clock | August 6, 2006My wife and kids went to the beach last week. When they returned they gave me a present. Frankly, I wasn't expecting a present at all, so I found it funny that they felt apprehensive that I woud not like the present as it was cheap. Then I opened it, and it was....
...the Drinking Happy Bird!!!! I love it! I always wanted to have one. A craftsman of some sort (watch repair, glass-cutting?) down the street where I grew up had one displayed in his shop window. It was big (about 20cm long) and the legs and stuff were made of metal.
It took me a few minutes to get it set up and working…
clock | August 6, 2006Tim Lambert alerts us that a new book about blogging, Uses Of Blogs, edited by Axel Bruns and Joanne Jacobs, is now out.
Joanne Jacobs, John Quiggin, Mark Bahnisch, Jean Burgess and Melissa Gregg are some of the contributors to the book, looking at various uses of blogs, from personal to political, with quite a heavy emphasis on what I am interested in - the uses in academia and teaching. Unfortunately, there is no chapter about uses of blogs by scientists and/or in science, be it reasearch or teaching or popularization of science.
You can get the more complete information, including the…
clock | August 6, 2006The Synapse vol.1, no.4, is up on Neurotopia.
Carnival of the Godless #46 is up on Love @nd Rage
clock | August 5, 2006...and you'll never think about them the same way again. This is the ultimate science-fiction-come-true gadget (pun intended).
How about a "Guess the Song" game with the iPod swicthed to 'mute'?
clock | August 5, 2006 While I am teaching the biology lab, I set this post to show up automatically at the same time. It describes what we do today, the same stuff we did back on April 02, 2006:
So, yesterday was the last, fourth meeting of the lab. We started out by going over their homework questions about the evolution of Vertebrates. I was quite happy that only one person in only one question confused development with evolution - something that I see, unfortunately, very often. The legs of the frog do not "evolve" out of the body once the tadpole starts losing its tail: the frog legs evolved out of meaty…
clock | August 4, 2006We have recently covered interesting reproductive adaptations in mammals, birds, insects, flatworms, plants and protists. For the time being (until I lose inspiration) I'll try to leave cephalopod sex to the experts and the pretty flower sex to the chimp crew.
In the meantime, I want to cover another Kingdom - the mysterious world of Fungi. And what follows is not just a cute example of a wonderfully evolved reproductive strategy, and not just a way to couple together my two passions - clocks and sex - but also (at the very end), an opportunity to post some of my own hypotheses online.…
clock | August 4, 2006It's been a very busy day (and I am teaching tomorrow morning), but I am working on Friday Weird Sex Blogging right now. Lots of pictures. It will posted later tonight....
clock | August 4, 2006Oversimplified, but much believed idea: Many cancer drugs target cells during cell division. Healthy cells divide at a particular time of day (exact timing may differ between cell types). Cancer cells are not under the control of the circadian clock so they divide at all times of the day (and they divide more often anyway). Thus, incorrect timing of chemotherapy - given during the time most healthy cells divide as well as some cancer cells - will kill more healthy than cancerous cells, leading to early termination of treatment and worse prognosis. Correct timing - during the time when…
clock | August 4, 2006 This post from October 21, 2004 laments the lack of spatial and temporal context for Lakoff's theory of political ideology.
As I have complained before, Lakoff's theory leaves me wanting for a spatial and a temporal context. In other words, I believe that current analysis will remain untested without a comparative study between USA and other countries, as well as without a historical study of changes in two forms of worldviews over the past couple of hundred years of history here, as well as the past couple of millenia around the world.
The only reference to any differences between the…
clock | August 4, 2006Carnival of Feminists #20 is up on SuperBabymama.
Friday Ark #98 is up on The Modulator.
clock | August 3, 2006Have you been reading The Rude Pundit lately. He's got a fantastic line-up of guestbloggers, all female, and all rejoicing in the opportunity to be as rude possible. The latest today, It's all about sex by Pam. Read them all.
clock | August 3, 2006Intriguing, and I hope it's true, but Harry Reid denies it vehemently. Anything to get Hillary out of the Presidential race, I say. (Hat-tip: Shakespeare's Sister)
But what would Harry do? Replace Dean as DNC Chair?
clock | August 3, 2006Lance speculates.
I was correct when I made the similar prediction for Volume 6, but I am out of my league now. Perhaps I'll have to do some more thinking on the topic....
clock | August 3, 2006Interesting, if you are in the field:
The Neurospora Checkpoint Kinase 2: A Regulatory Link Between the Circadian and Cell Cycles
by António M. Pregueiro, Qiuyun Liu, Christopher L. Baker, Jay C. Dunlap, Jennifer J. Loros
The clock gene period-4 (prd-4) in Neurospora was identified by a single allele displaying shortened circadian period and altered temperature compensation. Positional cloning followed by functional tests show that PRD-4 is an ortholog of mammalian checkpoint kinase 2 (Chk2). Expression of prd-4 is regulated by the circadian clock and, reciprocally, PRD-4 physically…
clock | August 3, 2006Since Creationists do not believe in Carbon Dating, they are not allowed to use this service. The only requirement is that you are capable of remaining isotopic during a conversation.
In other news, Jenna, TNG and John have, so far, responded to my book meme tag. Update: And Greensmile did it as well.
clock | August 3, 2006My friend Ron reminds me that the next edition of the International Carnival of Pozitivities is due August 10 on AIDS Combat Zone. If you are HIV positive, submit an entry, if not, link to the carnival and spread the awareness.
clock | August 3, 2006A three-fer from Echidne:
Divorce -- Preparing For Travels in Wingnuttia
Christian Lady Blogging -- Part One Of Travels in Wingnuttia
Divorce: Part Two of Travels in Wingnuttia
clock | August 3, 2006Predators Prefer To Hunt Small-brained Prey
Predators such as leopards and chimpanzees consistently target smaller-brained prey less capable of escape, research at the University of Liverpool has shown.They avoid more intelligent prey such as monkeys which have exceptionally large brains and are more capable of escaping attacks.
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Animals with small brains lack behavioural flexibility and are probably less capable of developing new strategies to escape predators, compared with larger-brained species.
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