clock | September 7, 2006I have a bunch of plants on my porch, mostly ferns, but also some flowers. One of these has really tiny flowers that I thought would be pollinated by small insects - not bigger than a honeybee. So, I was really surprised to see a hummingbird come and sip nectar out of it. Moreover, it is a huge hummingbird! OK, not as big as a stork, but huge for a hummingbird, bigger than any hummingbird I've seen before.
The bird is coming every day. It is noisy like a bumblebee. It looks at me and, as long as I do not move, it goes on and feeds, only 3-4 feet away from my face.
My daugher an I…
clock | September 7, 2006Landscape Corridors Promote Plant Diversity By Preventing Species Loss:
Landscape corridors - thin strips of habitat that connect isolated patches of habitat -- are lifelines for native plants that live in the connected patches and therefore are a useful tool for conserving biodiversity. That's the result of the first replicated, large-scale study of plants and how they survive in both connected patches of habitat -- those utilizing landscape corridors -- and unconnected patches.
I've heard a lot about this study (and several others at the same site) over the years because Nick and Ellen are…
clock | September 7, 2006My copy of the paperback edition of Chris Mooney's important book Republcan War On Science arrived in my mailbox yesterday. As there are substantial changes since the hardcover came out, I'll be taking a good look and, one of these days soon, post about it.
clock | September 7, 2006This is a good article about changes in sleep patterns that occur with old age.
clock | September 6, 2006The best local newspaper is free. Independent Weekly is excellent every week, but today, you have to read these two articles:
Godfrey Cheshire: Five years later: We're defeating ourselves
Bob Geary: In America, terror goes both ways
clock | September 6, 2006Since I do have a Facebook account and get updates, as I am interested in social software and how it is used by the next generation (including our students), I've been following this over the past couple of days: Inside the Backlash Against Facebook. People are furious with the new intrusive NewsFeed that tells you, minute by minute, every time one of your 'friends' sneezes (or worse). It cannot be switched off. Also, their Note blogging platform does not work - it updates every day or two instead of immediately and has no RSS Feed (well, the Facebook editors' blog also has no feed, go…
clock | September 6, 2006Obligatory Readings of the Day:
Amanda: Disney emerges from the grave, demands right wing propaganda so he can stop spinning
Publius: ABOUT THAT LENIN ANALOGY
David Neiwert: Projecting fascism
Sara Robinson: Tunnels and Bridges: A Short Detour
RobertDFeinmanOvercoming the Authoritarian Personality
Archy: I break with Olbermann
clock | September 6, 2006Here is a cool microbiology blog, if you can read Slovenian language (I can get the main idea of the post, but not understand every word). This blog is about science in general and this one is about food science.
clock | September 6, 2006New installment of the periodic system of ScienceBloggers is now up on Page 3.14.
clock | September 6, 2006I am reading with amusement all of my SciBlings' examples of extreme nerdiness (just look around the ScienceBlogs today!). Apart from wearing turtlenecks (at the time when they were not fashinable) and having some science-related decorations at home, I am really not that nerdy:
On the other hand, I answered almost all of these questions with "Yes" so I may be special kind of nerd - the science nerd! Do I really need to post pictures of myself wearing science-related t-shirts (like 50 of them)?
clock | September 6, 2006Elizabeth Edwards will read from and sign her new book Saving Graces on Monday, October 9, 2006 at 7:30 PM at Quail Ridge Books & Music in Raleigh:
Elizabeth Edwards writes about growing up in a military family, where she learned how to make friends easily in dozens of new schools and neighborhoods around the world, and came to appreciate the unstinting help and comfort naval families shared. Elizabeth Edwards's reminiscences of her years as a mother focus on the support she and other parents offered one another, from everyday favors to the ultimate test of her own community's strength--…
clock | September 6, 2006A microbiological metaphor for the blogosphere (from November 27, 2005):
Heh! I always wanted to write this post. Being lazy is actually good sometimes. Just wait long enough and, lo and behold, someone else will write your post! Saves you time and energy.
Daniel Conover, whom I had great pleasure to meet in person at the ConvergeSouth conference, wrote a very thought-provoking post: Bacteria, blogs, holographic consciousness and The Singularity. There is a lot of biology there, but that is just a pretext for trying to understand what the Internet, and blogs in particular, are growing up to…
clock | September 6, 2006
Second post in a series of five (from April 05, 2006):
In the previous two posts, here and here, I have mentioned how the discovery of circadian clocks in Cyanobacteria changed the way we think about the origin and evolution of circadian clocks. Quite soon after the initial discovery, the team from Carl Johnson's laboratory published two papers [1,2] describing a more direct test of adaptive function of circadian clocks in the Synechococcus elongatus.
Wild-type and various clock-mutants in Synechoccocus, when raised in isolation in light-dark cycles, have comparable reproductive rates.…
clock | September 6, 2006Summer is over so let's start meeting again. Anton needs feedback on the days and locations.
clock | September 6, 2006As a scientist and a blogger and someone very interested in science communication, I was quite delighted with Rob HelpyChalk's series of three charts depicting traditional communication between scientists, traditional communication between scientists and general population, and the new two-way communication between scientists and general population (here is the third chart):
Bill and PZ have some comments on the chart as well. Leave your comments on Rob's blog.
clock | September 6, 2006Elizabeth Edwards will be leading the opening session at the ConvergeSouth blogging and journalism unconference on October 14th. Are you registered yet? Let's have dinner together as well.
(Hat-tip: Ed)
Technorati Tag: ConvergeSouth
clock | September 6, 2006Mr.WD: 'Postmodern' Christianity -- it's still that old time religion, part 4
clock | September 5, 2006Sorry - I had no internet today since 9am. All the posts were pre-scheduled for automatic posting. Some money came in after midnight so I paid the bill but am too tired right now to post anything (and have too much e-mail and stuff to go through). In the meantime, I did a LOT on my Dissertation so that is a good thing. Will be back tomorrow....
In the meantime, check out:
New Carnival of Education is up on Get On The Bus
Grand Rounds, Volume 2, Number 50 is up on Clinical cases and Images
Carnival of Homeschooling Week 36: Labor Day is up on Why Homeschool.