3QD 2009 science blogging prize nominees posted, voting round open.

Remember those prizes 3 Quarks Daily is offering for the best science blogging of the past year?

Well, the nominees are now up, including four of my posts:

• How does salt melt snails?
• SVP Ethics Education Commitee statement: lessons learned from 'Aetogate'
• The Hellinga Retractions (part 1): when replication fails, what should happen next?
• The Hellinga Retractions (part 2): when replication fails, what should happen next?

If you have several hours and a taste for some informative and entertaining writing about science, the full list of nominees will provide lots of good reading.

But don't let that reading distract you from voting -- the polls are now open for you to select your favorite of the nominees. The voting ends at midnight on June 8, 2009, so you have a little time to read and ruminate on your choices.

As you might guess, I'd be honored to get your vote on one of my nominated entries. (Personally, I'm pulling for the snail entry.)