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A Dialogue on Framing, the F-Word, and the Future of ScienceBlogs: A Roadmap Forward

Well, it's Wednesday, and so far I've done two posts--and gotten more than 170 comments--in the new "framing science" dialogue that I've sought to begin here. Let's briefly recap, so that I can then explain how I'll be moving forward. Meanwhile, Sheril wants to start weighing in, so expect her to do that later today. First, I began with my "framer culpa": Clearly, I have not managed to get these ideas across to many ScienceBlogs folks in a way that resonates. Rather, the subject has become polarized, and generated far more heat than light. I am in part to blame. Mistakes have been made--…

It's Official: Candidates Invited to ScienceDebate2008--And, a Call to Action

For months, everyone has been asking us--on and off the blogosphere--when will there be an invitation for ScienceDebate 2008? Well, that day has come. See here for the press release (featuring Intel chairman Craig Barrett, who just joined the initiative), and here for the actual invite. The latter is quite long, so here are the essentials you need to know. ScienceDebate2008 is now co-sponsored by the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the National Academies, and the Council on Competitiveness. We were looking at venues, and finally settled on an offer from the Philadelphia-…

Tropical Storm Olga: The 2007 Atlantic Hurricane Season Weirdness Continues

Well well well. 15 named storms this year after all. The last (um, we think) is in the Caribbean right now, spinning way past the season's official endpoint. Its name is Olga. It started out subtropical, but has since become a fully tropical storm with maximum sustained winds of 50 knots at its apparent peak (although the storm has since weakened). But any way you slice it, it's an anomaly to have a storm like Olga so late in the year. As I put it in my latest "Storm Pundit" item: "It was the most average of hurricane seasons, and the most unpredictable of hurricane seasons." Indeed,…

A Reason For Hope

'Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.' - Jane Goodall On Tuesday, I finally got to listen to one of my heroes, Jane Goodall, speak to all of us about why there is reason for hope. Now I was told by a dear friend beforehand that the audience would be sprinkled with young women who all 'wanted to be like Jane when they were young', so to that I replied I'd be in good company! Indeed, what she discussed was not new... but there is something very special about hearing words that long ago inspired a younger incarnation of myself…

PZ's Long Tentacles are Infecting the Interwebs

I get 'tagged' with these blog memes fairly often and for this one, I'm finally game - but ONLY because it began with my great-great-grandfather PZ to demonstrate something Darwinian. So you know, I'm indulging in 'The Pharyngula Mutating Genre Meme' for the children. Watch kids, today's lesson is Evolution in Cyberland: There are a set of questions below that are all of the form, "The best [subgenre] [medium] in [genre] is...". Copy the questions, and before answering them, you may modify them in a limited way, carrying out no more than two of these operations: * You can leave them…

Climate Change Harms Endangered Species... Yep, It's PUBLISHED!

All of these storms whirling around causing trouble and now the most dramatic link I've seen yet demonstrating how that pesky troublemaker climate change is likely harming endangered sea turtles. And as it happens, this hits directly at the Intersection of Chris' world and my own. According to an article in Current Biology, tropical cyclones may increasingly drive sea turtle egg mortality. The logic is quite simple: If (1) global warming leads increased storminess* and sea level rise, (2) given these factors decimate sea turtle populations, then (3) it's not rocket science to figure out…

Our New Traffic Record

We've been talking a lot about hurricane records lately. But that's not the only kind of record germane to this blog at the moment. As some of you no doubt noticed, things have been up-and-down here at the Intersection over the past year. Particularly when I had a pressing book deadline, posting frequency went way, way down. And so, understandably, did our traffic. In May, however, I invited Sheril to join the blog, and boy do I not regret it. Since May our traffic here has almost doubled, reaching a peak of nearly 60,000 pageviews in August as judged by Sitemeter. We've never had this much…

Hurricane Katrina Lessons, Part IV: It's the President, Stupid

And so this is what it has all been building up to: Leadership. If New Orleans is languishing right now, there's one chief person to blame. And if we're not investigating how global warming is going to change our hurricane risks on a national level--well, again, there's one person to blame. The person in charge of the government that is currently failing us. It's not a particularly original observation these days to note that George W. Bush has built quite a legacy for himself. The black marks will include the mess in Iraq, the mess in New Orleans, and the failure to address global warming…

Bye, bye Buffy

Buffy Earlier this fall my wife and I rescued four kittens that had been living in our backyard. There were two orange ones (Owen & Cope), one black one (Vlad), and one grey one (Buffy). Buffy was the last to be caught, and she did not like it one bit. Where the other kittens warmed up quickly, Buffy hissed at us anytime we came near her cage, and this went on for a few weeks. Eventually, though, she started to purr, even if she became frightened when we tried to pet her. I realized that she had become too territorial about her cage, and I decided to let her have the run of the…

Where have all the science majors gone?

Lately Chad has been pondering the lack of science majors in colleges, paying particular attention to societal factors. The image of scientists as socially inept dweebs who try to find the answers to questions no one asked is certainly a problem, but there are also substantial proximal problems within colleges themselves. [I am, of course, speaking from my own experience. Still, I propose that what I have gone through is not unique to my own university.] Many science classes require prerequisites, particularly precalculus and 100-level introductory courses designed to weed out non-science…

Placebos for Performance Enhancement

Athletic regulatory bodies have a new headache.  This time, the pain is being caused by placebos (an unexpected side effect!)   As href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg19626285.400-placebo-boost-is-a-conundrum-for-sports-regulators.html">reported in New Scientist, athletes have found that they can exert themselves to a greater extent, while under the influence of opioid pain killers.  That is not permitted in competition, of course, but there is a wrinkle.  If they train while under the influence, then get a placebo prior to competition, their brains react to the placebo as if…

Migraine and Transcranial Direct Current Stimulation (tDCS)

Previously, I href="http://scienceblogs.com/corpuscallosum/2007/01/transcranial_direct_current_st.php">wrote about investigation of href="http://www.mindhacks.com/blog/2006/04/newsci_head_electric.html">tDCS for treatment of href="http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fibromyalgia/DS00079" rel="tag">fibromyalgia.  Now there is evidence that it may have a role in treatment of an entirely different pain syndrome: href="http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/migraine.html" rel="tag">migraine.   href="http://spectrum.ieee.org/oct07/5599">Researchers Testing New Electric…

Peppermint Oil

Here at ScienceBlogs, and medical blogs in general, are generally somewhat dismissive of complimentary and alternative medicine.  Every once in a while, though, something comes up that is positive.   This is from American Family Physician, and is openly available. href="http://www.aafp.org/afp/20070401/1027.html">Peppermint Oil BENJAMIN KLIGLER, M.D., M.P.H., Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, Bronx, New York SAPNA CHAUDHARY, D.O., Beth Israel Continuum Center for Health and Healing, New York, New York Peppermint leaf and peppermint oil have a long history…

Ministers were told...

This is depressing.  Now the UK is misusing and distorting scientific findings.  I suppose it is contagious.  This pertains to the href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lancet_survey_of_mortality_before_and_after_the_2003_invasion_of_Iraq">Lancet study that found an estimated 50% increase in the risk of death in the immediate aftermath of the Iraq war (2003-2004).   style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"> I could understand Tony Blair or George Bush, or any other politician who does not know anything about research methodology, making an off-the-cuff statement questioning the…

AFNFM: Beginning to write before I'm ready...

I've carried on with the activity of actively waiting in accordance with Boice's Advice for New Faculty Members that I'm blogging about this semester. And I'm preparing for trying Chapter 10: Begin Writing Early. More below the fold... I mentioned to a colleague that I was trying to follow Boice's exercises, but that I was being blocked by not knowing what to do during my periods of "actively waiting." She had started reading the teaching section (as Lab Cat also did), and found ideas there that parallel the idea of actively waiting to write. Advocated, in fact, is (p. 24): doodling and…

Is renewal all about context?

It's the end of another teaching week. My mom has left town. My head is filled with mucous. And my motivation to do anything substantive has entirely left the building. It's taking a huge amount of effort just to write this blog post. I blame the cold, but I also blame being burnt out by the pace of my life. Fortunately, next week is spring break at Mystery U. Ah, a chance to wind down, catch up, grade papers, write a paper, take care of some service obligations, do some lab work, plan a field trip, go the doctor, get a haircut, do my taxes, play with Minnow, take long walks with the dog,…

Why I like my job

Today is Happy Woman Professor Day and the associated mandate is to blog about the good aspects of our jobs. It's the end of my teaching week, and I'm up for the challenge, because I always feel a little giddy when I walk out of the classroom on Thursday afternoons. In fact, I'm going to try to write this post without any qualifiers (no buts). I like being a professor for the sheer variety of things that I get to do over the course of a day or week. This morning I had a search committee meeting, then I lead a class where I lectured and we discussed a paper. I had a quick lunch with colleagues…

Ask Science Woman: How do I prep for a committee meeting?

Here's a post from the archives (originally published February 20, 2006). Here's an email I recently received: Dear Science Woman, I am meeting with several of my committee members tomorrow to discuss my data. the data is not totally analyzed and is not looking too pretty so far. The problem I have is that this is my first "data meeting" and I am not sure how to prepare or what to have together....I was just wondering how you've presented [data to your committee] or how formal of a meeting these things are. Here's my stab at a response. What would you have told her? "I think a key thing is…

MDMA for PTSD

A lengthy article in last weekend's Washington Post Magazine discusses the work of Michael Mithoefer, a psychiatrist at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) who has almost completed the first phase of a clinical study into the use of ecstasy as a therapeutic tool for post-traumatic stress disorder. Ecstasy (MDMA, or 3,4-methylenedioxy-N-methylamphetamine) is a psychedelic and a stimulant which acts by inhibiting the reuptake of serotonin, and, to a lesser extent, of dopamine and noradrenaline. It is illegal in most countries (it is classified as a Class A drug in the U.K. and a…

"Brain-eating" amoeba kills 6

Over the past few days, there have been numerous scary news stories about a "brain-eating" amoeba that has killed six boys and young men this year (three in Florida, two in Texas and one in Arizona, the most recent case being that of 14-year-old Aaron Evans, who died on September 17th). The amoeba in question is Naegleria folweri, a thermophilic (heat-loving) free-living organism that is commonly found in rivers, fresh water lakes and soil all over the world. N. fowleri infects humans very rarely, but infection is usually fatal. It normally occurs during water-related activities such as…

Quantum Information Theory Conference in Stockholm Sweden

Mary Beth Ruskai sends a note about a travel grant program for a quantum information theory conference in Sweden this fall: US NSF Travel Grant Program for Nordita/Mittag-Leffler Conference on Quantum Information Theory 4-8 Oct. 2010 This program will provide funds to support travel and lodging for US scientists to participate in the International Conference on Quantum Information Theory to be held in Stockholm Sweden during 4-8 October 2010. Information on the conference is available at http://agenda.albanova.se/conferenceDisplay.py?confId=1440 The program is contingent on funding expected…

Review: The Golden Compass

I went to go see the movie the Golden Compass last night with a few friends, and was phenomenally impressed by it at every level. As someone who has not read the books (The Golden Compass was based on the book 'Northern Lights', renamed 'The Golden Compass' in America) I don't have a basis to compare whether it followed the book exactly or not. But the movie did succeed in making me really want to read the book, part of a trilogy. The Golden Compass first came to my attention through Facebook, specifically through a "Boycott the Atheist Movie!!!" Facebook group that a few old friends were…

The 'Technicolor Brain', Science, and Art

Whoever said that you can't learn anything useful from TV? A Harvard research team, headed by Jeff Lichtman, has duplicated the way that a television monitor uses varying amounts of just three colors (red, blue, green) to produce a huge array of resultant hues. They have applied this technique in the brain using fluorescent cyan, yellow, and red pigments--varying amounts of which can produce 90 possible color combinations to label individual neurons. Through genetic recombination, pigment-expressing genes are inserted into the genomes of developing mice. The result is the "Brainbow" mouse,…

Revealing slip of the keyboard

Catch 'em quick before they get deleted. In a post on Dembski's blog that is discussing their Kansas ad campaign to falsely portray the IDist's efforts as solely about teaching good science, there are a couple of interesting comments. Keep in mind that the Discovery Institute has declared that they aren't trying to sneak intelligent design into the classroom, they just want an "honest" discussion of the weaknesses in evolutionary theory. Here's the first revealing comment, which plainly states that the goal of the Kansas science standards is to teach ID: My hope is that ID will be taught…

Porn Stars Take Heed: Oral Sex Linked to Throat Cancer

Human papilloma virus (HPV) just became a bit more disconcerting, especially if you happen to be in a particular *cough* industry. A group at Johns Hopkins just reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that risk of a rare throat cancer (oropharyngeal squamous-cell carcinoma)was 9 times higher for people who reported oral sex with more than six partners. HPV is becoming well known as the virus which causes the majority of cervical cancer cases, and is also the center of a controversial vaccine which conveys immunity to several of the most dangerous HPV strains. The strain of HPV…

Caffeine Soap and What Caffeine Does to Spiders

In the vein of weird stimulants added to weird products, I have a new one to throw out: caffienated soap! Lots of people don't like coffee (not me, I love love love it), but still want that delectably artificial pick-me-up in the morning. What are they to do?? Caffeine soap to the rescue! The soap, called Shower Shock, supplies the caffeine equivalent of two cups of coffee per wash, with the stimulant absorbed naturally through the skin, manufacturers say. "Tired of waking up and having to wait for your morning java to brew? Are you one of those groggy early morning types that just needs…

Aaaachoooo: Anatomy of a Sinus Infection

I've probably had dozens of sinus infections. This is partially related to my genes; I got some good ones, but sinus problems and severe allergies run in my family. I ended up with both, with the result being a cycle of allergies triggering infections. In fact, I've got one now (receding thanks to Zithromax), which got me to thinking about what they were and what caused them. First, its important to understand the anatomy of human sinus cavities. The term "sinus" is a general one meaning "pocket" or "cavity," but in this case refers to a number of air-filled spaces in the skull (shown in the…

On science, beauty and utility

Andre at Biocurious responds to something PZ Myers said at a talk, with this legit criticism of the "science is beautiful" theme: How far down the road of "science shares more with art than engineering" do you want to go? Our society supports the arts because they provide beauty and insight and enrich our lives. We support science because it is inspiring and let's us reach beyond ourselves to see and understand things that didn't seem possible and because it provides tangible advances that improve the quality of our lives. Those benefits are worth a lot to people. The National Endowment for…

How dare smart women be sexy?

Jen Ouellette takes lethal aim at the myth of the sexless girl-geek in this post, which made me want to pump my fist and cheer and go out dancing in a sexy dress and look in a microscope and write a blog post all at the same time: The mistake many people make, however, is to over-compensate too far in the other direction, wherein anything remotely "girly" is somehow exerting undue pressure on young girls, with no thought to the possibility that maybe some girls genuinely like this stuff. Maybe this is part of who they are. Maybe they also like science and math. Ergo, we are putting a whole…

Gonzales vs. Carhart (Audio Recording of the SOTUS Proceedings)

Here is an audio recording of the oral arguments in the case of Gonzales vs. Carhart (as an mp3). Gonzales vs. Carhart is a case about the federal partial birth abortion ban: The Supreme Court on Wednesday heard oral arguments on the federal late-term abortion ban, the first major abortion issue before a more conservative court now that Samuel Alito has replaced retired justice Sandra Day O'Connor. The procedure in question in the current cases, Gonzales v. Carhart and Gonzales v. Planned Parenthood, is called by critics "partial birth" abortion and is medically known as "intact dilation…

NIDA acts out addiction

The federal government, including NIH, isn't exactly seen as a hotbed of artsy drama types. ("Faceless gray mega-bureaucracy" might be a more typical descriptor.) So I was tickled to learn that the National Institute on Drug Abuse is framing a series of continuing medical education (CME) courses about addiction around dramatic readings of Eugene O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night. And no, we're not talking about cheesy readers' theater - they got Debra Winger and several Tony nominated stage actors to participate. As a threshold matter, this is cool because it shows that NIH recognizes…

Children of Alcoholics Have Reduced Neural Growth

Fetal alcohol syndrome---where the developing fetus is exposed to high levels of ethanol in the womb---has far-reaching negative effects on neural development. Now environmental and biological factors of parental alcohol abuse might also retard brain growth, according to a new study published in Biological Psychiatry. Many studies have shown that alcohol-dependent men and women have smaller brain volumes than non-alcohol-dependent individuals. It is widely believed that this is due to the toxic effects of ethanol, which causes the alcoholic's brain to shrink with aging to a greater extent…

R.I.P. Richard Rorty

I just learned that Richard Rorty died Friday. I was a big fan of his work as an undergrad, and at that time both Consequences of Pragmatism and Contingency, Irony, and Solidarity had a big influence on my thinking. I suppose they still do indirectly, though I'm less impressed with them now than I was then. He was one of the (very) few contemporary philosophers whom I found really inspiring, even when he was downright frustrating. So I'm sad to hear he's no longer around. Love him or hate him, English-language philosophy needs many more people writing interesting, far-reaching, and far-…

Psychotherapy for Terminal Cancer Patients

“Doctors think, ‘Well, of course she’s depressed — she’s dying of breast cancer,’” he said. I do see that kind of response sometimes, not just with regard to terminally ill patients.  The physician does not think the depression should be treated, because it is felt to be an expected response to the situation. If I even show up in an emergency department with a gunshot wound in my abdomen, I sure hope the doc doesn't refuse to treat it, saying "of course he's bleeding to death, he's been shot in the spleen." The fact is, some patients with terminal cancer do develop major depression.  But…

Why Hawks Prevail...

...from a psychological standpoint, that is.  This is the topic of an article in the current edition of style="font-style: italic;">Foreign Policy.  In it, the authors examine the effect of common systematic cognitive errors, or biases, on the process of evaluating the prospects for war.  They argue that when a country's leaders are contemplating war, the hawks invariably have an advantage in the debate: style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3660">Why Hawks Win By Daniel Kahneman, Jonathan Renshon January/February 2007 ...In fact,…

This is Kind Of Interesting: Enalapril and Keloid Healing

The  reason it is interesting, is that it is unexpected, to me at least.  I'm always curious when it turns out that something known to affect one bodily system turns out to have an effect somewhere else. Enalapril is a drug used to treat high blood pressure.  It works by slowing the action of an enzyme.  The enzyme, angiotensin converting enzyme, is part of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system.  I guess it is too complicated to go in to detail here, and it is not really the point.  The point is that there is a system in your body that regulates blood pressure by monitoring the kidneys to…

Tid Bits - Snowy Sunday Edition

The lack of posts can be explained by this equation (lab work = 1/updates) so I'll make it up to you with a weekend smorgasbord of links. So today as I sit in my warm cozy snowed-in apartment I present to you the latest edition of Tib Bits. First off, I would like to wish happy birthday to the late great Frank Zappa (yes to the chagrin of my wife, I'm a big fan). And what could be more fitting on a day like today than this song: Next, the big news is the financial turmoil that has now spread to all the academic institutions. Even PhD comics had something to say about it: Here are some other…

Go Habs Go

It is interesting how different corners of the world are preoccupied by unique items of interest. Take Montreal, my "home town". There is a long history of hockey here and recently the whole town has gone Berzerk. You see unlike Boston and the Red Sox, Montreal not only has a historic team, but everyone here knows a hockey player. For example the great Mike Bossy went to my high school (note that he never graduated). After leaving the Montreal Suburbs, he played with the NY Islanders and won four consecutive Stanley Cups with them. Unfortunately he had to retire extremely early due to a bad…

How could it be possible? It is miraculous!

Harun Yahya has a youtube channel, and it is surreal. He sponsors these panels of attractive young women with grossly overdone makeup — is he catering to his interpretation of how Western women are supposed to look? I don't know, it's just weird — and they talk about science in stilted, broken English for an hour. And when I say "talk about", I mean "recite facts poorly", as if they've memorized a script. Here's one of them; you won't be able to listen to the whole thing, it's just too agonizing. I skipped around a bit to catch the tone. They talk about the pituitary, for instance, and how it…

One year on ScienceBlogs

It's been exactly one year since I moved to ScienceBlogs.com. In that time, I've written 540 posts which have generated over half a million page views and about 1,800 comments. Below is a brief summary of other blog stats, including my top ten posts and referrers. My ten most popular posts are: 1. Amazing boomerang photo (15,433 page views) 2. The rise & fall of the prefrontal lobotomy (14,605) 3. Unusual penetrating brain injuries (13,875) 4. An illustrated history of trepanation (10,175) 5. The left brain/ right brain myth (7,497) 6. Experimenting with a four-headed penis (6,669) 7.…

Not to mention the excessive reductionism…

Wow. Talk about major failure. A new study out correlates levels of Foxp2 with levels of vocalization in rats: basically, male rats squeak more than female pups when they're stressed by separation from their mothers, and mothers tend to rescue the rat who squeaks the loudest. They then found higher levels of Foxp2 in males, and also found that reducing male Foxp2 levels in male pups with siRNA also reduced vocalizations. So far, so good; looks like a reasonable and interesting experiment. Then they extended it to humans half-assedly, finding that 4 year old boys have lower levels of Foxp2 in…

Some Thoughts on Mitosis & Cancer

At that same meeting over the past weekend, I heard Tim Mitchison give an interesting talk about mitosis and pharmacogenetics. For any of you who don't know, Tim's lab has been at the fore front of analyzing how the mitotic spindle operates. Tim was the first to visualize microtubules, the major constituents of the spindle, in a live cell. In his seminar, he led us on a tour of 20 years of thought about mitosis. In the past 5 years Tim had been involved in developing drugs that would inhibit mitosis and thus be used as a treatment against cancer. He was responsible for setting up the ICCB,…

Best of DSN 2007

Best Photo (Ansel Adams On Ship Award): Again in the peace loving, utopia that is DSN...we are all winners. International Polar Year Scaly Foot Radiolaria "I'm kind of a Haeckel groupie and this picture of the real thing is obviously a rip off of his artwork"stated one of The Judges! The Art of Kawika Chetron. Animals in Formalin Overheard judges comment, "Yeah, yeah... call me a classicist." Best TGIF video: Peter introduced the Thank God Its Friday Video series this year, thereby creating more work for me but making Friday a little more enjoyable. Fish Guys Cruise, Cruise, Baby (…

2007 DSN Education Fundapalooza

Last year DSN, although not a Sb'ling, participated in the Donor's Choose Campaign. Various bloggers here at Sb, with the help of our readers, raised money for classrooms across the US. DonorsChoose is an organization that helps teachers fund classroom projects and other student learning experiences. DSN raised over $500 dollars last year to send children from a southern California school on a field trip to the Cabrillo Marine Aquarium. You can catch read about this on today's other post. Given the success of last year, DSN is again sponsoring a challenge to raise money. This year we…

Manipulating Sound: Two Amazing Animal Adaptations

Discovery.com recently reported two instances of animals manipulating sound to master their environments. Cuckoos are known for tricking birds into rearing their chicks: They lay their eggs in another species' nest and, once hatched, the baby cuckoos push out the eggs and/or chicks of the host birds. While it's also known that the baby cuckoos can mimic the cries of the host birds' chicks, scientists were surprised to find that one Australian species, the Horsfield's bronze-cuckoo, takes this a step further. Tengo pince hambre! Je suis baiser affamé! Sono scopare affamato! Excuse me, can…

Prizes for women. Progress for women?

2008 is the tenth year of the L'Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science awards to remarkable female scientists from around the world. Indeed, our sister-site, ScienceBlogs.de, covered this year's award ceremony and is celebrating women in science more generally with a For Women in Science blog. (It, like the rest of ScienceBlogs.de, is in German. Just so you know.) In addition to the global contest, three further scholarships are given to women scientists in Germany. But, the only women eligible for these awards are women with kids. (The rationale for this is that childcare options in…

Friday Sprog Blogging: weekend experimentation.

Elder offspring: [Dr. Free-Ride's better half] said we're going to do some experiments this weekend. Dr. Free-Ride: Oh really? Do you know what the experiments will be, or are you going to make them up as you go? Younger offspring: One of them will be making milk curdle. Elder offspring: With vinegar or lemon juice, I think. Dr. Free-Ride: Ah, that's a classic. Younger offspring: We're going to curdle the milk before lunch. That will make cottage cheese, which we can eat for lunch. Dr. Free-Ride: Clever! What else will you be doing? Younger offspring: I can't remember. Elder offspring:…

The '10 weird things about me' meme.

As seen at Rants of a Feminist Engineer and See Jane Compute. Ten Weird Things about Me: 1. I won the first NCAA basketball pool in which I participated, picking the teams in my bracket with absolutely no knowledge of the strengths and weaknesses of their teams. Just based on my impressions of the schools (or in some cases, the names of the schools), I nailed three of the Final Four, not to mention the winner of the tournament. I have never done well in an NCAA basketball pool since then. 2. I like the puffed Cheetos-like snacks (although no-name brands more than actual Cheetos) when they'…

A somewhat baffling result: atheists are like aspies, but not?

I'm really confused by this psychology study — the problem is that I'm getting it second-hand, and the source is a poster at a meeting. It's interesting, but I want to know more. Bethany T. Heywood, a graduate student at Queens University Belfast, asked 27 people with Asperger's Syndrome, a mild type of autism that involves impaired social cognition, about significant events in their lives. Working with experimental psychologist Jesse M. Bering (author of the "Bering in Mind" blog and a frequent contributor to Scientific American MIND), she asked them to speculate about why these important…

Friday Sprog Blogging: bugs!

It has been very hot in these parts. Last night, the Free-Ride family had a picnic in the back yard. There were also some bugs. Younger offspring: There are lots of bugs out here! Elder offspring: Don't worry, the mosquitos don't come out until later. Younger offspring: Good, I don't want a mosquito bite. Dr. Free-Ride: I know a good way not to get mosquito bites: invite Uncle Fishy over. Mosquitos love Uncle Fishy! Younger offspring: Ticks, too? Dr. Free-Ride: I don't know about ticks. Elder offspring: Hey, when you're tasty, you're tasty. Younger offspring: Both ticks and mosquitos…