnival of Homeschooling #70: The Yes, No, Yes! Edition is up on Dewey's Treehouse.
clock | May 1, 2007How does one fisk a medical quackery when there is no attempt whatsoever to explain what it is all about - not even a string of New-Age mumbo-jumbo, nonsensical, vaguely English-sounding words. All it says is: Buy The Book. Yeah, right...
Related: Circadian Quackery