Sheril R. Kirshenbaum
sheril
Posts by this author
February 25, 2009
Readers at The Reef Tank were interested to learn more about marine science, so I was happy for the opportunity to chat with Ava earlier this week. As I explained during our conversation, aquariums need not be detrimental to biodiversity when managed responsibly. I suspect most people enjoy the…
February 24, 2009
The United States faces enormous challenges in a troubled climate, but I think we just witnessed President Barack Obama officially usher in a new golden age for American politics.
February 24, 2009
Former Representative Florence Dwyer (R-NJ, 1957-1973) once explained:
"A Congresswoman must look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, speak on any given subject with authority and most of all work like a dog."
I've written about sex in Congress before because it's a subject where the…
February 24, 2009
I'll admit PZ's post yesterday featuring a cosmic cephalopod sleeping overhead in the Carina Nebula was both daunting and impressive... but never fear friends, a heroic starry sea cucumber keeps vigilant in the Crab Pulsar and continues to protect us from its merciless tentacles.
February 23, 2009
According to CNN, former Governor Gary Locke (D-WA) is likely to be nominated by President Obama as our next Secretary of Commerce.
Given NOAA accounts for up to 65% of the Commerce Department budget, you bet I'm eager to learn more. Among many duties, the incoming Secretary of Commerce faces…
February 23, 2009
In lieu of blasting the Washington Post again over their recent faux pas, I'm interested in finding out whether you're as intrigued as I am lately over LOST...
During my recovery, I've been catching up on past episodes and this season includes a lot of 'science' in the script as the island jumps…
February 22, 2009
Having recently emerged from the hospital, I'm catching up on the news I've missed--beginning with the Washington Post nonsense Chris has covered here.
Apparently reporter George Will is about as informed on climate change as octuplet mom Nadya Suleman is on the fiscal responsibilities of raising…
February 19, 2009
Listen to NPR's News & Notes today for our friend Al Teich--the Director of Science and Policy Programs at the American Association for the Advancement of Science--will discuss science under the Obama Administration, the stimulus package, and more.
Find your local station or listen to the…
February 18, 2009
You've likely already seen this story all over the news:
Chimp's owner calls vicious mauling 'freak thing'
STAMFORD, Conn. (AP) -- The owner of a 200-pound chimpanzee that viciously mauled a Stamford woman calls the incident "a freak thing," but says her pet was not a "horrible" animal.
Sandra…
February 17, 2009
Over at Genetic Future, Daniel is asking whether scientists should study race and IQ. The topic is taken on in the most recent issue of Nature here and here and it's a conversation that resurfaces now and then among various colleagues in genetics: If there might be associations between gender or…
February 17, 2009
Yesterday, C-SPAN released the Historians Survey of Presidential Leadership. Below are the results based on ten attributes of leadership. [Click here to compare this list with scores from 2000].
I'm interested to find out whether readers agree with these rankings, and if not, who would you move…
February 16, 2009
All the tropics folks have a habit of going on and on about species diversity, but it turns out the poles aren't as desolate as many expected. The Census of Marine Life has just released a report documenting about 7,500 species in the Antarctic and 5,500 in the Arctic including several hundred…
February 13, 2009
Thanks so much to everyone for thoughtful emails and comments. I'm back home and reading them has definitely been helping with recovery :)
Chris and I also want to wish our readers a very happy Valentine's Day...
February 8, 2009
Follow up reposted from ScienceDebate:
Several people have emailed asking about the cuts to the proposed
increases to DOE/Office of Science, and what about NIH, USGS and other
agencies we didn't mention. Some clarifications are in order.
1. These are NOT agencies' existing budgets - this is…
February 7, 2009
Reposted from ScienceDebate:
(February 6, 2009) - Well
it's been a long, long day with thousands of emails and phone calls, but we are happy to
report that your efforts, and those of the rest of the U.S. science and
technology community, have paid off in a big way - for the time being.
Senators…
February 6, 2009
It's February once again, just a week away from that very special holiday in which we celebrate the one we love (or bemoan the greeting card industry). Last year, I composed a post called The Science of Kissing provoking all sorts of interesting discussions on and offline. Now that I'm about to…
February 5, 2009
An article in this week's PNAS reports ocean acidification and climate change threaten reef clownfish. Changing CO2 levels disrupt larvae's sense of smell, which is crucial to survival.
According to Dr Philip Munday, "What our study is showing is that animal behaviour is affected by the…
February 4, 2009
The Continental Divide runs north-south from Alaska to northwestern South America. It separates waters flowing into the Pacific Ocean from those flowing into the Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico.
We stopped in New Mexico to document traversing this natural boundary...
February 2, 2009
We arrived in Austin on Thursday night and I've been pleasantly surprised to find such a progressive, musical, and fun corner of The Lone Star State. I've also got a feeling many of our readers have been through there, so let's see how many locations you can identify from these photos:
January 30, 2009
While in Shreveport, Louisiana also we stopped at the Science Center to stretch our legs in the gift shop. Friendly folks, but still a reminder of the unfortunate Pluto affair. About half of the solar system mobiles, puzzles, and games had the 9th planet and the other half--not so much. What's…
January 30, 2009
Properly driving cross country involves stopping at unusual roadside attractions and sampling every regional delicacy you find. And once the landscape gets monotonous, calling into the local pop radio station to say you'd like to fill in as their guest DJ. Props to Brad Wells on Louisiana's Star…
January 30, 2009
The wind drowned out my commentary over the river, but watch for the train:
January 29, 2009
This morning I woke up in Mississippi. Our highlight so far was Dreamland BBQ in Birmingham, Alabama. Has anyone been there?
I also gave The Flip a try when the sun appeared in Georgia, so here goes a test run:
Tonight, it's Austin, TX.
January 28, 2009
By the time this post publishes, I'll be on the open road somewhere between the Atlantic and Pacific. I'm leaving NC a couple months to circle the states for meetings, talks, and some fun along the way. Stopping soon at UT Austin before heading west to USC where I'm looking forward to catching…