Happy birthday to ScienceBlogs!

As John Lynch points out, today marks the first anniversary of the launch of ScienceBlogs, an experiment in gathering conversations about science in a dedicated corner of the blogosphere. (Yes, I know that spheres don't have corners. Let me enjoy my mixed metaphor.)

You'd never know to look at it today, but in the beginning we were a group of 14 blogs, some of which were already heavy hitters in the blogosphere, but others of which (like mine) you'd probably never heard of. Indeed, the recruitment and the weeks before the launch were a little mysterious. ("Psst! Hey kid! You wanna join a science blog network? Other important bloggers are on board. I could tell you who they are, but if it got out, well, we might hafta rough you up ...") Frankly, I wasn't sure what to expect.

I'm so glad I took that leap into the unknown.

Not only have I fallen into a group of bloggers that feels like a real community -- like a family, in some ways (and not the creepy Mansonesque ways) -- but I've also been thrust into a piece of internet real estate where you fine readers and commenters have found me. Having gone on record before (repeatedly) to proclaim that my commenters are the best, this is a major perk.

John climbed into the Wayback machine to retrieve the old school ScienceBlogs frontpage from January 12, 2006. Yes, it does make me nostalgic, but I'm pretty happy with the entity ScienceBlogs has grown into.

In case you want to convey your birthday wishes, here are the blogs that got this place going:

Adventures in Ethics and Science
Aetiology
Afarensis
Cognitive Daily
Deltoid
Dispatches from the Culture Wars
Evolgen
Gene Expression
The Intersection
Living the Scientific Life
No Se Nada
Pharyngula
Stranger Fruit
Uncertain Principles

I have a hunch that the next year will be a good one, too!