clock | September 13, 2006Why nobody told me that Massimo Pigliucci has a blog? And an excellent blog to boot!
clock | September 13, 2006Another one from my daughter's photo album. Marbles is in front, Biscuit in the back. They are ready to wrestle:
clock | September 13, 2006Sara Robinson (since yesterday a permanent co-blogger on Orcinus - congratulations!): Tunnels and Bridges, Part IV: Landing Zones
clock | September 13, 2006A few days ago, my son told me that one of his teachers (he is in 8th grade), after decorating the whole school with American flags, announced that they will be reciting the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.
I was not aware at the time that this is a new State Law, snuck under the radar during the summer. But it is. It was enacted on July, 12th 2006, as a change in general powers and duties of the state concerning the educational system. You can see the history of how the statute was changed here and the final version of the bill here (PDF).
The press only noted this the other day.…
clock | September 13, 2006One of the coolest parasites ever (from February 04, 2006):
I am quite surprised that Carl Zimmer, in research for his book Parasite Rex, did not encounter the fascinating case of the Ampulex compressa (Emerald Cockroach Wasp) and its prey/host the American Cockroach (Periplaneta americana, see also comments on Aetiology and Ocellated).
In 1999, I went to Oxford, UK, to the inaugural Gordon Conference in Neuroethology and one of the many exciting speakers I was looking forward to seeing was Fred Libersat. The talk was half-hot half-cold. To be precise, the first half was hot and the second…
clock | September 13, 2006New bird species found in India after more than 50 years
New Delhi: A striking multi-coloured bird has been discovered in India's remote northeast, making it the first ornithological find in the country in more than half a century, experts said on Tuesday.
The Bugun Liocichla, scientifically known as Liocichla bugunorum, a kind of babbler, was discovered in May at the Eaglenest Wildlife Sanctuary in the hilly state of Arunachal Pradesh.
The bird with olive and golden-yellow plum-age, a black cap and flame-tipped wings is 20 cm in length and named after the Bugun tribespeople who live on the…
clock | September 13, 2006Salivary Melatonin May Help Fight Gum Disease:
Researchers found that melatonin, a hormone created by the pineal gland, may be able to protect the oral cavity against free radicals produced by inflammatory diseases. Melatonin has strong antioxidant effects that can protect cells against inflammatory processes and oxidative damage.
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"Patients with higher salivary and melatonin ratios had lower community periodontal index (CPI). CPI is the score used to assess periodontal status," said Pablo Galindo, DDS, Department of Oral Surgery, School of Dentistry, University of Granada,…
clock | September 13, 2006Travel Bingo Edition of the Tangled Bank is now up on Hairy Museum of Natural History.
BTW, you have only two more days to send yoru submission for the next Mendel's Garden on Tha Voltage Gate.
clock | September 12, 2006Carnival of Education #84 is up on The Current Events in Education. It is organized like a newspaper.
Carnival of Homeschooling #37 is up on Principled Discovery. It is organized like an international flight.
clock | September 12, 2006Why are religious people religious, in two parts: Why do religious wingnuts think the way they do? Part I and Why do religious wingnuts think the way they do? Part II
Why are creationists creationists, in three parts: Why are creationists creationist?, Why are creationists creationist? 2 - conceptual spaces and Why are creationists creationist? 3: compartments and coherence.
Why conservatives take conservative jobs and suck if sucked into liberal professions, in two parts: It takes talent to make good schlock TV and Conservatives in the classroom
clock | September 12, 2006Fundamental Questions in Biology. Here is a quote from the end:
The questions that biologists from diverse subdisciplines are asking have commonalities that make clear the continued existence of fundamental challenges that unify biology and that should form the core of much research in the decades to come. Some of these questions are as follows: What features convey robustness to systems? How different should we expect the robustness of different systems to be, depending on whether selection is operating primarily on the whole system or on its parts? How does robustness trade off against…
clock | September 12, 2006Baby bugs team up for sex scam
The moment they're born, beetles of one species join forces for a curious drill.
The larvae hatch out of their eggs and together, as a group, climb to the tip of the plant. There, they secrete a sex pheromone that attracts a male of a bee who tries to couplate with the ball of larvae. They jump on him. He flies away carrying the little buggers.
When he finds a female to mate with, the larvae jump ship and go away hithhiking on her. When she goes back to her nest they disembark, eat the nectar she collected and her eggs before their final metamorphosis.…
clock | September 12, 2006Scientists discover molecule behind birds' magnetic sense:
"Some birds, notably migratory species, are able to detect the Earth's magnetic field and use it to navigate. New results from a team of Franco-German researchers suggest that light-sensitive molecules called cryptochromes could be the key to the birds' magnetic sense.
They did not suggest it - they tested a 10-year old hypothesis.
Cryptochromes are photoreceptors which are sensitive to blue light, and they are involved in a number of processes linked to the circadian cycle, such as growth and development.
Caution: cryptochromes have…
clock | September 12, 2006Facebook opening up to the masses:
Social networking site Facebook is to ditch its requirement that users must have a university email address, according to media reports.
Facebook required members to have a school or university email address, but added 1,000 approved work addresses in May allowing students that had graduated to continue to access the site.
Removing the need for approved email addresses will put the site in direct competition with other social networks such as MySpace, Bebo and Friendster.
My prediction - disaster. It will not just compete against MySpace, it will become…
clock | September 12, 2006Fly Paris Hilton Airlines:
Thank you all for being here. With the fifth anniversary of 9/11 upon us, the Federal Aviation Administration has been asked to project developments in air safety over the next five years. We thought this could best be conveyed from the perspective of a typical passenger in the year 2011.
Read the whole thing - it is hillarious, yet scary.
clock | September 12, 2006Genetic Surprise: Mobile Genes Found To Pressure Species Formation:
Biologists at the University of Rochester have discovered that an old and relatively unpopular theory about how a single species can split in two turns out to be accurate after all, and acting in nature. The finding, reported in today's issue of Science, reveals that scientists must reassess the forces involved in the origin of species. The beginnings of speciation, suggests the paper, can be triggered by genes that change their locations in a genome.
General Mechanism Of Cellular Aging Found; Tumor Suppressor Gene May Be Key…
clock | September 12, 2006Remember this post from a couple of weeks ago? It was quite popular on tagging sites like Digg, Reddit and Stumbleupon. It was about endogenous retroviruses and their role in the evolution of placenta (which made the evolution of other mammalian traits possible).
Now, there is a new study in sheep, on this same topic, and it looks very good at first glance:
Researchers Discover That Sheep Need Retroviruses For Reproduction:
A team of scientists from Texas A&M University and The University of Glasgow Veterinary School in Scotland has discovered that naturally occurring endogenous…
clock | September 12, 2006I've heard of this before, but now I see an actual study has been published:
There's more to a good night's rest than going to bed early. Sleeping comes easiest and lasts longest for the wealthy, white, and female. Reporting her findings in the June 1 American Journal of Epidemiology, health-studies associate professor Diane Lauderdale, AM'78, AM'81, followed the sleep habits of 669 Americans aged 35 to 50 and found that those with a yearly income of less than $16,000 spend longer in bed than those making $100,000 or more, but they sleep less because their "sleep latency," the amount of time…