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Where to for National Geographic?

National Geographic remains the world's premier showcase of nature photography. But I often wonder for how much longer. It is easy to maintain a virtual monopoly on high quality imagery when camera equipment and publishing are expensive and require a highly specialized skill set.  But neither of these things is true anymore.  Professional-quality photo equipment is broadly affordable. And numerous online venues allow anyone with an internet connection to distribute their photos for free. Consider the following fantastic arthropod photographers, all from the galleries of the free online…

Omni Brain Now Offering Online Degrees.

In association with Credentialix and our friend Brian, Omni Brain is offering online degrees! IT'S YOUR FUTURE OF TOMORROW, TODAY! In today's fast-paced society, it's hard to know what jobs you are or are not certified to perform. That's why I've come to tell you about a fantastic new online service, Credentialix (from the creators of Netflix)! Our service is simple: By paying our monthly fee, you will be entitled to any degree of your choice. Feel free to keep it as long as you like, with NO PUBLICATIONS NECESSARY! If you feel like a change of career is in order, simply return your degree…

Disconnected

Apologies for the radio silence - I've been on vacation. This time, I actually tried to stay away from the internet while away. My online withdrawal period actually went though several distinct psychological stages. (And yes, I know such stages don't actually exist.) At first, I experienced a weird, existential anxiety - what if the world was about to end, or some cataclysm just occurred, and I didn't know about it? Shouldn't I peek at the Drudge? Then came acceptance: I was merely vacationing in the world circa 2002, before smartphones and twitter and online news alerts. I made it through…

I'd love to hear the McCain - Lieberman pillow talk

They say politics makes strange bedfellows, so now that John McCain and Joe Lieberman are in bed together I hope they screw each other's brains out. John McCain may have sparked a little lover's spat yesterday when he encouraged Americans to go to Canada to buy lower priced drugs, something Joe Lieberman (the Senator from Big Pharma) looks on with horror. I sure don't object, but some McCain's other health care ideas strike me as politically suicidal (of course it also doesn't both me if he sends himself down the toilet, either): John McCain is bolstering his reputation as a maverick by…

Friday Grey Matters: Michigan Bird Education and Rescue Program

What do you do when your pet African Grey parrot, which have a lifespan of 65-80 years, will likely out live you? Well, you have to make sure that it is provided for in your will, according to Dottie Kennedy, head of Rainbow Feathers bird club in southern Michigan. "You have to be sure the bird's taken care of," said the Livonia [Michigan] resident. It's part of the message Kennedy and members of the Rainbow Feathers Bird Club deliver in educational programs they present at libraries, preschools, churches and in exchange for donations to fund the club's bird rescue program. The club was…

Prostitutes in Copenhagen Use Free Sex As Protest

Sex workers in Denmark have offered free sex in response to Copenhagen Mayor Ritt Bjerregaard's attempt to discourage prostitution during the COP15 Climate Change Conference. The City Council had postcards delivered to 160 hotels where conference delegates and associates of COP15 would be staying and paid for advertisements in local newspapers that read: 'Be sustainable: Don't buy sex!' However, prostitution is legal throughout Scandinavia and sex workers have formed unions to protect themselves from exploitation and harassment. In response SIO (Sexarbejdernes Interesse Organisation; or…

The Total Stupidity of Crowds: Bad Mortgages and Circular Solutions

Reading the news lately, I've come across an amazing example of how ubiquitous bad math can be used. Most of you have probably heard about what's been called "the sub-prime crisis". Despite a lot of media hand-wringing about how complicated it all is, the sub-prime crisis is really a very simple phenomenon: basically, you've got a lot of banks that have loaned out money without worrying about whether or not it could get paid back, and now those loans aren't getting paid back, which is causing all sorts of grief to people who invested in them. In the beginning of the mortgage system, the way…

Amazon Kindle: Promises Broken, But I Still Want One. Well, Two.

The Amazon Kindle originally promised a technology that would improve your reading experience, at the same time cutting the cost of books in half. Those books would arrive on your Kindle through the magic of the Whisper Net, a free space age delivery service. The Kindle itself would be easier to use, lighter weight, and more readable than an actual book. Well, there's good news and bad news. As the Kindle technology and the eBook market have developed, all of those original promises have become either vapor or else very different than first imagined. Nonetheless, I want a new-old Kindle…

Best Buys for Schizophrenia Treatment

I have to admit, I was started to see a Consumer Reports article on the "Best Buy" drugs for the treatment of schizophrenia and bipolar disorder.  So now treating mental illness is like buying a toaster oven?  Seriously, at first it seemed kind of inappropriate.  After all you cannot assess pharmaceuticals the same way you assess ordinary consumer products, can you?   First, let me say that I like the magazine.  I don't subscribe to it, but I do look at it from time to time, and I do consult it for certain things.  For instance, in 1995, when I went to buy a microwave oven, I first went to…

Whitey Bulger and the Evolution of Sex Bias in Investment in Offspring

How Whitey Bulger Helps Us Learn About Evolution and Biology! UPDATE: This is a post I wrote a while back about Whitey Bulger, who was to me back in the day just another local celebrity and crime boss, when I was living and working in the Boston area. But now he is in the news all over the place, so I thought you might enjoy this. Most of you won't know who Whitey Bulger is. He is actually on the FBI's ten most wanted list. He may have been spotted in Italy last Spring, and the FBI is just now asking for assistance from anyone who knows where he might be. (That's not gonna work.) Whitey was…

ScienceOnline09 - On Reputation

If you check out the Program of the ScienceOnline09 conference, you will notice that there will be three sessions that address, each from a different angle, the question of building and maintaining scientific authority and reputation online: in scientific papers, in comments on scientific papers, and on science blogs: Reputation, authority and incentives. Or: How to get rid of the Impact Factor This session is moderated by Peter Binfield and Bjoern Brembs: Historically, there has been much use and misuse of Thomson Scientific's (Thomson Reuters) Impact Factor (IF). Originally devised to rank…

Library people at Science Online 2010

Following along in the tradition of Bora's introductions of the various attendees for the upcoming Science Online 2010 conference, I thought I'd list all the library people that are attended. I'm not going to try and introduce each of the library people, I'll leave that to Bora, but I thought it might be nice to have us all listed in one place. I did a quick list in my post a while back, but I revisited the attendee list after it closed and noticed a couple of people that weren't in the first list. As I said in the earlier post, there's been a good tradition of librarians and library people…

Not bad for a "toy" database....

Sun to Buy Swedish Software Firm for $1 Billion: Sun Microsystems, the large American seller of open-source software, said Wednesday that it would spend $1 billion to buy MySQL, a Swedish company that is the world leader in open-source database software used by Internet powers like Google, Yahoo, MySpace and YouTube. I remember the sneering jibes about MySQL on /. back in 2000. Good for them. If you are doing mission critical work DBAs that recommend MySQL should get fired. Not ready for primetime. But in a world of blue-screens and Microsoft there's a lot of space out there for "good…

Around the Web: Integrating integrity, Connecting with new faculty, Learning to love summer reading and more

Integrating Integrity (teaching research ethics to grad students) How to Train Graduate Students in Research Ethics: Lessons From 6 Universities Connecting With New Faculty, Or, Welcome to Our World Why Online Education Won't Replace College—Yet How America learned to love summer reading Make Us Do the Math (on the recent Hacker article) Self archiving science is not the solution “Innovation” and governance: Ontario’s proposed PSE system overhaul Following the herd, or joining the merry MOOCscapades of higher-ed bloggers What’s a Board to Do? (UVa post) Assisting Research Versus Research…

ScienceOnline09 - Rhetoric of science

You already know that the Program for ScienceOnline09 contains several sessions that look, from different angles, at the question of reputation and authority in science, online and offline. Related to this, as a recent lively discussion on science blogs demonstrated, is the question of the use of language. So, it is quite fitting that we have a session planned just about this topic: Rhetoric of science: print vs. web: This session is moderated by Christian Casper and Neil Caudle: There is no doubt that online communication environment is changing the way we use language. LOL. Scientific…

Whither Archaeology?

Since the 1980s there has been a post-modernist movement in Western European archaeology where a strong influence from lit-crit, sociology and Continental philosophy has been felt. This has led, among other things, to radical relativism in some scholars, and to a tendency for archaeology departments to harbour and publish work that a) does not treat the archaeological record, b) does not aim at finding out what it was like living in the past. I have criticised these tendencies at several occasions, as in this piece: "Archaeology is good fun but unimportant to most people". Not long ago, the…

I've got your ego right here, buddy!

Oh wait, it looks like I don't ... GrrlScientist, the resident online quiz maven, points us to the online tool EgoSurf. Said tool does a "deep search" with the search word you provide, looking for links to the domain you indicate (like, for example, your weblog). So, I went egosurfing with this site, using both my nom de blog and my real name as the search terms. As you'll see from the results (below the fold), I might have an easier time letting go of my ego than some of my sibling bloggers because ... well, there's less to let go of. 3032 ego points (as Dr. Free-Ride) 3870 ego points (as…

Detailed Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks FAQ Page Now Online [Culture Dish]

I've been working for a while to develop a Frequently Asked Questions page to answers the most common reader questions about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  Well, it's now online, and it addresses questions ranging from why HeLa cells are immortal to how the Lacks family is benefiting from the book. It also includes answers to commonly asked publishing questions, like, How do I break into science writing?  You can read it online here.  If you have burning questions not answered there, leave them in the comments section below -- I'll add to the FAQ as questions arise and time allows. 

Detailed Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks FAQ Page Now Online

I've been working for a while to develop a Frequently Asked Questions page to answers the most common reader questions about The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks.  Well, it's now online, and it addresses questions ranging from why HeLa cells are immortal to how the Lacks family is benefiting from the book. It also includes answers to commonly asked publishing questions, like, How do I break into science writing?  You can read it online here.  If you have burning questions not answered there, leave them in the comments section below -- I'll add to the FAQ as questions arise and time allows. 

Another View of the Gambling Bill

Allyn Jaffrey Shulman, writing in Card Player, has a very optimistic take on the new gambling bill from the poker industry's perspective. It's perhaps a bit too optimistic, but it does suggest another possible basis for a court challenge. I'll post a long excerpt below the fold: Even though the Attorney General's office has publicly taken the position that the 1961 Wire Act forbids online poker, in 10 years they have not put their money where their mouth is. Why? The judiciary (that is, the interpreting body) has already held that the 1961 Wire Act doesn't speak to poker. It only applies to…

Open Textbooks

Georgia Harper saw an interesting article in USA Today about Open textbooks and, among else, says: Open access is just one part of a much bigger and more complex picture. I am very optimistic that open access will find its way into the book market (or what we call books today), but again, it's not like that will cut off the flow of revenues. Quite the contrary. It just makes it possible for a lot more people to benefit from the work of authors while authors and those who help them ready their works for public consumption still reap sufficient financial rewards to make creating worthwhile.…

UK inquiry into personalised medicine: the tension of personalised healthcare in a public health system

Mark Henderson reports that an influential UK think-tank, the Nuffield Council on Bioethics, has launched an inquiry into personalised medicine: The Nuffield working party includes nine scientists, social scientists, lawyers and philosophers. It will consider whether genetic tests ought to be regulated more tightly, and whether people who buy them and then consult their GPs about the results should have to pay for such follow-up advice. The inquiry will also examine other aspects of direct-to-consumer healthcare, such as MRI and CT scans [...] Hugh Whittall, director of the Nuffield Council,…

Worthwhile and/or Interesting Medical Sites

Just for kicks, in case anyone cares, and is not already familiar with these sites, here are a few that I use: class="inset" alt="" src="http://a248.e.akamai.net/7/248/430/20060421021059/www.merckmedicus.com/ppdocs/us/hcp/images/redesign/img_mm_logo.jpg" align="left" border="0" height="39" width="140"> href="http://www.merckmedicus.com/pp/us/hcp/hcp_home.jsp">Merck Medicus is a great site.  I had to provide some medical license information, so I don't think it is available to everyone.  That is annoying, but I understand why they do that.  The site provides free access to…

The unauthorized autobiography of George W. Bush

I get a lot of mail from publishers, and this one had me going for a moment…one thing I don't get is much mail from right-wing sources (other than the usual excoriations, of course.) This one looks so much like authentic Republican PR that it took a moment for it to sink in. Speaking from the heart, not from the brain, this legendary Commander-in-Chief takes us on a journey through his momentous life. The great man we hear here displays his mother's steely resolve and vindictive temper, his father's keen mastery of language, and his own unique gift of deciding. That's a work of genius……

The Psychological Secrets of Online Flame Wars

What is it about email that causes an otherwise civilized person to write and send an offensive, rude or downright mean message to someone else? That is the question that John Suler, a psychologist at Rider University in Lawrenceville, N.J., addressed in his 2004 paper published in CyberPsychology & Behavior. Suler found that several psychological factors lead to disinhibition online: the anonymity of a Web pseudonym; invisibility to others; the time lag between sending an e-mail message and getting feedback; the exaggerated sense of self from being alone; and the lack of any online…

Call for submissions to Nuffield Council on Bioethics inquiry into personalised medicine

I just received the following email from the Nuffield Council on Bioethics - I'd recommend anyone interested in the future of personalised medicine in the UK consider submitting their views to the inquiry. I'll be putting together my own submission, which I'll also post here on Genetic Future. Medical profiling and online medicine: the ethics of 'personalised' healthcare in a consumer age The Nuffield Council on Bioethics is currently running a consultation on Medical profiling and online medicine: the ethics of 'personalised' healthcare in a consumer age. The paper provides background…

The other conference I missed…

…was the SkepchickCon in Minneapolis this past weekend. This was a consequence of some extremely ugly last minute flight rearrangements from Germany that brought me home significantly later than I had planned (although Lufthansa did helpfully tell me I could get back earlier if I would just buy that seat in first class in an earlier flight…for an additional $5000). Melissa Kaercher did make the grand effort of connecting me up virtually over skype for the Evolution 101 panel, but unfortunately, the internet in my hotel went totally kablooiee 5 minutes after the panel started. Oh, well. I…

Alovasudden, SCIENCE!!!

I was just derping around at Cycle Gear this afternoon, when alovasudden, SCIENCE!!! Couple: *debating about what color helmet to buy - its summer, should they get the white/yellow one instead of black/blue* Cycle Gear Dude: "The material that makes helmets work as helmets insulates you from the 'heat' of the sun.  We did an experiment last summer-- we put a white helmet and a black helmet out in the summer sun for four hours, with a cup of water underneath. There was like, not even a degree difference between  the temperature of the water between them." Me, from across the store: "HAAA!…

Important and cool nature and conservation news.

You really must give up seafood from the ocean. Or at least, there is an argument that says this, and you can read it here. Wolverines. I once saw a wolverine in a state that was known to not have wolverines anymore. That was a long time ago and I think they are recognized as having returned to those forests. Now, we have wolverines in Colorado for the first time since 1919. I am shocked and amazed that wolverines had been extirpated from Colorado. All ivory is bad. Antique, modern, you name it. If you buy ivory, you are poaching an African Elephant. I assume you knew this already,…

Wanted: Quantum Loonies

Dude, can I get a Canadian aerospace company to win a United States federal contract and as a consequence have to fund my quantum computing research? Dalhousie research is taking a quantum leap into next-generation computing. The university has received $2 million from Lockheed Martin that will benefit the university's basic scientific research in an area of quantum computing, physics and material sciences. The money, to be spread over four years, is part of the company's commitment to spend $242 million in Atlantic Canada as part of its industrial benefits obligation arising from the federal…

Goodbye, Seattle P-I

My original hometown of Seattle,Washington, is experiencing a profound loss, a loss that has been or will soon be experienced by other cities throughout the country. Seattle is losing their morning newspaper, the Seattle P-I. Today, the last print version of "the P-I" will be published, although the paper will maintain a presence on the internet as an electronic-only newspaper -- the largest newspaper to do so -- so far. Certainly, as a regular reader of five electronic newspapers who doesn't subscribe to any print newspapers, I am part of the problem. However, I do eagerly read the NYTimes…

I am Worth More Dead Than Alive!

tags: cadaver calculator, online quiz Thanks to my drinking pal (and blog pal) Orac, I now know that, as corpses go, I am worth a fair amount, it would appear, according to the cadaver calculator. In fact, I'd guess that I am worth more dead than alive! How about you? $5150.00The Cadaver Calculator - Find out how much your body is worth. From Mingle2 - Free Online Dating

Musical Audition 2.0: Live, from Carnegie Hall, the YouTube Symphony Orchestra

Beautiful -- YouTube and Carnegie Hall are holding online auditions for the "world's' first collaborative online orchestra": In short, YouTube is offering a new twist on the familiar formula of how to get to Carnegie Hall: Practice, practice, upload. From the Washington Post, YouTube Announces Auditions for Its Own Symphony Orchestra You can even download the score for the audition piece, "Internet Symphony No 1: Eroica."

#scio10 aftermath: first thoughts on "Online Civility and Its (Muppethugging) Discontents.

There was one session at ScienceOnline2010 which I did not Tweet as it was going on -- the session I led with Sheril Kirshenbaum and Dr. Isis. Here's how that session was described in the conference program: Online Civility and Its (Muppethugging) Discontents - Janet Stemwedel, Sheril Kirshenbaum and Dr.Isis Description: Janet, Sheril, and Isis regularly write about the role of civility in dialog with the public and other scientists. In this session, we will discuss the definition of civility, its importance in the communication of science, and how the call to civility can be used to derail…

An Interview with Dr. Isis from On Becoming a Domestic and Laboratory Goddess

When Dr. Isis first joined ScienceBlogs, she attracted attention with her bombastic commentary, gravity-defying shoes and a persona that steamrolled the stereotypical image of the safety goggle-wearing white male scientist. Those who oppose her are immediately forced to face their preconceived notions of what it means to be a scientist and acknowledge the gender barriers that exist in the field when she innocently asks, "What's wrong with being an incredibly hot woman and someone who does good science?" But who is the real Dr. Isis, and what makes her tick? To find out, I ventured to a realm…

Morning in Carrboro

This morning bright and early, I went to Weaver Street Market (the one in Carrboro, not the one a block away from me), where I met Paul Jones for coffee and a session of people-watching - a Saturday morning tradition. Carrboro is like a miniature version of San Francisco in a sense. While Chapel Hill is populated by Birckenstock liberals (hey, I am one, so I feel comfortable), in Carrboro you can wear, figuratevily, anything you want: Birckenstocks, sure, but also sneakers, clogs, slippers, high-heels, army boots, cowboy boots, loafers, sandals, Tevas, or go barefoot and, no matter what,…

Will employers scrap their health plans and send employees to exchanges? Do we want them to?

One of the things policy wonks are keeping an eye on as the Affordable Care Act is fully implemented is the proportion of employers who stop offering employees insurance and instead give their workers money they can use to pay premiums of plans sold on health insurance exchanges (or marketplaces). As Robert Pear reports in the New York Times, though, a new IRS ruling will discourage employers from doing that. The IRS will not consider employer arrangements that give workers premium funds (for purchasing insurance through exchanges) to satisfy the ACA requirements, which means employers could…

ScienceOnline2010 - interview with John McKay

Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009. Today, I asked John McKay from Archy and Mammoth Tales blogs to answer a few questions. Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? I've…

The Friday Fermentable: Rosemount Estates, Robert Oatley, and Nugan Shiraz

If you're in Australia or North America, chances are your first experience with Shiraz was in the form widely-available from Rosemount Estates. Shiraz is derived from the same stock as Syrah that is grown in France's Rhone Valley. The Australian "father of viticulture," James Busby, brought Syrah to the continent in the 1830s while collecting vines in Spain and France. I think I bought my first bottle of Rosemount Shiraz in 1996 or 1998 for $7.99 USD; it can still be had for $10 or $11. In this grad student/postdoc-friendly price range, the wine was quite drinkable as compared with too-…

Well, well, well, well...look who's a pharma shill now!

Because of my stands against dubious medical "therapies" and outright quackery and for science- and evidence-based medicine, I have been the frequent target of what I've come to call the "pharma shill gambit." It's a pretty stupid and common ad hominem attack in which the attacker, virtually always an advocate of "complementary and alternative medicine" (CAM) tries to smear those of us who argue against pseudoscience and for science-based medicine as being hopelessly in the pocket of big pharma to the point where we make the statements we do because we're "shills" for the drug companies.…

Isiah Thomas to Coach Knicks?

ESPN is reporting that New York Knicks owner James Dolan is going to buy out the last 4 years of Larry Brown's contract ($40 million left on it, so you gotta figure it's gonna cost half that to buy it out) and that he is then going to name Isiah Thomas as coach. I'm almost giddy with anticipation of next season if this happens. There appears to be no truth to the rumors that he will then move the team to Washington and rename them the Generals, but only time will tell for sure. To paraphrase Huey Long, Thomas must have pictures of Dolain with either a live boy or a dead girl. Nothing else…

Links 11/28/10

Links for you. Science: How complexity leads to simplicity (video) Lost & Cast Away: Ten Amazing Uninhabited Islands Mapping fitness: landscapes, topographic maps, and Seattle Other: Mistaken assumptions: jobs, business and tax cuts Corporate America Hearts Obama (from 2008, but worth reading in light of the last two years) GE to state: Give us money or these jobs buy it Dogs Don't Understand Basic Concepts Like Moving Compromise on Social Security and Medicare? Why My Center-Left Friends are Wrong NONE DARE CALL IT SABOTAGE....

Online Poker is Not Illegal. Will That Matter?

I've been doing a bit of research, spurred by this article by Allyn Jaffrey Shulman, on the legal status of online poker. And I've found that most of what Shulman says is spot on. She points to a Federal court ruling in the case of In re Mastercard International, the full text of which can be found here. But first, let's look at what the new Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act actually says. It says that banks and financial transaction companies can no longer accept electronic transfers, credit cards, etc. that are involved in "unlawful Internet gambling." And how does it define "…

Gender Balance of SF Awards

John Scalzi is asking for discussion of the Hugo Award nominees, noting that other than a brief controversy over the fact that only one nominated work in the fiction categories is by a woman, there hasn't been much discussion. This reminded me that it would be good to put in another plug for the foolproof solution to the problem: Buy a membership to next year's Worldcon, and vote for whatever you like. The membership rates will go up after tomorrow, but for right now, $40 will get you a supporting membership, which carries full voting rights for the next round of Hugos, and I believe gives…

Whitey Bulger Convicted, and the Trivers Willard Hypothesis

Whitey Bulger has finally been convicted of a small percentage of all the bad things he is said to have done. The Boston Globe has the details. James J. “Whitey” Bulger, the notorious Boston gangster who rampaged through the city’s underworld for decades before slipping away from authorities and eluding a worldwide manhunt for more than 16 years, was convicted today in federal court of charges that will likely keep him in prison for the rest of his life. Don't count on that. Whitey has slipped from the clutches of justice several times before. He'll probably make a break for it between…

Sullivan on death of newspapers

Forgive if I'm obsessed with this death-of-journalism thing -- Andrew Sullivan has a nice piece in the Times of London about dying newspapers. Like Surowiecki, he fears the loss of the deep reporting that newspapers are already doing less of, and for which so far we have no real replacement venue. Stunning stat from the story: The Baltimore Sun, a pretty big and renowned paper (and the basis for The Wire) gets about 17.5 million page views a month. Sullivan's blog at Atlantic gets 23 million: The operation largely run out of my spare room reached many more online readers than some of the…

"A Tantalizing Hint of Dark Matter?" No.

One of the reasons I write here on ScienceBlogs is because of our associations with the New York Times, a journalistic news source that I'm proud of on most days. Today is not one of those days. It isn't just the Times, either, the BBC is busy botching this story, so is the Telegraph, the Daily Mail, and pretty much everyone else, except for TG Daily, which got it right. If you go down to the bottom of Soudan Mine in Minnesota, you'll see an usual site for a mine: a group of giant physics experiments! Why? At the bottom of mineshafts, you have up to hundreds of feet of Earth protecting you…

SiBlings, Part II

Here is the second part of the introduction to SEED sciencebloggers, the next eleven (check out the first part if you have missed it yesterday). I hope you like them and appreciate the breadth and depth of writing here (so, yes, if you have a blog, and you are registered with Technorati - which if you have a blog you should be - please make scienceblogs.com, as well as any or all individual blogs here that you may like, one of your favourites) Have you checked Digital Biology Fridays on Discovering Biology in a Digital World yet? Sandra Porter shows you how YOU can do molecular biology at…

Here's a Technology That Will Revolutionize Publishing

Regular readers will know that I'm not an intertubez triumphalist. But I read that the Harvard Book Store has bought itself a fancy gizmo to print any book in about four minutes: Battered booksellers, especially independent ones, have so far withstood the punishing shock-and-awe offensive of Internet Age marauders like Amazon. Now, they have a secret weapon that they hope will continue to lure customers into their stores: would you believe it's a machine that can print up a fresh new paperback copy from a menu of 3.6 million books? Harvard Book Store cleared out space behind its History,…

A Free MIT Education = MITx

Yes, earning a degree from MIT can be costly. Believe it or not, MIT has been offering free course materials for ten years now. If you're an educator, and you're not familiar with their extraordinary OpenCourseWare, you're missing out. One hundred million people so far have learned from this free open source. OpenCourseWare, a free online publication of nearly all of MIT's undergraduate and graduate course materials. Now in its 10th year, OpenCourseWare includes nearly 2,100 MIT courses and has been used by more than 100 million people. MIT announced today that OpenCourseWare was just…