gregladen | June 25, 2010Both this year and last year (is this the beginning of a tradition?) Stephanie Zvan gave me a short story for my birthday. Last year, the story impressed me because it was a good story even without the unexpected, mildly disturbing twist. This time, the twist is not mildly disturbing at all.
It is deeply disturbing. Here is the story.
Stephanie will be reading from her work at the Convergence Convention coming up in a few days. Personally, I think this is a candidate for a reading like this, though it would be appropriate to have two readers acting it out. It could be seen as all…
gregladen | June 25, 2010 Although the paper addresses Tanzanian lions, this is a photograph of a Namibian lion Starting some years ago, we began to hear about revisions of the standard models of lion behavioral biology coming out of Craig Packer's research in the Serengeti. One of the most startling findings, first shown (if memory serves) as part of a dynamic optimization model and subsequently backed up with a lot of additional information, is the idea that lions do not benefit by living in a group with respect to hunting. They live in groups despite the fact that this sociality decreases hunting…
gregladen | June 25, 2010I am all in favor of the White House and the military being at odds over policy and politics. I have this notion that the elected civilians need to remind the officers that in our country, at least, the elected civilians are in charge. It's that respect for the concept of democracy deep within my little cowboy heart that gets alarmed whenever I sense that the President and the Joint Chiefs of Staff are too much on the same page.
Continue reading this post by Mike at QM
gregladen | June 24, 2010Along with a few other .... select bloggers. Check out the latest editor's choice at Research Blogging
gregladen | June 24, 2010And in this case by "feminism" I mean specifically active engagement in STEM-recruiting.
The answer is ... going to be at the far end of what I predict will be an interesting and productive discussion starting out at Urban Science Adventures: An Open Letter to...Nerd Girls
gregladen | June 24, 2010Oh, no, I read it wrong. It's "hope." And not THAT Pandora. But it is my birthday!
gregladen | June 24, 2010... or, this:
Watch Saving Africa's Witch Children in Activism & Non-Profit | View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com
Hat tip: Traumatized by Truth
gregladen | June 24, 2010Interesting piece:
...Certain topics never fail to generate a flood of impassioned reactions online: immigration, President Obama, federal taxes, "birthers," and race. This story about Obama's Kenyan aunt, who had been exposed as an illegal immigrant living in public housing in Boston and who was now seeking asylum, manages to pull strands from all five of those contentious subjects....
Here at the Boston Globe.
HT Virgil Samms
gregladen | June 24, 2010Over that last day or so, tons of BP oil have been removed from Florida beaches. The news shows people who live along the beaches crying. Sorry, Floridians, I do not cry for you. I cry for the clams, but not the people. You put that oil there.
You may or may not remember your part in stealing the election and putting the Oilman Bush in office, with the help of your governor, another Oilman Bush. You may or may not have noticed that you play a large role in determining the outcome of national elections, and thus helped re-elect Oilman Bush.
Not much is being said about it now, but I'm…
gregladen | June 24, 2010Is it possible for all the oxygen molecules in the room, which are moving around randomly, to randomly all move to one corner so everyone is breathing just nitrogen for a while and they die?
Is is possible for a World Cup soccer game to have a score of, say, 24 to one?
Is is possible for a tennis match to go on for several days because, after all, there is no limit on how many times they can bounce the ball back and forth across the net?
Yes.
gregladen | June 24, 2010Peter Tyack of Woods Hole talks about a hidden wonder of the sea: underwater sound. Onstage at Mission Blue, he explains the amazing ways whales use sound and song to communicate across hundreds of miles of ocean.
gregladen | June 23, 2010The podcast for The Cosmetics Cop: Paula Begoun has materialized here.
Paula Begoun is the bestselling author of "The Beauty Bible" and "Don't Go To The Cosmetics Counter Without Me." We'll examine the science behind some popular beauty products, and find out what real research says about makeup myths.
That also includes this segment: The Amazing Meeting with Austin Luton, Jeff Wagg and K.O. Myers
This Friday:'s show is:
Transhumanism
We explore the predictions and the problems in the quest to "enhance" human beings. We're joined by George Dvorsky of Sentient Developments and the Institute…
gregladen | June 23, 2010If so, would you please take this survey? It is for a friend of mine who is working on a research project regarding what looks to me like "framing" in IT management.
We'll beat him up later for the framing bit.
Anyway, click here to do the survey thing. Thanks.
gregladen | June 23, 2010How can a nation call itself civilized if it executes its own citizens?
The story goes like this. A famous scientist whom you've likely never heard of was in China for several years excavating a famous archaeological site that you certainly have heard of. During that time, he felt the need, as we all do now and then, to hold in his hand a defleshed human skull. It would be nice to have available the skull of a modern human, in order to compare it with the skulls of not-so-modern humans he was busily digging up.
So he inquired.
He asked local officials and notables who might be able to help…
gregladen | June 22, 2010According to reports.
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy
Check it out.
gregladen | June 22, 2010I have an ex facebook friend with no sense of proportion, no sense of humor, and very little sense of her own lack of importance. We disagreed on guns. She wants unfettered gun ownership. We disagree, apparently, on anthropogenic global warming. She thinks its made up. I don't. And now, she wants the whole world to know that I treated her badly, and she will do so by posting a screen shot of our last interaction on facebook "everywhere she can"
Well, I'd like to help with that:
First, her name on Facebook is Gwenny Todd, if you'd like to friend her or verify any of this with her. Second,…
gregladen | June 22, 2010Did you know that there is a mite problem? Among other things, they appear to have infested the dog food supply chain, and it may even be that through this vector, mites may affect both humans and dogs with allergy more widely than previously. This is an interesting emerging disease, in a way.
To start to get a grasp on this squishy problem (squishy because mites are weakly sclerotized, obviously) check out this post: Mold Mites at Jafsica.com.
gregladen | June 22, 2010Can prayer reduce the number of abortions?
One of the most interesting stories in evolutionary biology is reviewed by Larry Moran: On the Origin of the Double Membrane in Mitochondria and Chloroplasts
At least one bad idea by Big Oil has been stopped.
gregladen | June 22, 2010
Biologist fears Gulf oil threat to dolphins
"We will brace for the worst if the oil comes here, but we don't think there is any protection we can give to the dolphins if it does. What will happen if they can't move away from it? It scares the hell out of me," Randall Wells said in a telephone interview this morning, shortly after returning to his Sarasota laboratory after a morning on the water conducting an emergency survey of dolphins he has studied since 1970.
source
gregladen | June 22, 2010In graphic design, Marian Bantjes says, throwing your individuality into a project is heresy. She explains how she built her career doing just that, bringing her signature delicate illustrations to storefronts, valentines and even genetic diagrams.