clock | December 10, 2006
Tom Linden is coming to the 2007 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference. Are you?
Technorati Tag: sciencebloggingconference
clock | December 9, 2006The protist and the virus appear to be helpful to each other:
HIV cripples the infected person's immune system which allows malaria to thrive. Similarly, individuals with malaria have recurrent feverish periods during which the viral load increases by a log factor. Higher viral loads mean that there is a greater risk of infection when coming into contact with this person's blood/body fluids.
clock | December 9, 2006I went a little too fast a couple of days ago, but now it is true - Neurontic is on board! Go say Hello to Orli, our newest SciBling!
clock | December 9, 2006Yes, you read that right. Our soldiers in Iraq will run the marathon at the same time as the Honolulu race and will be considered to be contestants in the Honolulu marathon. But the whole thing is not just for fun - there is something much more inportant going on here and something you can help with. All the proceeds from the donations for the race go, through TAPS, to the families of the soldiers we lost in Iraq and other military conflicts. So, if you can, please donate for a good cause.
Mike has the background and can answer any questions you may have about the details.
My SciBlings…
clock | December 9, 2006PZ probably already knows about this, but I found this discovery of super-reflective skin cells in squid, cuttlefish and octopus quite amazing!
Hanlon's team discovered that the bottom layer of octopus skin, made up of cells called leucophores, is composed of a translucent, colourless, reflecting protein. "Protein reflectors are very odd in the animal kingdom," says Hanlon, who is a zoologist. What's even more odd is just how reflective these proteins are -- they reflect all wavelengths of light that hit at any angle. "This is beautiful broadband reflection," Hanlon told the Materials…
clock | December 9, 2006Mark points out to this amazing example of innumeracy:
Yup, it is 25 minutes long and it is frustrating as hell. And there is no resolution in the end.
To make a long story short, the guy went to Canada and before the trip he asked Verizon what his charge would be while there. He was quoted 0.002 cents per kilobyte. When he came back, he found out he was charged at the rate of 0.002 dollars instead. A nice, clean 100-fold difference.
He got on the phone (and recorded these 25 minutes of the conversation) and went through one rep to another, tryng, in vein, to get them to understand…
clock | December 9, 2006As a part of the Hardball College Tour, Tweety will be in Chapel Hill on Tuesday at the Memorial Hall, chatting for an hour with John Edwards. Tickets are free if you can come, or just watch on Tuesday night.
Though likelihood is small, it is not totally impossible Edwards may use this opportunity to announce his Presidential run.
But, what does it mean to announce? This is such a drawn-out ceremony. First you go on TV and, when asked, respond it is too early to even think about it. Later, you go on TV and say you have not ruled it out. Then, you go on TV and say that you have not made…
clock | December 9, 2006Drop Kick My Big Balls While She's Gettin' Nailed mixed by Jeff Hebert of A Nerd's Country Journal.
clock | December 9, 2006Go check out The Mill and Carrboro Commons.
The Mill Editor did some digging and found that a lot of cool scientific research on climate is being done locally.
clock | December 9, 2006P is a popular letter so the list is longish. As always, check it out: bad links? Let me know. A super-find you are very happy to discover? I'd like to know. A grave omission? Tell me in the comments...
Pacific Institute Integrity of Science Blog (old)
Pacific Institute Integrity of Science Blog (new)
Palaeoblog
Pam's House Blend
The Panda's Thumb
Page 3.14
Pandagon
Panta Rei
Paperwight's Fair Shot
Papillon Rouge
Paradigms Lost
Patient Blogs - High Point Regional Health System
The Patient Is In
Patterns in Living Matter
Patterns That Connect
PBS Newshour - Science
PBS Newshour Extra -…
clock | December 9, 2006
Ouida Myers is coming to the 2007 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference. Are you?
Technorati Tag: sciencebloggingconference
clock | December 8, 2006Pacific Institute Integrity of Science Blog has just moved from the old place to a shiny new blog here at scienceblogs.com. Go say Hello.
clock | December 8, 2006Did mammoths scratch themselves against rocks?
Parkman believes, and he has a growing body of evidence to prove that mammoths and other large Ice Age creatures once used these very rocks near Duncan's Landing, along the Sonoma Coast State Beach, to scratch their backs. He claims the giant mammals rubbed so much that large swaths of rock have been buffered smooth.
Bears scratch against the trees, but which species is which? Lumpers vs. Splitters.
clock | December 8, 2006Douglas Erwin reviews "The Making of the Fittest: DNA and the Ultimate Forensic Record of Evolution" by Sean B. Carroll.
Wallace Arthur talks about his favourite books.
clock | December 8, 2006According to Sitemeter (and its proverbial undercount), the 200,000th visitor is currently on this site. He or she is in Petaluma, California and came to this post from the Last-24Hours page. Why don't you leave a comment?
clock | December 8, 2006Here's another topic seen through the Lakoffian looking glass (July 23, 2005):
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Why is there a widespread belief that the difference between patriotism and nationalism is one of degree: loving one's country versus loving it even more? I think that the difference is not quantitative but qualitative - the phrase "love for one's country" used by the two kinds of people (patriots and nationalists) is based on very different meanings of the words "love", "for", "one" and "country".
I am assuming that this confusion arises from the fact that…
clock | December 8, 2006This does not have much to do with circadian oscillations, or even the daily rhythms of human mating, but a much faster rhythm of human mating - you know what I'm talking about...
The fascinating new blog, The Physics of Sex, explains the physics in great detail and gives you ideas for your own home science experiments.
clock | December 8, 2006I mean, er, an entomologist with a keen interest in insect sex? If so, you can buy this cool poster (pdf). More info on the poster is here. Shopping info is here.