Good news, everyone!

I got a pretty nice surprise yesterday morning; Laelaps was listed as one of the "Top 30 Science Blogs" by the Times science magazine Eureka! I was proud to see this blog featured alongside those of Scicurious, Ed, Carl, David, Sheril, Bora, and many of the others who made the list. Even better, Eureka wants to expand the list to include the top 100 science blogs, so be sure to send in your nominations for the best of the best to eureka@thetimes.co.uk, with "Best blogs" in the subject line.

And, as Ed already said, Times science editor Mark Henderson deserves three cheers (and a bit more) for fostering such connections between print and the web. He has been a great supporter of science blogs, and I am glad to see that Eureka is taking web-based science writing seriously. If you can get it, be sure to check out the latest issue of the magazine, out today with the Times (and if you can't, check out the Eureka Zone on the Times website).

I am also pleased to tell you that I have a new essay out in the latest issue (Vol. 3, Issue 2) of the newsletter Giraffa, published by the IUCN/SSC ASG International Giraffe Working Group. It is all about early interpretations of Sivatherium, an extinct giraffe that some naturalists thought may have had a trunk, and you can download it for free here. Many thanks to Julian Fennessey who invited me to rework my original post on Sivatherium for the newsletter.

And, speaking of good news, ResearchBlogging.org recently announced its first-ever Research Blogging Awards competition. All the details can be found here, including a list of categories and prizes, but nominations are only open for another week so be sure to visit soon to cast your vote for yourself or your favorite research blogger. I would be much obliged to anyone who cast a vote for Laelaps and/or Dinosaur Tracking.

Given all this good news I am tempted to share a bit more, but I think I am going to keep a few things under my hat for the moment. In addition to polishing up Written in Stone I have a few other pieces (both academic and popular) in the works that should appear in the next few months. I really want to outdo myself this year, and so far 2010 has gotten off to a great start.

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congrats. you deserve it.

Wo0000! Great job!

Bravo...encore!

Excellent!

In my personal opinion, "Laelaps" is one of the top TWO science blogs (tied for first place with "Tetrapodzoology"). (Which should not be considered a slight against the many other fine science blogs out there -- I could name at least another eight that are near the top of my personal favorites list.)

And I seem to recall that a year or so ago, you were kinda bummed out about a lot of things -- school, your career plans, your writing ... Now it's gotten a lot better, hasn't it? I told you it would!

By Stevo Darkly (not verified) on 04 Feb 2010 #permalink

Most excellent! Congratulations. You certainly deserve this.

Under what category do you fall for nomination, Brian?