Search Content

Displaying results 4651 - 4700 of 87950

Ask me anything, anything at all (it's de-lurking week)

Over the past year, CogDaily has had about 400,000 unique visits. During that same time, we've received 3,075 comments. Wow! We're humbled by those numbers. Yet simple division reveals that fewer than 1 in 100 visits actually results in a comment. There must be hundreds -- possibly thousands -- of visitors to this site who've never commented on a single post. Today I'd like to change that, with a simple offer: Write a comment, and I will respond, thoughtfully. You can ask me any question, comment on any topic, and I'll write you a personalized response, in complete sentences. No question is…

Failure to Frame: Faith Based Global Warming?!

One of my very best friends doesn't believe in global warming. Wait, what?! Believe? When did this become a faith based debate? I'm getting ahead of myself though, allow me to rewind a bit... I'm back in Maine. Land of blueberries, lobster, moose, and yes, the majestic sea cucumber. Though I'll always be 'from away', the people and experiences of my graduate years have provided the foundation that makes traveling north feel like coming home. It's been a wonderful opportunity to catch up with old friends eager to hear stories of what I've seen and done and so on. After listening to my…

The Perfect Commentary

This is from the transcript of a discussion with href="http://snowe.senate.gov/public/" rel="tag">Olympia Snowe on href="http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2007/07/22/ftn/main3086832.shtml" rel="tag">Face the Nation, earlier today: SCHIEFFER: Already we’re beginning to hear American senior officers in Iraq say, `Well, we may not be able to tell by September if all this is working.’ Will the Senate buy that? Sen. SNOWE: I don’t believe so, and, in particular, because what is pivotal and central to the success of Iraq is the political accomplishment by the Iraqi government. And…

Just a phone, dammit!

I'm a pretty big computer geek most of the time, and I do love gadgets. However, even I can sympathize with the consumers in this story: OVERLAND PARK, Kan. - Nathan Bales represents a troubling trend for cellular phone carriers. The Kansas City-area countertop installer recently traded in a number of feature-laden phones for a stripped-down model. He said he didn't like using them to surf the Internet, rarely took pictures with them and couldn't stand scrolling through seemingly endless menus to get the functions to work. "I want a phone that is tough and easy to use," said Bales, 30. "I don…

A lonely chair in North London: how urban skeuomorphs speak volumes about the city

I live in Haringey, an as-yet-ungentrified part of North London, and there's a small park near me with a very curious chair in it. The park isn't much - just a strip of lawn passing by a basketball court and a small playground for toddlers. Sprouting like mushrooms here and there are chairs like this one.  Lonely little chairs just big enough for one person to sit on. When I first saw these, I thought they were a little odd, but didn't put much weight on it.  Just another poorly thought out piece of urban design, and lord knows Britain has plenty of that to go around.  One afternoon I saw a…

Irony meter melting, must back off

I thought it was an April Fools' joke, but it wasn't. It was posted one day too late, but there it was staring at me: On World Autism Day: A Plea for Better Journalism. On the surface, who could argue with that, particularly with David Kirby's regular carpet-bombing logic and science with unctuous and slimy speculation and prevarication? Definitely, such deceptive antivaccination-sympathetic "journalism" needs to go. But then I noticed who wrote this article. Dan Olmsted. Yes, Dan Olmsted, perhaps the worst journalist ever when it comes to autism, the man who swallowed whole anecdotal and…

Children's Book Reviews: I'm the Biggest Thing In the Ocean and Way Down Deep In the Deep Sea

As a father of two, I realize the importance of finding good books and toys. My daughter is too young still, but my 27 month old son absolutely LOVES books and I absolutely LOVE buying him new and interesting books. I recently came across two children's books while perusing amazon. The first is I'm the Biggest Thing in the Ocean by Kevin Sherry. This is the tale of an arrogant giant squid who points out to everything in the ocean that it is the biggest thing evah! Well, that might not necessarily be true... (you have to read it to find out!) Kevin Sherry put together a fun book with good…

Breast-Feeding

In the latest Atlantic, Hanna Rosin has a very interesting article/manifesto that rails against the "cult of breast-feeding": The medical literature [on breast-feeding] shows that breast-feeding is probably, maybe, a little better; but it is far from the stampede of evidence that Sears describes. More like tiny, unsure baby steps: two forward, two back, with much meandering and bumping into walls. A couple of studies will show fewer allergies, and then the next one will turn up no difference. Same with mother-infant bonding, IQ, leukemia, cholesterol, diabetes. Even where consensus is…

The Cost of Bargaining With Big Pharm

I think the Democrats should insist on revampling the Medicare drug bill. It's just plain silly that the government can't negotiate directly with the drug companies for lower prices. After all, the government negotiates big discounts for drugs for Medicaid and the VA administration, and Medicare is a much bigger entitlement. As every Costco shopper knows, when you buy in bulk you get cheaper prices. Unless, of course, you have a highly efficient lobbying machine. That said, it's important to know that bargaining has real consequences. Tyler Cowen found this economic paper: EU countries…

Conference Blogging

I will mirror this post on the Science Blogging Conference homepage. Let me know if I missed you (i.e., if you ever mentioned or intend to mention the conference on your blog). This will be updated until everyone is exhausted! Because it is going to be so long, I'll keep most of it under the fold (click on "Read more..."): Pre-History of the Idea: Science And Politics: Science BloggerCon? BlogTogether: Gearing up for fall blogging events A Blog Around The Clock: Blogging in The Triangle, NC A Blog Around The Clock: Science Blogging - what it can be The Announcement: A Blog Around The Clock…

Birds in the News 164

tags: Birds in the News, BirdNews, ornithology, birds, avian, newsletter Recent surveys in Myanmar and Vietnam are adding to our knowledge of the non-breeding distribution of Spoon-billed Sandpiper, Eurynorhynchus pygmeus. Image: Zheng Jianping/RareBirdsYearbook. Birds in Science and Technology According to the most comprehensive report ever published in the USA, nearly one third of America's 800 native bird species are endangered, threatened, or in significant decline, thanks to habitat loss, pollution, climate change, competition from invasive species and other threats. The shocking…

Current/Future State of Higher Education: An Open Online Course: Week 1 reading list!

Well, I've done it. I've signed up for a MOOC. MOOC, of course, being Massively Open Online Courses, are all the rage in higher-ed-more-disruptingly-than-thou circles, what with their potential is greatly expand the reach of higher education beyond a campus-bound constituency. But not without criticism, of course. Coursera is a popular example of a company that's offering MOOCs but there are a bunch of them out there now. Having read so much about them over the last year or so, I thought I'd give one a try. And as a bonus, this one is about the changes happening in the higher education…

From science research to science teaching: how to pay for a change

When I was a post-doc, I spent a few months seriously thinking about changing careers and teaching high school. I might have followed through on that plan, too, but I didn't know how to pay for it. Today, if you have a background in science, technology, math, or engineering, you can retrain to become a teacher and the National Science Foundation will help. The Robert Noyce scholarship program has funds to help ease that transition to the classroom. From the NSF web site: The Robert Noyce Teacher Scholarship Program seeks to encourage talented science, technology, engineering, and…

Protest of Howl

Preamble via Slashdot: News.com reports that the FCC won't be investigating the phone record disclosures by communications companies under US government pressure. Despite a congressional request for that probe, FCC Chairman Kevin Martin quashed the inquiry based on comments from National Intelligence Director Michael McConnell. Back in the day, when I was a young strippling in 60s New York, we tuned nightly to a listener supported station of the Pacifica Foundation, WBAI. It was great. Bob Fass in the wee hours. One of the things WBAI did 30 years ago was take on the FCC over broadcast of…

On the value of pseudonyms

Our new Scienceblogs overlords sure have great timing with their new pseudonymous blogging rules. For those who haven't run across that yet, National Geographic has decided to eliminate pseudonyms and force everyone with a blog remaining here (which is already dwindling) to blog under their real names. Meanwhile, out here in the real world, there's a new unfortunate case study (short version: "EpiGate") showing how blogging under one's real name can lead to serious threats and potential loss of employment, among other things. I blog under my own name (obviously), but if I were starting out…

EuroTrip '08 - Belgrade, Open Access

OK, I posted a lot of pictures of Belgrade and my Mom's food so far, but the real business was on Tuesday, when I gave two talks about Open Access, PLoS, Science 2.0, the future of the scientific paper, Open Notebook Science and science blogging. In the morning, I gave a talk in the gallery of the Museum of Contemporary Art in front of about 20 people, mostly specialist librarians. That session was recorded and, as soon as the podcast is available, I will link to it. There were many good questions asked at the end and the excitement was palpable. Afterwards I gave an interview for Radio…

URGENT CALL TO ACTION: Tell your Senator to OPPOSE amendments that strike or change the NIH public access provision in the FY08 Labor/HHS appropriations bill

E-mail I got yesterday - please spread this around ASAP: -------------------------------- The Senate is currently considering the FY08 Labor-HHS Bill, which includes a provision (already approved by the House of Representatives and the full Senate Appropriations Committee), that directs the NIH to change its Public Access Policy so that participation is required (rather than requested) for researchers, and ensures free, timely public access to articles resulting from NIH-funded research. On Friday, Senator Inhofe (R-OK), filed two amendments (#3416 and #3417), which call for the language to…

ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Diana Gitig

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 Diana Gitig 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)? What is your (scientific) background? I…

Steroids for the Brain? Nature Survey Finds Many Neuro-Pill-Popping Scientists

We've seen our brain on drugs. Here's the dope on brainy people on drugs. Survey results of 1400 scientists (or Nature readers, anyway) on use of neuroenhancers Figure from Nature, "Poll results: look who's doping" With baseball's steroid scandals seemingly behind us now -- or at least considered less newsworthy -- the press has recently turned some of its steroidal attention to neuroenhancement among major league academics. The journal Nature has taken the lead here, publishing a commentary in early March by two Cambridge University researchers who "reported," as a nicely turned New York…

I get mail

One sure way to get your Important Message to me is to use the good old US Mail (although my email is much snappier now, thanks to previous suggestions), and sometimes I do get the strangest stuff. This time, it was a formal looking letter from an organization called "Campaign for the Children." How can you possibly turn away a letter from someone who is for the children? You can't, of course. Then once I started reading … well, this doesn't seem to be a campaign for children after all. The letter opens by explaining that it was prompted by my comments on homosexuality and Albert Mohler, and…

Working towards the perfect pointless poll

This is how to design an online poll to stymie the Pharyngulistas: make sure it makes no sense and limits the options to only unpalatable choices. Go ahead and try and figure this one out…although it does say it is for creationists, and it is for Christians only. Why Creationist is your favorite? 15% (3)Kent Hovind 5% (1)Ken Ham 36% (7)Both 42% (8)Neither... someone else "Why creationist," indeed.

Darwin Online

Yup, I know, many of my sciblings have already posted about this, but curiously, I saw this first outside the Seed's blogging stable, on Majikthise, several hours before anyone here picked up on it. Yes, the entire works of Charles Darwin will be placed online for you to browse, search and read for free on this website. Not everything is up yet, but they are working on making it as complete as possible as soon as possible.

Crash this poll

You know how we all love to screw up online polls … here's another one. Scroll down to just below "What others are saying", on the left, where the poll question is: Do you think the theory of Intelligent Design should be taught in our education system? "Yes" is currently leading by about 3:1. If everyone goes over there and votes "no", it will raise Mark Mathis's blood pressure a few points. (via Skippy)

Surgery? Who would have thunk?

Providing Surgical Services Should Be Global Public Health Priority: When you think of public health efforts in developing countries, you probably think of childhood vaccinations, programs for clean water, malaria and TB eradication campaigns. Surgery is rarely considered as a tool for improving the health of the world's poorest people. Prompted by an article in their on-line journal suggesting that it should be, the editors of PLoS Medicine have added their voice to the discussion.

2008 EduBlog Awards winners have been announced

It is rare that I pick the winners in any contest, but this time I picked three! Congratulations to all the winners of the 2008 EduBlog Awards, but especially to my friend David Warlick who led the session on 'blogs in science education' at the last year's Science Blogging Conference, and to Miss Baker's students who will lead a ScienceOnline09 session on Science online - middle/high school perspective (or: 'how the Facebook generation does it'?).

Condolences, Lindsay

I find it very difficult to say something nice, deep, profound or meaningful at the time of sorrow. But I am deeply saddened by the news that Lindsay Beyerstein's father has died. Lindsay is a dear friend, a philosopher and a superb blogger (one of the rare bloggers who really became an online journalist in the best sense of the word), and her father, who I never had the fortune to meet, was an extraordinary man as well. So sorry!

The first SPARKY Awards

On the heels of David Warlick's session on using online tools in the science classroom and the student blogging panel comes the announcement that SPARC has declared the winners of the first SPARKY Awards for student-generated videos on the theme of openess of information. The winner is Habib Yazdi, a senior at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with the video entitled "Share." The three winning videos are under the fold:

Registration is open for ConvergeSouth 2008

ConvergeSouth 2008 is ready to roll: The Web site is online and registration is open: http://2008.convergesouth.com/ We're calling for presentations - see the schedule and apply to present. There's a brand-new Video Walking Tour on Thursday, October 16, with Robert Scoble and Tom Lassiter leading two groups around Greensboro. Lots more new stuff is happening. Keep up with ConvergeSouth on the blog: http://2008.convergesouth.com/blog/ See you in October!

Get Sorted!

tags: 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

How Observant Are You?

Your Observation Skills Get An A- Hardly anything gets by you... You have a great memory and eagle eyes How Observant Are You? This quiz is kinda fun .. what was your score? Which questions did you miss? I missed one question; How many channels on a VHF TV dial? Since I have never owned a TV, it was easy to miss this question. I was most surprised that I knew the answer to the paper clip question. tags: online quiz

ScienceOnline2010 iPhone app

Yes, we have it. You can check out the app in iTunes here. Features include a schedule quick-reference, information about the conference as a whole, and a brief nod to the participating sponsors. The app is named 'SciOnline10' due to the (visible) naming restrictions on the device. Searching for Science, Online, or ScienceOnline2010 (or the app name, SciOnline10) will find it on the App Store if the link doesn't work for you.

Sigur Rós

New Sigur Rós album coming out, they they do a free concert with Björk in Reykjaví at the end of June. In the meantime video and free download of Gobbledigook - first song on the album - here - signin required. Album pre-order also available online. They seem to be on form. Astonishing video - good cinematography. Not for the prudish though. It amuses me endlessly how many people listen without understanding the lyrics... Remind me of my youth.

Nature GeoScience Available for FREE!

tags: Nature GeoScience, online access The newest addition to the growing plethora of Nature journals, Nature GeoScience, is now available for free, although how long this will last is anyone's guess. I suspect that, like any good crack dealer, the Nature people will charge you a lot of money to access this journal's content after you're hooked. That said, the cover image for the first issue is really really nice, don't you think?

Anthro Blog Carnival

The eighty-eighth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Ad hominin. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to Greg Laden. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is on 12 May. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The seventy-eighth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Paddy K's Swedish Extravaganza. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is in two weeks, on 4 November. It's a good way to gain readers. No need to be an anthro pro.

Twilight of Post-Modernism

Swedish social sciences zine Axess just published a thematic issue about the twilight of post-modernism and the lingering pockets of anything-goes relativism that it's leaving behind. Essays by Johan Lundberg, Ophelia Benson & Jeremy Stangroom, Richard Wolin and Christofer Edling. Currently only in Swedish, but English translations will be on-line shortly. On the Swedish scale, Axess is a moderate conservative mag. On the US scale, it's somewhere just left of Bill Clinton.

Tangled Bank #81

The very freshest, sweetest, neatest Tangled Bank is now online. It's got links! To science! P.S. A few people are worried that the Panda's Thumb seems to be down right now. They're having some server problems, it's nothing to be too concerned about (it is not an external attack), and they're in the midst of migrating to a new server anyway, so all should be well again soon without too much fuss.

PLoS ONE Journal Club

PLoS ONE, the Open Access science journal, has finally published something with an archaeological bent: a fine genetics paper about the original peopling of the Americas. As part of their effort to stimulate scientific conversation about the journal's papers, they've put a "Journal Club" on-line where discussion can take place. Myself and Greg Laden offered initial remarks on the paper, and now the mike is free for anyone who wishes to contribute.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The seventy-third Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Greg Laden's blog. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is on 23 September. No need to be an anthro pro. And check out the new Skeptics' Circle!

Anthro Blog Carnival

The seventy-second Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at A Hot Cup of Joe. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. The next vacant hosting slot is on 9 23 September. No need to be an anthro pro. And check out the new Skeptics' Circle!

Anthro Blog Carnival

The sixty-eighth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Remote Central. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 29 July. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro. And check out the latest Skeptics' Circle!

Anthro Blog Carnival

The sixty-seventh Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Sorting Out Science. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 15 July. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro. And check out the latest Skeptics' Circle!

Anthro Blog Carnival

The sixty-fifth Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at A Primate of Modern Aspect. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is already on 6 May. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro. But you must be a babe. Like me.

Anthro Blog Carnival

The sixty-third Four Stone Hearth blog carnival is on-line at Millard Fillmore's Bathtub. Catch the best recent blogging on archaeology and anthropology! Submissions for the next carnival will be sent to me. The next open hosting slot is on 6 May. All bloggers with an interest in the subject are welcome to volunteer to me for hosting. No need to be an anthro pro. And check out the latest Skeptics' Circle!

A Blog for Everything

Via a comment at Cocktail Party Physics, I have become aware of the existence of the "Physics Chicks" LiveJournal community. It's probably safe to assume that the Female Science Professor isn't wild about the name. It's billed as "An online community for crazy and cool women in physics," or at least those crazy and cool women in physics with LiveJournal accounts. So, you know, there you go. Something for everyone out there on the Internets.

Crazy Baby Breeder Lady's Mother Speaks Out

The mother of the woman who used a fertility doctor to give birth to octuplets, despite already having six young children, called her daughter's actions "unconscionable" in an interview posted online Sunday. details I'm not sure my hypothesis of a race effect has been fully falsified, but the alternative hypotheses of edginess due to the economy and people thinking she is a nut bag are starting to feel stronger and have not yet been falsified.

Another meaningless on-line poll

Glenn Reynolds approvingly links to another poll that he claims provides More evidence that the British public is taking a tougher line on crime than the British government. Of course, Reynolds yet again fails to take notice of the fact that it is yet another meaningless on-line poll which tells nothing useful about what the British public thinks. Also, Michael Peckham has some more comments on the infamous BBC phone-in poll.

Let Her Eat The Oppressor's Cake

Normally I think one should be a bit gentle with the young un's, as they are still not fully formed and their thinking has not developed much complexity. They haven't had a lot of experience; you have to give them time to grow into understanding. But if they will go about writing screeds for rightwing publications, all bets are off. Over at the Cornell American Online, Rachel Brenc, a first-year student in engineering - oops, I mean, freshman - has written a little piece that ought to be titled Why There's Nothing Wrong With White Male Domination Of Every Institution In Our Society As…

I know you can't get enough Chris Mooney

We did an impromptu Point of Inquiry podcast this afternoon, which could appear at any time now. It's a little odd, because Jennifer Hecht was drafted to moderate, but she forgot her role, I think, and it turned into a 2-on-1 argument. I was the 1, I'm afraid. I'm going to go listen to Sam Harris for a few hours, so I probably will be busy when it goes online. I wouldn't listen to it, anyway! The podcast is now available.

What Is This World Coming To?

In general, the Corpus Callosum celebrates the entrepreneurial spirit.  This may be the best example of Yankee ingenuity I've ever seen. This being a family-oriented site, it would be too risqué for me to show the photo uncropped.  Plus, my mother reads this sometimes. So the full monty is below the fold... The href="http://markmaynard.com/index.php/2007/07/29/24_hour_panty_people#comments">Artist's post is here; the newspaper article href="http://www.mlive.com/annarbor/stories/index.ssf?/base/news-4/1185692833237380.xml&coll=2">here; the online Ypsipanty store is here…