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What's the best news of women in science?

I think my entry for this month's Scientiae carnival is going to be a top 10 list of women in science news from 2007. This seems like a perfect excuse to kill a few hours web browsing. But I know that whatever ideas I come up with, I will miss some of the best things out there. So if you have a personal favorite women in science story (news item, blog post, report, etc.) that you think should be included in the top 10 list, please let me know.

Open Lab 2007: The entries so far

On Saturday I mentioned that submissions are being accepted for Open Lab 2007. Bora has now posted links to the 100+ posts that have been submitted so far. The book, which is to be edited by Reed Cartwright, will contain 50 of the best science blog posts from 2007, so Bora's list contains plenty of good reading. If there's a post that you think should be added to the list, written either by you or someone else, don't hesitate to submit it.

Gender-bending mouse porn

From Nature: Catherine Dulac and her colleagues at Harvard University genetically engineered female mice to lack a gene called TRPC2. This gene is essential for the functioning of a pheromone-sensing organ in the nose called the vomeronasal organ. Without the gene, female mice acted exactly like males - even towards male mice - complete with mounting, pelvic thrusts and the ultrasound calls that males use to attract a mate. Watch the film clip below. Related: Alpha male pheromone stimulates neurogenesis in the female brain

The idiot's brain

This print shows the "brain of someone described as an idiot". Published in the Journal of Mental Science, the illustration is by George Edward Shuttleworth, who was Superintendent of the Royal Albert Asylum in Lancaster, U. K., between the years 1870-1893. Shuttleworth's drawing comes from a huge database of images released recently by the Wellcome Trust Library under a Creative Commons Licence. The database contains old and new images depicting 2,000 years of medical history and human culture. (via Boing Boing)

What is the best argument for god?

Now I'm sad. Robin Marie asked people at #TAM9 what the best argument for god was, and she didn't get around to me. My answer would be the argument from ignorance, because they all boil down to that, anyway, and because the only way I could ever be persuaded to believe in gods is if my brain gets scrambled by traumatic injury or Alzheimer's or something. Being the one argument that could convince me ought to earn it high marks, I think.

Steampunk, courtesy of the patent office!

This is what I miss out on by not reading the physical copy of the New York Times: ads! I recently picked up a copy of the Times science section and saw an ad for these wonderful vintage patent office models from the 1900s. As if they're not steampunky enough, each one comes with a little yellowed, handwritten, calligraphic tag that I'm dying to read because I am convinced it must contain cryptic clues to some sort of awesome Neil Stephenson-style mystery. Right??

Pointless question of the day: can female terrorists achieve career fulfillment?

Slate asks, "You rarely see women holding management positions in terrorist groups. Is there a glass ceiling for female Islamist terrorists?" Um. . . A. Did you just seriously ask that question? B. Are we supposed to be surprised that Islamist terrorists don't respect women? C. Are we supposed to be outraged by this blantant gender discrimination? Ummm. . . . I'm totally okay with it if my gender precludes me from becoming a terrorist mastermind. I'll just be on this other [rational, nonviolent] career path over here. Cheerio.

Just Have To ShareThis:

Our system, who art on raised tile, Hallowed be thy OS. Thy portage come, thy emerge be done, On servers, as it is on workstations. Give us this day, our daily sync, And forgive us our broken ebuilds, As we forgive those who break ebuilds against us. Lead us not into dependency frustration, But deliver us from rpm evil. For thine is the make.conf, the USE flags, And the profile forever... Gentoo. Sincerely, Jason Johnson Unix Systems Admin Oracle Corporation href="http://www.sabayonlinux.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=245&Itemid=2">source

Friday Cephalopod: Our cunning plan exposed

This pretty pink photo that accompanied the article has nothing at all to do with the contents; this can't be the species involved. But that's appropriate to the devious nature of the story. A squid was caught in China that had swallowed a three pound bomb — a live explosive that was later detonated by the local bomb squad. Just keep that in mind next time you order calamari. If you hear a loud boom from the kitchen, you'll know the suicide squid have struck again.

Blogger Challenge 2008 sprog thank-you art + poem: chemistry.

Regular reader Duke (who this blogger knows as "Dad") made a generous contribution to my challenge and requested sprog art and a limerick on the subject of chemistry. (Like my mom, he indicated that this donation was to go to the "NO TATTOO" fundraising total.) A lad from the Periodic Table took offense at his wee bottle's label. But both neutron emission and spontaneous fission, meant his isotopes just weren't stable. The younger Free-Ride offspring's chemical illustration was inspired by the book reviewed here.

links for 2008-02-03

Christina's LIS Rant: Freedom's just another word for nothin' left to lose What's at stake in deciding whether to blog under a pseudonym or under your real name? (tags: blogosphere) Hope for Pandora: Double Dipping What's worse than mouth bacteria? Hand bacteria. (Do you know where those hands have been?) (tags: medicine food) The Republic of T. » 1,900 Years of Salmonella Why the FDA and food labeling laws are insufficient to keep us safe from food poisoning. (tags: food politics)

The ScienceBlogs page on Wikipedia needs your input.

Currently on Wikipedia, there's a stub that's trying to become an entry about ScienceBlogs. And I can't help noticing that you're reading a ScienceBlogs blog. (Nice shirt, by the way -- it really suits you!) So possibly you have some idea of what kind of information might be useful to the person turning to Wikipedia to try to understand what this whole ScienceBlogs thing is. If you do, please hie yourself to the discussion from which the entry will be built and discuss.

My new blogging project: Darwin and Birds

For the next several weeks, I'll be contributing a weekly post at Birdingblogs.com. The informal title of this series of posts is Darwin's Other Birds. The idea is to identify particularly interesting passages from Darwin's writings and put them in an appropriate context. This week's post is an introduction to the series. Thanks to Gunnar for the interesting introduction to the Birdingblgos community! I hope you enjoy the series, which will run every Friday. Next Friday, Darwin and the Andean Condor.

Random strange observation

Seen on the road on my way into work this morning: I passed a bus going the other way. I noticed that it had a prominent sign over its front window scrolling, "NOT IN SERVICE." We both stopped at the light, the bus on the other side going the other way from me. I then noticed that the sign switched to scrolling "GOD BLESS AMERICA." It kept alternating between those two messages. Make of this observation what you will. Was it a message? Or was it just strangeness?

Teabagging Terrorists step up attacks on Latino progressive Democratic candidate

This story has been more or less in the background for some time, as the receipts of envelopes containing swastikas, cat food, and shit sent by right wing extremists is fairly run of the mill. But the latest envelope from what appear to be white supremacist teabagging terrorists sent to Congressman Raul Grijalva's office appears to have contained a toxic "white powder." His office has been shut down and his campaign in this very close race has been severely disrupted. Details here. And, this:

Typhoon Megi

We have been watching the Atlantic but ignoring the rest of the tropical storm world, mainly because that (the Pacific storms) is not an area of interest or experience for me. But you should know about this: The strongest cyclone in years to buffet the Philippines knocked out communications and power as residents took shelter Monday, while flooding in Vietnam swept away a bus and 20 of its passengers, including a girl pulled from her mother's grasp by the raging waters. npr

Creationists, Other Humans, on Divergent Evolutionary Paths

Creationists have often argued that they did not come from apes, a view usually ridiculed by the scientific community. Recent evidence, however, suggests that they may have actually been right. Scientists think that at the dawn of mankind, when the rest of the human race was busy evolving and adapting to their environment, creationists were refusing to take part in the evolutionary game, and as a result of this are therefore thoroughly unevolved human beings. Read the rest, where the DNA evidence is also discussed.

An American Funeral

Recently I witnessed something remarkable-yet altogether ordinary. I had the honor of being invited to a family's memorial service a while ago. While not a member of this family, I am very close to one member and through him knew the deceased. To the others, Sylvia was sister, sister-in-law, aunt, great-aunt, and relationships extending outward from there. Her own family had scattered after her divorce, and she moved up to Minnesota to be close to her brother's family. Read the rest at Quiche Moraine ...

The Wikio Science Blog Rankings for May

Are now available: 1 Wired Science - Wired Blog 2 Watts Up With That? 3 Climate Progress 4 RealClimate 5 Bad Astronomy 6 Next Generation Science 7 Climate Audit 8 Respectful Insolence 9 Pharyngula 10 The Frontal Cortex 11 Dispatches from the Culture Wars 12 Deltoid 13 Science-Based Medicine 14 Cosmic Variance 15 Uncertain Principles 16 Not Exactly Rocket Science 17 FuturePundit 18 Gene Expression 19 BPS Research Digest 20 Neurophilosophy Ranking made by Wikio Please add any comments you have on this list below, in the comment section.

Genie Scott Scores Another PhD

Genie Scott, director of the National Center for Science Education and author of Evolution vs. Creationism: An Introduction and Not in Our Classrooms: Why Intelligent Design Is Wrong for Our Schools, will receive an honorary degree of Doctor of Science, from the University of New Mexico. This will be her sixth honorary degree. Had she known that she would have been bestowed all of these doctorates, would she have bothered with the first, hard earned PhD???? (Probably) Congratulations Genie! Details here.

Michael Pollan: The omnivore's next dilemma

What if human consciousness isn't the end-all and be-all of Darwinism? What if we are all just pawns in corn's clever strategy game, the ultimate prize of which is world domination? Author Michael Pollan asks us to see things from a plant's-eye view -- to consider the possibility that nature isn't opposed to culture, that biochemistry rivals intellect as a survival tool. By merely shifting our perspective, he argues, we can heal the Earth. Who's the more sophisticated species now?

Live at Five! The 121st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle

Now here's some tasty blogging for you to peruse and read while I'm on my way to Chicago. Hot off the presses, it's the 121st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle over at The Mad Skeptic. Go. Read. Learn. Enjoy. Orac will be back soon enough to annoy woo-meisters everywhere, and the occasional skeptic or two. Then come back in two weeks, when The Young Australian Skeptics will be hosting. Nothing like a little skepticism from Down Under to enjoy!

Help Wal-Mart tread the path of righteousness

Wal-Mart has a policy in place to protect its customers from the obscenity and wickedness that writers put into books, yet they still have a few books on the shelves that are terribly indecent—one must assume that their censors are simply too busy to have read them to determine the unpleasantness of their content. In order to help them become more consistent, I urge everyone to sign the petition asking that one of these unsavory texts be removed immediately. (via Aaron Kinney)

Sorry, Mahmoud

Before moving on to discussions of alternative medicine (don't worry, there'll be one in the morning), I couldn't resist one last dig regarding Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's claim in his appearance at Columbia University on Monday that there are no gays in Iran... Sorry Mahmoud, but there was an Iranian contestant in the International Mr. Gay Competition. Adding insult to injury, Mr. Gay Iran didn't win the International Mr. Gay Competition. Nathan Shaked from Israel did. (Via Andrew Sullivan.)

Warbloggers' predictions of coalition casualties

With US combat troops withdrawing from Iraq's cities it is time to compare the 4639 coalition casualties with the predictions made by warbloggers before the war: John Hawkins: "Probably 300 or less" Charles Johnson:"Very few" Henry Hanks: "Less than 200" Laurence Simon: "A Few hundred" Rachael Lucas: "Less than three thousand" Scott Ott: "Dozens" Glenn Reynolds: "Fewer than 100" Tim Blair: "Below 50" Ken Layne: "a few hundred" Steven Den Beste: "50-150" And there were roughly a million excess Iraqi deaths.

The Australian's War on Science 35

Today was the day of the Big Push in the Australian's war on science. They published two news stories that distorted scientists' views on Antarctic ice, a long piece promoting "silenced" Ian Plimer's denialist book, an absurdly over the top piece from Christopher Pearson about how Plimer's book is the turning point that leads to global warming being recognized as a mass delusion as well as an editorial touting Plimer's views. The debunking of this rubbish is outsourced to Harry Clarke.

David Evans and that "missing" signature

David Appell showed David Evans the AGW signature from the IPCC report that Evans claimed was missing. Evans replied: Comparing a model to observations doesn't prove the model works. It's encouraging to the model builders, but it's not proof. For instance, the model could just be lucky. So when Evans wrote: The greenhouse signature is missing. We have been looking and measuring for years, and cannot find it. He meant that we had found the signature, but Evans didn't think it should count.

Shorter Tim Blair

Tim Blair, The inconvenient truths about Al Gore's hot-air footprint: Al Gore is fat. Note that this was a column in the Daily Telegraph, so presumably there was an editor who could have saved a lot of ink and paper by trimming Blair's column down to just 11 letters. 'Shorter' concept created by Daniel Davies and perfected by Elton Beard. We are aware of all Internet traditions.™ Acknowledgement copied from Sadly, No!. Update: James Massola promotes Blair's column in The Australian.

Everyone's talking about Mary

Arthur Silber summarizes Lott's appearance on the Larry Elder. They don't seem to have gotten much past the use of the pseudonym (which in itself is perfectly OK). The problem was what he posted under the pseudonym. And be sure to scroll down to the comment section for some more good comments from Julian. Atrios, Tom Spencer and Roger Ailes comment on the Rosh-Huntress files. Tapped and John Quiggin also have comments. Amazon has removed Mary Rosh's reviews. Good thing I saved a copy.

They really don't like me

I'm still getting flamage from Dr Mike S. Adams' fans. This one just happened to tickle me, for some reason. I wonder if I can get that title engraved on my office door? YOUR WEB TREATMENT OF DR. ADAMS WAS DISCUSTING... OBVIOUSLY, YOUR REAL TITLE SHOULD BE "ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF LEFTIST INDOCTRINATION"! TYPICAL OF "HIGHER????" EDUCATION. I think the funniest part of this all-caps, misspelled, strangely punctuated rant and sneer at "HIGHER????" EDUCATION is that the guy's signature proudly says, "Employee of University of Wisconsin".

A Quote

The aspiration to truth is more precious than its assured possession. -German playwright and philosopher Gotthold Lessing. From TheScian Photos Einstein noted this quote in an autobiographical note he wrote a month before he died [Chapter 26, Subtle is the Lord, Abraham Pias]. The later part of his life was spent in search of a deterministic unified theory to replace the probabilistic quantum theory which he was convinced was incomplete. He did not succeed in his quest. An old post about the picture.

Please just stop

People, people, people. There is far too much attention being paid to a pair of obnoxious trolls in the comments. Ignore them. Do not call them out. Do not pester them with questions. Just let 'em rot. I'm going to have to start disemvoweling the stuff from Bres Mac Elatha/Robert O'Brien and Jason, as well as the posts that refer to them, if you can't leave them be. I get cranky when I have to start hacking up annoying comments, you know.

Trioxane (Friendlier formaldehyde)

Happy Dyngus day. Formaldehyde is both a toxic and useful compound. Unfortunately, it's a gas, so it's tough to move around. Typically, you get it as a solution in water - with some methanol to keep it from polymerizing into "paraformaldehyde," which is the other major way to get it. Both are a pain - one has water, which is poison for a lot of reactions, and one acts like brick dust - it won't dissolve in anything. Trioxane is the third way - it's well-behaved and soluble. Hooray trioxane!

Carminic Acid (No, seriously, you're eating bugs)

This one always shocks people the first time they hear it. Have you ever seen "carmine" on an ingredients label of some food in the red-purple color family? Yeah, you're eating bugs. Carminic acid is extracted from the shells of certain insects. And you're not necessarily safe if it doesn't say "carmine" - it can hide behind that glib reassurance, "natural ingredients" - which the food manufacturer is using in the first place because we started fretting over artificial coloring!

Icilin (I got the wet dog shakes..)

From medicated powder to cigarettes, it's no secret that small molecule ligands can induce a cold sensation. Usually, this means menthol. However, like any protein ligand, non-natural small molecules can stand in. Icilin has an enhanced affinity for receptors to which menthol binds: Icilin induces sensations of intense cold when applied orally in humans, and induces 'wet dog shakes', a behavioral marker of cold sensation, when given to rats. Icilin: 2.5X more effective than the leading thermosensory agonist at causing wet dog shakes!

Trout Fishing in America

Troutnut has put up a beautiful page of Aquatic Insects of American Trout Streams. It's all about using insects to catch fish, but it's still an excellent example of how outdoor sportsmen (and in this case, soon-to-be grad student) can put together scientifically interesting information, too. If you don't know a mayfly from a caddisfly, it's full of photographs of the different organisms that might flit out of your nearby stream and park on your screen doors to weird you out.

Blasts Heard Across Oxford Tonight....

Wait... is that smoke coming out of the upstairs window? Uh oh. That can't be good.... Wait for it.... BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMM!!!!! Whoa! Pretty cool, huh? It's not every day--in Oxford at least--that your neighbor's house gets blown up. This blast happened just a few houses down from mine... but fortunately it was a controlled explosion. ITV is currently filming scenes in Oxford for its detective series Lewis, and a crew spent today filming on my street. The grand finale was…

Super Bowl XLVI NY Giants to New England Patriots: "Stomp You Out!"

Photo: :The New York Giants in a December 2008 game against the w:Cincinnati Bengals (Flickr tedkerwin) In 2004, I had a memorable evening dining with NY Giants player Michael Strahan (see "Football Helmet Hits and Brain Injury - What Should Be Done?") With a repeat match of the NY Giants battling with the New England Patriots coming up in the Super Bowl on February 5, I was reminded of this: From Michael's Facebook page: New York Giants Fans, remember this? Will history repeat itself?

Sudoku Solving Bacteria

Hurrah, I'm in New Scientist, writing about some very clever bacteria: The appeal of sudoku has spread to the prokaryotic world. A strain of Escherichia coli bacteria can now solve the logic puzzles - with some help from a group of students at the University of Tokyo, Japan."Because sudoku has simple rules, we felt that maybe bacteria could solve it for us, as long as we designed a circuit for them to follow," says team leader Ryo Taniuchi. Read the full text at New Scientist

Video: Ben Goldacre talks bad science and barbie detox

Last year I visited Ben Goldacre in his secret offshore nerdbase to talk about science. While there we set up the famous Barbie Detox experiment as described in his book Bad Science. In this short video Ben talks about why the bogus idea of detox is harmful not just for our bodies, but our understanding of health. Says Ben: "The answer, from the future king of England, to your health problems is a fucking magic potion. It's like something out of a fairy tale!"

Editor's Selections: Physics Education and Autism

Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week. The first selection this week comes from Chad Orzel at Uncertain Principles. "But wait," you say. "A psychology post in a physics blog?" Yes! Active Engagement Works: "Improved Learning in a Large-Enrollment Physics Class" Autism diagnosis in cultural context. Dorothy Bishop reviews a recent book on autism, and in doing so, reviews quite a bit about autism itself. A great read! That's it for this week... Check back next week for more great psychology and neuroscience blogging!

Tiger Kills One, Injures Two, in San Francisco

One person has been killed and two others injured after a tiger escaped from its cage at San Francisco Zoo. All of the victims were visitors to the zoo, a spokesman for San Francisco emergency services said. The Siberian tiger, named Tatiana, was the same one that mauled a keeper just before Christmas last year. It has now been shot dead. The incident occurred as the zoo was closing around 1700 (0100 GMT). It is not clear how the cat escaped its pen. [source]

Important and Interesting Things To Read

Traumatized By Truth discussed Kids and Drugs: Time for that chat with the kids about drugs... Comrade PhysioProf notes the non-skeptical nature of some of the reactions among Skeptics to apparent sex bias in the volume edited by Skeptidemigod Dawkins. I had noticed that as well, and the irony is interesting. See: Defending Dawkins A poem about atheism from Digitial Cuttlefish. For today's comic interlude: Kent Hovind's Doctoral Dissertation And finally, some very cool science: Small bird engineers uneasy alliance between hawk and treeshrew

Freeze Grand Central

This is one of nearly 100 different missions Improv Everywhere has executed over the past eight years in New York City. Others include the Best Game Ever, the Food Court Musical, and the famous No Pants Subway Ride, to name a few. Visit the website to see tons of photos and video of all of our work, including behind the scenes information on how this video was made. One of my most intense childhood memories is from Grand Central. Butit wasn't this.

Interesting ethical question: When a DNA testing firm closes, who gets the data?

An Icelandic firm that offers private DNA testing to customers has filed for bankruptcy in the U.S., raising privacy concerns about the fate of customer DNA samples and records, according to the Times of London. DeCODE Genetics, a genetics research firm, began offering personalized DNA testing through its deCODEme website two years ago. A customer mails in a sample taken from the inside of his cheek, and the service calculates the subject's genetic risk for disease -- cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, heart disease. Story here

Ask a Biologist

David Hone reminds me that I've been remiss in mentioning this new and very useful website, Ask a Biologist. The idea is so simple, you'll wonder why there aren't many more like it—it's a kind of central clearinghouse where young people can ask questions about biology and get answers from real biologists and experts. If you're a teacher, turn your kids on to it; tell them to submit a question to the list, and somebody with some expertise will try to answer.

I would like you to use your imagination ....

... Collectively. By visiting the new Scienceblogs.com blog "Collective Imagination." Collective imagination pairs an individual science blogger with an individual scientist or engineer type person from G.E. to discuss stuff. Currently, the science blogger in the Collective Imagination Steel Cage is Yours Truly, and the GE Engineer is my Arch Nemesis Peter Tu. Go over to Collective Imagination and watch as Peter and I wrestle around in the mud and try to choke each other, metaphorically, over issues of Security and Technology.

This film is being kept out of US theaters

... Or so I'm told. Chris Holmlund says of "Creation" in an email: "The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere on Sunday. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia. However, US distributors have resolutely passed on a film which will prove hugely divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll conducted in February, only 39 % of Americans believe in the theory of evolution." Here's a trailer:

Wikio Science Blogs Rankings

This Month's Wikio Rankings of Top Science Blogs is as follows: 1 Wired Science - Wired Blog 2 Watts Up With That? 3 Climate Progress 4 RealClimate 5 Bad Astronomy 6 Climate Audit 7 Next Generation Science 8 Respectful Insolence 9 Dispatches from the Culture Wars 10 The Frontal Cortex 11 Deltoid 12 FuturePundit 13 Gene Expression 14 Uncertain Principles 15 BPS Research Digest 16 Living the Scientific Life (Scientist, Interrupted) 17 A Blog Around The Clock 18 Greg Laden's Blog 19 TierneyLab - New York Times blog 20 Stoat Ranking Wikio

Haiti Links and Resources (UPDATED)

News: Current news from the BBC Arikia Millikan's twitter feed. Arikia has relatives in the area, and is tweeting current news. Help: US citizens seeking information on your relatives in Haiti, call this number: 888 407 4747 UNICEF page for Haiti: Information and link to donate. Direct Relief International: Web page and link for donations American Red Cross International Response Fund Oxfam now has its Haiti page up, here. Science and other info: Tectonics of the Haitian earthquake Global Seismic Monitor