clock | March 9, 2007Yes, today, PZ is 50 years old!
Archy, Grrrlscientist and myself are compiling linkfests today. Just make sure that you have the word "Myers" in your post (having just "PZ" messes up with some search engines - too short).
This year, Dan Rhoades is the first out of the box with a cool tentacled cartoon.
Richard Dawkins wrote a poem.
Grrrlscientist did a scientific study.
PZ himself acknowldeges his age.
Last year, I made this cephalopod collage (click to enlarge).
Greg Laden wrote a limerick.
John Wilkins wrote lyrics for a Broadway musical.
Sean Carrol gave PZ a... well, you'll have to see…
clock | March 8, 2007Every day has been so short, every hour so fleeting, ever minutes so filled with the life I love, that time for me has fled on too swift a wing.
- Aga Khan III
clock | March 8, 2007Regarding my yesterday's post about EurekAlert! dismissing blogs as irrelevant and refusing to disembargo articles to bloggers, I suggest you read what Reed Cartwright wrote about this.
If we all - hundreds of science bloggers - simultaneously go to EurekAlert! registration form and request being taken seriously (additional e-mails with links to appropriate articles about the importance and power of science blogs can also be helpful), perhaps they will start scratching their heads and rethink their position. I just did it myself.
clock | March 8, 2007Growing up in Eastern Europe, there was no avoiding March 8. It was an official holiday, though still a workday (only in the USSR did people get a day off from school and work). It has also evolved over time into an incredibly kitchy holiday, a combined crass commercialized equivalent of Mother's Day and Valentine's Day, despised by feminist women for the hypocrisy of the essentially patriarchal society which used this day to put a woman on a pedestal for a day instead of barking orders to the kitchen for another bottle of beer.
See more history of the holiday on Wikipedia, the official…
clock | March 8, 2007I'll have to sift through Neurophilosopher's long, extensive and growing lists of Natural History blogs and Neuroscience/Psychology blogs - I know there are some blogs there that are not yet on my blogroll and deserve to be.
clock | March 8, 2007Jonah points to link by Kottke to series of close-up photos of insects splatered on windshields. The images are truly cool and not gross at all.
This immediately reminded me of a funny, yet excellent book I read a few years ago, That Gunk on Your Car: A Unique Guide to Insects of North America by Mark Hostetler, which helps you identify the insects by the shape, size and color of the splatter they leave on your windshield.
clock | March 8, 2007
Despite Their Heft, Many Dinosaurs Had Surprisingly Tiny Genomes:
They might be giants, but many dinosaurs apparently had genomes no larger than that of a modern hummingbird. So say scientists who've linked bone cell and genome size among living species and then used that new understanding to gauge the genome sizes of 31 species of extinct dinosaurs and birds, whose bone cells can be measured from the fossil record.
Human Pubic Lice Acquired From Gorillas Gives Evolutionary Clues:
Humans acquired pubic lice from gorillas several million years ago, but this seemingly seedy connection does not…
clock | March 7, 2007EurekAlert which is run by AAAS is a useful and timely (though not foolproof) source of science news that many science bloggers use to keep up to date on what's new. However, they seem to be behind the curve in at least one way - they categorically do not disembargo the papers to blogs of any kind, not even blogs affiliated with scientific or journalistic organizations. How do they think they will start entering the 21st century and remain competitive?
clock | March 7, 2007I am still a little under the weather, but I managed to get online and read and see what I missed - what an eventful week! And a bad week for the Right. Libby is guilty. Heads are falling around the Walter Reed affair. Newt Gingrich blames the NOLA victims for not being good enough citizens to leave before Katrina. The Coulter story keeps on giving. Joe Klein keeps jumping with both feet into his mouth almost daily. Atheism taken seriously in the news. The investigations into the firings of attorneys. The new NSA spying investigation. The Right-wing frothing at the mouth...
But we…
clock | March 7, 2007
'Mafia' Behavior In Cowbirds? Study First To Document Evidence:
Cowbirds have long been known to lay eggs in the nests of other birds, which then raise the cowbirds' young as their own. Sneaky, perhaps, but not Scarface. Now, however, a University of Florida study finds that cowbirds actually ransack and destroy the nests of warblers that don't buy into the ruse and raise their young.
Man's Best Friend Lends Insight Into Human Evolution:
Flexibly drawing inferences about the intentions of other individuals in order to cooperate in complex tasks is a basic part of everyday life that we humans…
clock | March 7, 2007At least Edwards refuses to participate. Let's hope that all the other candidates also decide to refuse to participate in that charade.
clock | March 7, 2007Apparently, neither Anton nor Brian nor me can make it to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro meetup tonight - watch BlogTogether for announcements for the replacement date.
Also, get your graphic design juices flowing and submit your suggestion for the BlogTogether logo - there is a cool prize to be won.
Finally, next edition of the Tar Heel Tavern will be hosted by Scrutiny Hooligans, so send your entries promptly:
The Tarheel Tavern's 107th incarnation comes to life this weekend at Scrutiny Hooligans dressed in calculus, symbolism, and accounting.
In the year 107 c.e. that Titus died. Titus was a…
clock | March 6, 2007You may have heard that Libby was found guilty today. Apparently, the decision for the jury was easy.
But what do you think the FoxNews-watching mouthbreathers are hearing? The official spin, of course. Which they will continue to believe for years to come. As in "Libby not guilty":
Keep it simple: somebody in the White House lied and as a result we went to Iraq. Period.
clock | March 6, 2007Education Carnival #109 is up on What it's Like on the Inside
62nd edition of the Carnival of Homeschooling is up on Tami's blog
clock | March 6, 2007Grand Rounds 3:24 are up on GruntDoc
Carnival of the Green #67 is up on The Business of America is Business
clock | March 6, 2007Red Pepper: Hot Stuff For Fighting Fat?:
Food scientists in Taiwan are reporting new evidence from laboratory experiments that capsaicin -- the natural compound that gives red pepper that spicy hot kick -- can reduce the growth of fat cells. The study is scheduled for the March 21 issue of the ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication.
Spiders: Chastity Belts Protect Paternity:
The fact that female wasp spiders have numerous sexual contacts is something which their male partners cannot prevent. What they can do, however, is ensure that no offspring ensue from…