grrlscientist | October 4, 2007tags: dance monkey dance, streaming video
An interesting streaming video with words to "Dance Monkeys Dance" by Ernest Cline. [3:53]
grrlscientist | October 3, 2007A friend, Jerry, sent me the results of the Washington Post's Mensa Invitational. This is a competition where WaPo readers are asked to take any word from the dictionary, alter it by adding, subtracting, or changing one letter, and supply a new definition. Below the fold are this year's winners. Read them carefully. Each is an artificial word with only one letter altered to form a real word. Some are terrifically innovative:
Intaxication: Euphoria at getting a tax refund, which lasts until you realize it was your money to start with.
Reintarnation: Coming back to life as a hillbilly.…
grrlscientist | October 3, 2007tags: Red-breasted nuthatch, Sitta canadensis, birds, Image of the Day
The photographer writes: I took some pictures this weekend at my bird feeder (in Eagle River, AK). [More of these images will follow, so be sure to check in here]
Image: David Lee. [Wallpaper size]
mystery bird, revealed.
grrlscientist | October 3, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, treatment-emergent suicidal ideation, suicide, citalopram, celexa, SSRI, black box warning
Despite what the news might have you believe, it is quite rare for a depressed person to exhibit increased suicidal thinking after they have begun treatment with an SSRI, such as citalopram (celexa). According to the statistics, so-called "treatment-emergent suicidal ideation" occurs only in approximately 4% of all people taking citalopram, whereas this same phenomenon also occurs in 2% of all placebo-treated cases. However, in those unusual cases where suicidal ideation…
grrlscientist | October 3, 2007tags: researchblogging.org, H-index, impact numbers, scientific journals
A friend, Ian, emailed an opinion paper that lamented the state of scientific research and the effect this has had on science itself. In this paper, by Peter A. Lawrence, a Professor of Zoology at University of Cambridge, the main point is that modern science, particularly biomedicine, is being damaged by attempts to measure the quality and quantity of research being produced by individual scientists. Worse, as this system careened out of control, it gave rise to a new and more damaging trend: ranking scientists…
grrlscientist | October 2, 2007tags: blog carnivals, The Boneyard, paleontology
The sixth edition of the Boneyard is now available for you to read. This blog carnival focuses on paleontology and fossils, so there's plenty there for you dinosaur fans to enjoy.
grrlscientist | October 1, 2007tags: blog carnivals, carnival of eating disorders, eating disorders
The latest edition of the Carnival of Eating Disorders is now available for you to enjoy. As you might know, eating disorders affect many people, either directly or indirectly. This blog carnival included an essay that I wrote, so be sure to go there and read it as well as their many wonderful pieces.
grrlscientist | October 1, 2007tags: blog carnivals, Writers block, writing
The latest edition of the Writer's Block carnival is now available for your reading pleasure. Even though there's plenty there to read, I think I've cornered their market for book reviews .. go check it out to see what they've got to read!
grrlscientist | October 1, 2007tags: blog carnivals, Friday Ark, animal photography
The 158th edition of Friday Ark is now available for you to enjoy. This blog carnival, inspired by friday cat blogging, focuses on animal photography. So be sure to go there to see their latest collection of images, some of which are accompanied by stories, including one that I sent to them!
grrlscientist | October 1, 2007tags: blog carnivals, brain
The latest edition of the Brain Blogging carnival is now available, and they were fkind enough to include something that I wrote. Yeah, me! Be sure to go there and give them support by reading a few of their links.
grrlscientist | October 1, 2007tags: raccoon, Procyon lotor, Image of the Day
Central Park Raccoon, Procyon lotor.
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photographer writes; I had so much positive feedback about my images of a particular Central Park Raccoon den that I'm pretty sure many will enjoy this. Consider it a reprise of the Talk Like a Pirate Day (9.19.07) and Central Park Nose (9.20.07) Living the Scientific Life posts. It is definitely the same Raccoon cub in the earlier of the two shots and is likely the same one I barely detected snoozing in the same tree cavity. This image was…
grrlscientist | October 1, 2007tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter
Back from the brink:
The endangered Rimatara lorikeet or Kuhl's lory, Vini kuhlii,
has been successfully reintroduced to Ätiu.
Image: Phil Bender.
Birds in Science
Migrating birds, it seems, can "see" the Earth's magnetic field which they use as a compass to guide them around the globe. Specialized neurons in the eye, sensitive to magnetic direction, have been shown for the first time to connect via a specific brain pathway to an area in the forebrain of birds responsible for vision, German researchers said on…
grrlscientist | September 30, 2007tags: Painted Turtle, Red-eared Slider, reptile, Image of the Day
"Very good but try harder to get your other leg off the ground and don't forget to breathe and don't strain."
Image: Bob Levy, author of Club George. [Wallpaper size]
The photographer writes: For a change here's something I can recommend you try at home. I serendipitously stumbled into a turtle-yoga class. Not being an expert I found it hard to interpret the significance of this one-on-one situation involving members of two different species. The smaller one looks like a Painted Turtle and the other a Red-eared Slider. Can…
grrlscientist | September 30, 2007tags: sorting quiz, online quiz
Just in time for a new term at school; it's time to get sorted into your house!
The Sorting Quiz
Your Result: Ravenclaw
You are smart, intelligent, and perceptive. You love information and flourish in facts. Though some Ravenclaws (like Luna) have an open mind, you might not have such an open mind, you might need proof for everything. But this isn't always a bad thing!
Gryffindor
Hufflepuff
Slytherin
The Sorting Quiz
grrlscientist | September 29, 2007tags: Smithsonian Institution, National Zoo, museum, funding crisis
What's wrong with this picture: America is spending billions and billions of dollars to bomb the snot out of Iraq, but we can't even spare a fraction of that cost to fix our premier museum and zoo??
According to a news story that appeared in today's Washington Post, the Smithsonian Institution and the National Zoo are rapidly deteriorating due to a lack of funds to repair and update the facilities and to hire enough security guards to protect this nation's historic treasures.
Deteriorating Smithsonian facilities have…
grrlscientist | September 29, 2007tags: white-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, birds, Image of the Day
White-throated Sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, 1st winter plumage.
Image: Kevin T. Karlson [larger view].
This morning, I ran into a little bird at the entrance to the library where I go every day. I was actually distracted, but out of the corner of my eye I noticed this was a white-throated sparrow, Zonotrichia albicollis, instead of the ubiquitous house (english) sparrows. Not only are white-throated sparrows the sister species to my dissertation bird, the white-crowned sparrow, Zonotrichia leucophrys, but…
grrlscientist | September 28, 2007tags: mammals, dragonflies, black rhinocerus, Diceros bicornis, Image of the Day
This newborn black rhinoceros, Diceros bicornis, at a safari park in Tel Aviv is the first to have been born in captivity in Israel in 15 years.
Image: AP.
grrlscientist | September 28, 2007tags: sesame street, online quiz
You Are Cookie Monster
Misunderstood as a primal monster, you're a true hedonist with a huge sweet tooth.
You are usually feeling: Hungry. Cookies are preferred, but you'll eat anything if cookies aren't around.
You are famous for: Your slightly crazy eyes and usual way of speaking
How you life your life: In the moment. "Me want COOKIE!"
The Sesame Street Personality Quiz
Hey, how did they know that my favorite snack is a .. COOKIE!!
grrlscientist | September 27, 2007tags: parrot, lories, lorikeet, loriinae, loriidae, Rimatara lorikeet, Kuhl's lory, Vini kuhlii, conservation, ornithology, South Pacific Islands
Back from the brink:
The endangered Rimatara lorikeet or Kuhl's lory, Vini kuhlii,
has been successfully reintroduced to Ätiu.
Image: Phil Bender.
As I've mentioned a few times already, my life's passion is the birds of the South Pacific, particularly the Loriinae, which are parrots commonly known as the lories and lorikeets. I study them professionally and I have lived with them and bred them for most of my life. So it was exciting to me when I…
grrlscientist | September 27, 2007tags: blog carnivals, medicine, all things medical
The September issue of All Things Medical blog carnival is now available for you to read and enjoy. It appears that I have quite a few submissions to this blog carnival, so I think you should go over there and give them some support by poking through their linked stories, you know, just so I can extend my influence over the known world and stuff like that.