clock | March 26, 2007Medlar Comfits
The Anterior Commissure
Greta Christina's Blog
George Bristow's Secret Freezer
Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog
GeneticArchaeology
The Webby Way
clock | March 26, 2007If you are in the Triangle area on these two dates (Saturday, April 28 from 10am to noon and Saturday, May 5 from 10am to noon) and want to get some help starting your own blog, or at least starting a Wordpress blog, come to the Durham Library and we'll help you.
clock | March 26, 2007Alvaro of Sharp Brains (in a comment here) links to a high-school student's science essay that he posted on his blog and asks:
Why couldn't we approach a number of websites where science teachers hang out and propose some kind of essay contest for high-school students, with winning essays published in our blogs?
What do you think?
clock | March 26, 2007Russ noted that someone is using thermography to study thermoregulation in elephants:
Wits University has just completed studies on how elephants cope with high African temperatures and how that influences their behaviour. In African savannahs, elephants are exposed to high environmental heat loads during the day and low ambient temperatures at night and yet these animals are able to cope quite adequately.
Animals that run the risk of losing energy by dissipating heat often deal with this via regional heterothermy, i.e., wading birds have cold legs so there is less of a heat loss when they…
clock | March 26, 2007During the National Wildlife Week (April 21th - 29th), if you can, please participate in the First Annual Blogger Bioblitz:
Pick a neat little area that you are relatively familiar with and is small enough that you or the group can handle - a small thicket, a pond, a section of stream, or even your backyard - and bring along some taxonomic keys or an Audubon guide, or if you're lucky enough, an expert in local flora and fauna. Set a time limit. Try to identify the different species of organisms that you find as well as the number of each species that you find. Take pictures if you have a…
clock | March 26, 2007Salamanders Suffer Delayed Effects Of Common Herbicide:
Pollution from a common herbicide might be causing die-offs in stream salamanders, according to biologists who say findings from their long-term study raise concerns over the role of atrazine in global amphibian declines.
Experience Affects New Neuron Survival In Adult Brain; Study Sheds Light On Learning, Memory:
Experience in the early development of new neurons in specific brain regions affects their survival and activity in the adult brain, new research shows. How these new neurons store information about these experiences may…
clock | March 26, 2007...yet even at the start of it, back in March 2003, The Onion understood the dynamics of war and the psychology of defenders of war better than almost half of Americans and all of GOP today.
[Hat-tip, commenter Lindsey]
clock | March 25, 2007How strange is the lot of us mortals! Each of us is here for a brief sojourn; for what purpose he knows not, though he senses it. But without deeper reflection one knows from daily life that one exists for other people.
- Albert Einstein
clock | March 25, 2007We've had a few dogs over the years and housebreaking them was never a big problem. But now we got my mother-in-law's puppy labradoodle - who is a real sweetheart - for a couple of weeks to see if we can housebreak him because she was not successful.
My wife turned out to be a better animal psychologist than I am and figured out what the problem is. This is not a case of a little puppy who is not yet housebroken. This is a case of a puppy that was inadvertenly trained to poop inside the house and not outside. What we think happened is either that the dog got yelled at when he soiled the…
clock | March 25, 2007On the heels of my last week's post, it seems everyone is writing about journalism, blogging, and how to move back from infotainment to actual journalism, as in "information + education" which a populace needs if the democracy is to flourish. So, check out Brad DeLong, Ezra Klein, Matt Yglesias, Greg Anrig and Dave Neiwert on the subject of "boring" journalism and why the GOP does not want you to think policy wonkery is interesting.
clock | March 25, 2007Tarheel Tavern # 109 - One Bourbon, One Scotch and many a Blogger! Beautifully edited by the first-time host Olive Ridley Crawl, an excellent local blog which covers many of the same topics that I do as well some others and should be of interest to my readers so look around while there.
clock | March 25, 2007Studying Snail Slime Substitutes:
A team of engineers have set a small robot climbing walls in order to compare how natural and artificial snail slimes work. A snail's slime acts as both a glue and a lubricant, allowing the snail to crawl up walls and across ceilings without falling off. The snail pushes until the structure of the glue breaks, at which point it glides forward. When the snail stops, the glue structure reforms - sticking the snail safely to the ceiling.
Changing Ocean Conditions Led To Decline In Alaska's Sea Lion Population:
A new study out of Alaska points out the impacts of…
clock | March 25, 2007
It's been decades ago, but yes, I have done it myself. Detailed instructions. Do not read around meal-time.
clock | March 25, 2007Radiology Grand Rounds-X (that is tenth edition, not the X-ray edition) are up at MidEssexRay
clock | March 25, 2007Ed Cone's today's column addresses the changes in the way we talk about religion, particularly in the sphere of politics: from James Dobson to Pete Stark, from Mitt Romney to Amanda Marcotte - The last taboos in politics:
But there seems to be something bigger afoot, a willingness to challenge the traditional eggshell-walking practiced around the beliefs of others, and a self-confidence about frank claims of disbelief in the broader culture...
Yes, we talk more about it, due to the vocal atheists and their books, and the debate that started with the focus on the authors has now shifted to…
clock | March 24, 2007Dreams are nothing but incoherent ideas, occasioned by partial or imperfect sleep.
- Benjamin Rush
clock | March 24, 2007On Thursday night, I posted a large linkfest about the press-conference by John and Elizabeth Edwards and the revelation that her cancer has returned. Those were mostly first responses. There have been literally thousands of blog posts written since then, but I chose to link only to a couple of dozen that really deserve your attention due to quality, novel perspective, or information content (scroll below).
While there were certainly some very nice posts coming form the Right, wishing Elizabeth well and agreeing that the decision to continue campaigning is none of anyone's but the Edwards'…
clock | March 24, 2007Next edition of the Tar Heel Tavern will be hosted tomorrow by Bharat of Olive Ridley Crawl, a turtle-friendly blog. Send your entries ASAP to: theoliveridley at gmail dot com