clock | July 19, 2006The second part of the interview with Dr. Mark Lindeman is up on Neural Gourmet: Of public opinion, exit polls and fraud (or the lack thereof) (Part 2):
Some people have referred to the "uncanny accuracy" of the exit polls. I think it's a very bad sign when the adjective "uncanny" drifts into nominally scientific discourse. That doesn't mean that we scrap the data; it means that we try to interpret it judiciously. It's a pretty banal point, but some folks can't seem to get past it.
clock | July 19, 2006Shakespeare's Sister has another article up on AlterNet: Bush gropes German Chancellor Angela Merkel
Bush channeled the Creepy Guy at Work who gives a female coworker an unwanted massage, much to his repulsed target's chagrin.
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This is the ultimate in rude and presumptuous behavior. I've worked with men who feel compelled to touch me in exactly this way, with one even responding to my terse request to back off with a more determined shoulder rub and the comment, "But you're so tense." To which I replied, "That's because you won't get your fucking hands off of me."…
clock | July 19, 2006Years of research die with specially bred lab mice:
When a power failure triggered the death of nearly 600 mice at Ohio State University last week, a group of researchers lost more than their lab rodents. Mary Cheng lost years of insight into the human brain. Caroline Whitacre lost a better understanding of multiple sclerosis. Most of the mice were specially bred for research.
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University officials are still trying to determine what happened last Wednesday when one of two main electric lines was taken offline for a few hours for a construction project. When…
clock | July 18, 2006Reed Cartwright, the blogger of De Rerum Natura and Panda's Thumb fame, has moved to my neighborhood (OK, 28.7 miles from me), getting ready to start his postdoc at NCSU. A loss for Georgia is a gain for North Carolina. I hope he enjoys the vibrant local blogging community.
clock | July 18, 2006Keyboard screwed up! Bakspace, Delete, 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th key on high row do not work (q, e, t, u, and a). Does anyone know what could be wrong? (using onscreen keyboard to type this)
Update: I bought a new one and it works fine....
clock | July 18, 2006Scientists Discover Why Cornea Is Transparent And Free Of Blood Vessels, Allowing Vision:
The key, say the researchers, is the unexpected presence of large amounts of the protein VEGFR-3 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3) on the top epithelial layer of normal healthy corneas.
According to their findings, VEGFR-3 halts angiogenesis (blood vessel growth) by acting as a "sink" to bind or neutralize the growth factors sent by the body to stimulate the growth of blood vessels.
Nice, except that "Why" is an evolutionary question: they should have used "How" throughout the press…
clock | July 18, 2006Kevin goes on a huge hike, finds an enormous snake, watches another snake eat a frog, carries a snake for 45 minutes in his hands, gets bitten by a pseudocobra, drinks five liters of stream water and gets sick....all in great detail under the fold....
Bancang
(Bantong)
10 July
Today the plan was to travel to Bancang for a couple of days. The station is a lower elevation station and we were warned that it was very hot. I need to get a few mid-summer observations in, so I felt we should still go. We took the refuge SUV, which I think unless things change, I will not take again. When we arrived…
clock | July 18, 2006
I love my kids, and they are growing into wonderful, passionate atheists. This one is from March 24, 2005, under the fold....
The kids' spring break just started, the weather is gorgeous, and the computer is broken. What a great opportunity to spend a lot of time together (instead of timing each other's computer use)! Zoo next week? Oh, yeah!
In the last post about my kids, I concentrated on Coturnix Junior. This one is more about Coturnietta. She is eight years old. We went to Weaver Street Market for lunch (and also to get food for the rest of the family who remained at home). At one…
clock | July 18, 2006Apparently there is a meme going around the blogosphere in which people dig into their personal libraries on a search for the oldest book they have - originals, that is, not reprints or printouts. Considering that I am a book lover and a book hoarder, I was surprised to see how few of my books are really old.
It is not surprising that history bloggers have much older books than us mere mortals. Check out the ancient texts collected by Duane Smith, Chris Weimar, Chris Tilling and their commenters! Some go back to 16th century! There is no way I can best that.
There is also no way I can best…
clock | July 17, 2006
?? Which Creature Of The Sea Are You??
SeahorseTake this quiz!
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Well, the questions are kinda iffy, so when I did the quiz the second time around with alternate answers, I got a cephalopod after all, and a description that fits me much, much better:
?? Which Creature Of The Sea Are You??
OctopusTake this quiz!
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clock | July 17, 2006Mark Lindeman is a guy who did the statistical analysis of the exit polls and final numbers of the 2004 election and conluded that there was NO fraud, or at least not enough to make a difference. He is, thus, a liberal unloved by some other liberals. He is thus a liberal unhappy that his data show what they show - he would have been much happier if Kerry won. But data are data....
Anyway, TNG of Neural Gourmet blog did an exclusive interview with Dr.Lindeman. The first part is now up, the second one will come up tomorrow and the third part on Wednesday.
So, go and read the first part…
clock | July 17, 2006Do you think YOU can solve this puzzle? Go see the first three clues, the fourth clue and the final clue. Any ideas?
clock | July 17, 2006From Financial Times: 'Social jet lag' causes fatigue and illness (also on MSNBC):
Half the people in modern urban societies suffer from "social jet lag" because their body clocks are seriously out of step with their real lives, the Euroscience forum in Munich heard on Monday.
The result was chronic fatigue and an increased susceptibility to disease, researches found. They concluded that employers should tell staff to wake up in their own time and come in to work when they feel ready to.
Till Roenneberg, a circadian rhythm researcher at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich, coined the…
clock | July 17, 2006Here is a little tangent to Kevin's adventure. You may recall from one of the previous installments (Kevin in China, part 6 - The Mystery Snake) that there was an evening that Kevin does not remember very clearly, due to great hospitality of his hosts and the high alcohol levels of the wine served at dinner. You may also recall that another American was present at that dinner - Vanessa. Unlike Kevin, she remembers that evening very well and here is her lucid report:
This is Vanessa, the "guest-star" of Kevin's Pinqian report. He was kind enough to include my name amongst his email list;…
clock | July 17, 2006This post about the origin, evolution and adaptive fucntion of biological clocks originated as a paper for a class, in 1999 I believe. I reprinted it here in December 2004, as a third part of a four-part post. Later, I reposted it here.
III. Whence Clocks?
Origin, Evolution, and Adaptive Function of Biological Clocks
The old saw about the early bird just goes to show that the worm should have stayed in bed. (Heinlein 1973)
Now darkness falls.
Quail chirps.
What use Hawk eyes?
(Basho)
Local/temporary and global/universal environments. In the study of adaptive functions, usually the question…
clock | July 17, 2006David Ng of Science Fair is asking an informal AskThe ScienceBlogger question:
Are there any children's books that are dear to you, either as a child or a parent, and especially ones that perhaps strike a chord with those from a science sensibility? Just curious really. And it doesn't have to be a picture book, doesn't even have to be a children's book - just a book that, for whatever reason, worked for the younger mind set.
MarkCC and Janet have responded with their choices. And you should definitely look up David's reviews of several science-related children's books here, here, here, here…
clock | July 17, 2006Ingeo is a fabric made out of genetically engineered corn - one more way the agricultural-military-industrial complex is finding a way to get you to consume all those tons of corn they are paying the farmers to grow.
Fashion of future may grow in cornfield:
``We think there is a tremendous future for it, particularly because the consumer world is starting to wake up and recognize that it makes sense to employ some of these different materials as an alternative to both energy and fabric," said Martin Dudziak, research director for Linda Loudermilk Inc., which makes Ingeo clothes.
Fashion:…