clock | September 27, 2006Mother Birds Give A Nutritional Leg Up To Chicks With Unattractive Fathers:
Mother birds deposit variable amounts of antioxidants into egg yolks, and it has long been theorized that females invest more in offspring sired by better quality males. However, a study from the November/December 2006 issue of Physiological and Biochemical Zoology shows that even ugly birds get their day. Providing new insight into the strategic basis behind resource allocation in eggs, the researchers found that female house finches deposit significantly more antioxidants, which protect the embryo during the…
clock | September 27, 2006Scientists Fight Back! Announcing Scientists and Engineers for America:
Concerned about the ideological and partisan manipulation of science, compromising of scientific integrity and harassment of scientists by the Bush Administration and Congress, leaders in the scientific and engineering communities announced the launch of a new organization on Wednesday, September 27th. The group, called Scientists and Engineers for America, is a 527 political organization that will focus on the need to address the current state of science policy by electing new political leadership.
Read the whole thing...
clock | September 27, 2006Burglars found to be as skilled as pilots:
BurÂglars are so good at robÂbing housÂes, they should be reÂgarded as exÂperts in their field on a paÂr with piÂlots, new reÂsearch conÂcludes.
PsyÂcholÂoÂgists Claire Nee and Amy Meenaghan of the UniÂverÂsiÂty of PortsÂmouth, U.K. found that burÂglars' speed and efÂfiÂcienÂcy puts them on a levÂel with othÂers who perÂform comÂpliÂcatÂed tasks auÂtoÂmatÂiÂcalÂly, such as muÂsiÂcians, chess playÂers and piÂlots.
The conÂcluÂsions were based on in-depth inÂterÂviews with 50 seÂriÂal burÂgÂlars on how they carÂry out break-ins, Nee and MeeÂnaÂgÂhan…
clock | September 27, 2006A really cool new study:
DailyScience: How Butterflies Got Their Spots: A 'Supergene' Controls Wing Pattern Diversity:
To explore the genetic backgrounds of each of these species, the authors crossed different races of each species and genotyped the offspring in order to identify genes responsible for the color patterns. Thus, they were able to map the color pattern controlling loci in each species: N, Yb, and Sb for H. melpomene; Cr for H. erato; and P for H. numata. Using molecular markers within the pattern encoding genic regions, the authors then found that the loci controlling color…
clock | September 27, 2006I saw this ScienceDaily report earlier today and thought: "What's new?" I recall a study with similar conclusions from just a couple of months ago, and even that was not that new - I used the example in teaching about 5-6 years ago (then dropped the example as the literature got more and more contentious).
But a few minutes ago, Afarensis posted about this and cleared it up for me - the previous study was from zoos and this one is from the wild. Also, the new study incorporates ontogenetic data - the effects of age.
So, the size and color of the lion's mane is not driven by sexual selection…
clock | September 27, 2006An interesting paper came out about nine months ago about a proposed new universal law of biology, so I blogged about it on January 17, 2006 and updated on February 20, 2006.
Now this is some cool science!
Biology does not have laws. Natural Selection is a Principle. Evolution is a Theory. But the closest biology comes to having a law is scaling, yet there are so many exceptions to the rule, how lawful really is it?
Now, a paper came out claiming a new law: Unified Physics Theory Explains Animals' Running, Flying And Swimming, and it is mighty interesting:
The researchers show that so-…
clock | September 27, 2006Agonist (via Melissa and Amanda) reports that "comma" is a dog-whistle code word that Bush used to signal to the Fundies:
The phrase is: "Never put a period where God has put a comma." Which is to say - it ain't over yet, and God may well make it better. So Iraq's bad, but if we trust in God, he'll make it better.
Mark Liberman of Language Log, after a couple of funny riffs on "comma", starts digging into the dog-whistle theory and uncovers the antcecedents here and here.
clock | September 27, 2006Opinions are split.
Matt Nisbett think it is bad here, here and here.
Sara Robinson thinks it was good here and here.
Although I have no great love for Bill Clinton, I am siding with Sara here (read her posts to see why), just on gut feeling. But also, check out this AOL poll (never known to be a bastion of liberalism):
Who do you find more convincing?
Clinton62%
Rice38%
Total Votes: 67,769
Do you blame either administration for failing to prevent 9/11?
Yes, the Bush administration39%
Yes, the Clinton administration22%
Yes, both administrations22%
No16%
Total Votes: 69,827
What's your…
clock | September 27, 2006Tangled Bank #63 is up on OK So I'm Not Really A Cowboy.
Carnival of the Liberals #22 is up on Writings On The Wall.
The 86th edition of The Carnival Of Education is up on The Education Wonks.
The 39th Carnival of Homeschooling: Autumn Edition is up on PalmTree Pundit.
clock | September 27, 2006I heard this on NPR and now it is available online on Bloomberg.com: USA has slipped from 1st to 6th place in the World Economic Forum's annual rankings.
As I have predicted immediately after the 2004 election, US is not going to survive another 4 years of Bush and retain primacy in anything - economy, scientific/technological leadership, military might, or moral high ground. Moral high ground is hard to quantify but do you really believe we are still Number One, the Shining Light, Beacon of Democracy, etc.? Military might - you decide. Now, economy is officially gone. Science/technology…
clock | September 26, 2006Everything you ever wanted to know about Tesla, you can find here - an amazing collection of links.
clock | September 26, 2006You can help spread the word about the 2007 Triangle Science Blogging Conference by using this logo:
or this logo:
or by downloading and printing out this flyer and posting it on a bulletin board or outside your office.
Technorati Tag: sciencebloggingconference
clock | September 26, 2006John, Elizabeth and Cate Edwards will appear on Oprah this Wednesday, talking mostly about Elizabeth's new book, Saving Graces.
clock | September 26, 2006Parasitic Wasps Protect Offspring By Avoiding The Smelly Feet Of Ladybirds:
Scientists at Rothamsted Research have identified how aphid parasitic wasps prevent their offspring being eaten by ladybirds. The tiny wasps implant their offspring parasitically into aphid pests, but should the aphid get eaten by a ladybird, the growing wasp would be consumed as well. The researchers, supported by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC), have found that to protect their offspring, adult wasps have evolved to avoid the smell of a short-lived blend of chemicals that ladybirds…
clock | September 26, 2006So, now that you have a better idea how great it was last year, are you coming to ConvergeSouth this year? On October 14th (yup, one day instead of two). Last year was about journalism and blogging. This year, the theme is "beyond blogging", both technologically (podcasting, vlogging) and socially (building communities, etc.). I am especially interested in the Facebook session (you may have heard already that Facebook opened its doors to non-"edu" e-mail addresses today) and hope that there will be a lot of young users of Facebook there telling us how they think about it instead of us old…
clock | September 26, 2006What's a bloggercon without a discussion of traffic and how to raise it...
Continuing the ongoing coverage of ConvergeSouth....
Saturday afternoon - the last session of the day.
Michael Cobb Bowen, aka Cobb, is one cool dude. He runs a conservative blog AND a progressive blog. He is a smart African-American conservative blogger (no knee-jerk Regressive a la Hindrocket or Vox Day - but a serious and respectable thinker) whom I had the honor of meeting (and sharing one interesting car ride with) last week.
Now, I can make a lame excuse about being tired at the end of the day and worn-out by…
clock | September 26, 2006I see this session as the seed for this year's theme of ConvergeSouth.
Continuing the ConvergeSouth coverage...
Saturday early afternoon:
Exposing a little organizational glitch - Roch Smith's session moved to a different room (Hoder was absent), yet there was no sign posted at the old venue, nor an announcement. So, by the time I and a few others figured it all out, we came in late and missed the opening spiel. I hope I did not miss too much.
At the beginning, Roch asked people why they blog. Nobody said therapy, although I feel it may be the real reason why I blog and why, I suspect, many…
clock | September 26, 2006This sessions tried, once again, to answer the old question "Where are the female political bloggers?"
Continuing the ConvergeSouth coverage....
Friday late morning:
This was probably the most exciting session of all. Tiffany of Blackfeminist blog was going to discuss the problem of an emerging hierarchy within the blogosphere.
All the so-called "A-listers" are middle-class, middle-age, white, straight, and usually Christian, men. Every three months or so, one of them looks around and posts a question "Where are all the female political bloggers?". What inevitably ensues is a big fight in…