clock | June 30, 2006
This post was initially published on September 16, 2004. It takes a critical look at some UCLA studies on brain responses of partisan voters exposed to images of Bush and Kerry:
Using M.R.I.'s to See Politics on the Brain
The researchers do not claim to have figured out either party's brain yet, since they have not finished this experiment. But they have already noticed intriguing patterns in how Democrats and Republicans look at candidates. They have tested 11 subjects and say they need to test twice that many to confirm the trend.
The Political Brain
Do liberals ''think'' with their…
clock | June 30, 2006Some flatworms, for instance these pretty Pseudobiceros hancockanus, engage in penis fencing. Both individuals are hermaphrodites, i.e., have both male and female organs. The penis is white, pointed and two-headed. Both individuals are trying to inseminate the other. The one who is inseminated has to bear and lay eggs - a more expensive proposition. The one who "won" the fencing bout and did the insemination can move on and fence some other guys and on and on, "fathering" many progeny until happenning onto a better fencer, getting inseminated, and spending the rest of the life as "…
clock | June 30, 2006Circus of the Spineless #10 is up on Science And Sensibility.
Friday Ark #93 is up on Modulator.
clock | June 30, 2006There is only one day left in our DonorsChoose action. To see the strategy that will yield the greatest benefit to the teachers and their students, go to Janet's blog.
clock | June 29, 2006This week, it took me quite a while to figure out how to answer the Ask a ScienceBlogger question: "What are some unsung successes that have occurred as a result of using science to guide policy?"
As a relative newcomer to the United States, and even more a newcomer to American politics, I was not around long enough to pay attention to various science-driven policies of the past. Most of what I know are far from "unsung" successes - from Manhattan Project, through Clean Air and Clean Water acts, to the EWndangered Species Act, to the international Kyoto Protocol. Dealing with DDT, DES,…
clock | June 29, 2006This is in the bread-mold Neurospora crassa. It is unlikely to be universal. I expect to see the connection in some protists and fungi, perhaps in some animals. I am not so sure about plants, and I am pretty sure it is not like this in Cyanobacteria in which the cycle of cell division is independent from circadian timing:
Novel connection found between biological clock and cancer
Hanover, NH--Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have discovered that DNA damage resets the cellular circadian clock, suggesting links among circadian timing, the cycle of cell division, and the propensity for…
clock | June 29, 2006I hope you have heard the Diane Rehm Show on NPR this morning at 10EDT (the first hour of the show). The guest was the presiding Episcopal Bishop-Elect Katharine Jefferts Schori, the first woman to lead the Episcopal Church. She is an amazing woman. You should listen to the show here (Real Audio) or here (Windows Media) (the best parts are starting at about 8th minute). I especially liked the way her training in oceanography influences the way she looks at the world and the way her church should be organized.
For instance, she is aware that greater species diversity makes an ecosystem more…
clock | June 29, 2006Here is a wonderful new study that demonstrates that the antifreeze substances in notothenioid fish are not produced by the liver as was believed for decades and taught in Comparative Physiology courses. Instead, it is produced in two places: most of it in the exocrine pancreas, and somewhat less in a portion of the stomach at the entry of the esophagus:
.....AFGPs are secreted into the intestinal lumen where they protect the intestinal fluid from being frozen by ice crystals that come in with seawater and food. Internal fluids in notothenioids are about one-half as salty as seawater. While…
clock | June 29, 2006The absence of light-dark cycles in space (e.g., on the shuttle or space station) results in disruptions of sleep. It has been proposed that humans who spend prolonged time in space are suffering from jet-lag - the internal desynchronization of clocks in various tissues.
A new experiment on the space station will take a somewhat different strategy than usual. Instead of measuring EEG (brain activity), it will monitor EKG (heart activity) over a period of 150 days.
The idea, brought by Irish researchers, is that EEG monitoring is not capable of measuring internal desynchronization of the…
clock | June 29, 2006Evolution's Lonely Battle in a Georgia Classroom:
OCCASIONALLY, an educational battle will dominate national headlines. More commonly, the battling goes on locally, behind closed doors, handled so discreetly that even a teacher working a few classrooms away might not know. This was the case for Pat New, 62, a respected, veteran middle school science teacher, who, a year ago, quietly stood up for her right to teach evolution in this rural northern Georgia community, and prevailed.
She would not discuss the conflict while still teaching, because Ms. New wouldn't let anything disrupt her…
clock | June 29, 2006The fifth installment just came in - read under the fold. (Oh, and BTW, I was wrong - the installments ARE in the correct chronological order)
Muyu, extended stay, report
(Mu - you, as in newt)
I never thought it would come to this, having to give a report on my finds and experiences in the town, but fortunately there has been enough of a mix of activity to keep me interested.
My town experience started when we left Dongxi on the 14th of June and headed back to Muyu. From the 14th until the 23rd I stayed in Muyu (that's 10 days!!) and on occasion went to some places nearby.
15 - 16 June…
clock | June 29, 2006This post was first written on October 28, 2004 on Science And Politics, then it was republished on December 05, 2005 on The Magic School Bus. The Village vs. The University - all in your mind.
Eric at Total Information Awareness wrote two excellent posts on something that touches me personally, yet has much broader consequences on the country as a whole: the well-organized and well-funded assault of the Right on the University (check some links in the comments section, too): Freedom Fighters and Academic Freedom Fighters.
There were a couple of other articles on the same topic, e.g.,The…
clock | June 29, 2006Apparently, there is yet another movie made about Tesla this year.
Violet Fire Opera is an opera about Tesla. It will open in National Theater in Belgrade on July 10th.
There is some stuff about the history of radio and moving pictures. Both essays mention Tesla's contributions.
Tesla Roadster is creating quite a buzz. I wish I could afford it. Perhaps the Model II will be a little cheaper.
A new livejournal takes it's name after Tesla's tower - Wardenclyffe Tower.
The best source on everything Tesla is the Tesla Museum in Belgrade.
And here is another fan.
Check the links to previous…
clock | June 29, 2006WHY DAVID BRODER AND MARSHALL WITTMAN THREATEN DEMOCRACY:
If you look out over the landscape and think that both sides are equally bad and that the answer is somewhere in the middle, then you aren't looking very closely. In fact, you're not looking at all. You're letting a pre-existing concept (the vanity of your own conspicuous centrism and bipartisan goodness) warp your perceptions of reality.
AND ALL THE PUNDITS ARE INSANE :
The fact that the GOP isn't getting chased out of town and harassed endlessly by adopting this policy shows just how skewed everyone's center of gravity is. There…
clock | June 29, 2006The fifth part of Kevin's snake research in rural China is coming up on this blog today at noon. How do you think Kevin became such a scientist at such a young age? And how can we get more Kevins? Answer: science teachers in our schools. That is why we need to help teachers make science alive and exciting for their little charges. Just lookk at what is needed:
How about Dino-Mite!, in which a SC teacher needs just $221 dinosaur books for the school library.
Or Scientists in the Making, for a teacher in a Gifter & Talented Magnet school in rural North Carolina in which 48% of the…
clock | June 28, 2006...if we all pitch in an help the challengers to get elected to the Kansas School Board - those people who are trying to replace the Creationists and get science education in the state back on track. How can you help? Josh Rosenau of Thoughts From Kansas has all the information put together so you can get the information and, if you can, help.
clock | June 28, 2006...so now you know. CFeagans, Mike Dunford and Dave S. were the closest to the correct diagnosis in the comments. You should start a car-repair show on NPR, guys!
I also needed - badly - new front tires and alignment. Total cost = St.Peter's scrambled eggs!
clock | June 28, 2006Carnival of Education #73 is up on The Lilting House.
Carnival of Homeschooling #26 is up on The Homeschool Cafe.
clock | June 28, 2006
This is one a couple of posts about Creationism, written originally on May 1st, 2005.
Creationism Is Just One Symptom Of Conservative Pathology
I am not an "evolutionist". I am not a "Darwinist". I am a biologist. Thus, by definition, I am an evolutionary biologist. Although my research is in physiology and behavior, I would never be able to make any sense of my data (or even know what questions to ask in the first place) without evolutionary thinking.
As I am also interested in history and philosophy of biology, I consider myself a Darwinian. But not a "Darwinist" or "evolutionist" - those…