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World Conservation Forum

I am hastily heading to the World Conservation Forum in Barcelona, which starts next week. Here, more than 8,000 of the world's leading decision makers in sustainable development will convene: from governments, NGOs, business, the UN and academia. Together in one place for 10 days, they will to debate, share, network, learn, commit, vote and decide. Their objectives: ideas, action and solutions for a diverse and sustainable world. Many of the session will be streamed live, including dozens of marine-focused sessions. Here is a link to those sessions.

Social Psychology of Graceland

Hah... if you haven't already - head on over to the NYT's for the new Tierney Lab Blog. He has an interesting post today about why people find Graceland so appealing. I went to Memphis this past weekend seeking a scientific understanding of Graceland. I was there for a meeting of social psychologists, and I wanted to drag a few a few of them out to Elvis Presley's home so they could explain its appeal. Fortunately, I didn't have to. A team of researchers already had data from Graceland to present at the meeting.

My Three Shinks Podcast

We're always happy to link to (good) sites mentioning Omni Brain - but this one is better than usual :) Check out this interesting podcast from the blog Shrink Rap called My Three Shrinks. This week covers topics like neuroeconomics, fMRI lie detection, and of course omnibrain ;) If you haven't been to Shrink Rap before... Dinah, ClinkShrink, & Roy introduce Shrink Rap: a blog by psychiatrists for psychiatrists. A place to talk; no one has to listen. All patient vignettes are confabulated; the psychiatrists, however, are mostly real.

Ted Kennedy to Endorse Obama

Democratic Sen. Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts will endorse Senate colleague Barack Obama for president, party officials confirmed Sunday. The endorsement will be announced Monday in Washington, said the officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak for the record. An official close to the senator said the announcement will be made during an Obama campaign rally at American University, where he will be joined by Sen. Kennedy and his niece, Caroline Kennedy, who also has endorsed Obama. From Newmax.

Linux Rules

From Slashot: "Computers and handheld devices running default GNU Linux or Unix OSes have swept Amazon's 'best of' list for 2007, according BusinessWire.com for 28 December 2007. Best selling computer? The Nokia Internet Tablet PC, running Linux. Best reviewed computer? The Apple MacBook Pro notebook PC. Most wished for computer? Asus Eee 4G-Galaxy 7-inch PC mobile Internet device, which comes with Xandros Linux pre-installed. And last, but not least, the most frequently gifted computer: The Apple MacBook notebook PC." wOOt!!!

That rocket was probably a contrail of a regular air plane

The evidence is starting to add up. First, we have the absence of evidence, which is always tricky but sometimes relevant: Nobody picked up a rocket on radar, aircraft pilots did not see a vertical high speed accelerating object, etc. etc. Then we have the alternative explanations, including the shape and nature of the contrail, curves in the contrail unlikely from a ballistic missile, and so on. I'm betting on routine aircraft contrail. This will be an interesting one to pick apart later when all the conjectures are in.

I want to be in charge of the music

There was a certain amount of Christmas shopping over the weekend, and I have to say the music was over the top this year. Or maybe I'm just getting more sensitive. In any event, it was driving me nuts. So, I decided that I want to be in charge of the music from now on. And here is the playlist for the remainder of the holiday season: Galileo This Train Revised Land Of Canaan 1 2 3 Chickenman Shame On You Closer to fine World Falls That is all. Have a nice day.

Gun nut kills 1?, wounds 7? in Orlando, Florida office building

The numbers are vague. The shooter is identified as 50 year old Jason Rodriguez who opened fire in an office building in Orlando, Florida, killing 1 and wounding others. He was a former employee of where he did the shooting. The killer is at large. They think he took off in his 2002 silver Nissan SUV. Plate: D119UX. Turn on the TV now if you want to watch the Amazing Fluctuating Numbers of dead and wounded. I just watched the number shot go from 7 to 9 within one sentence.

New Homeopathic Substance

This remedy makes you silly and giggly. It makes you get "high" and you tell silly stories. It also makes you really thirsty and causes some food yearnings. It also causes erotic talk and behavior. Here's how you make it: 1) Get a really really strong telescope. 2) Point the telescope at Saturn, the planet. 3) Aim the rays coming from Saturn at some powdered milk. 4) Scrape the milk powder on the person you wish to treat. More info here. Hat Tip: Claudia Sawyer.

As long as we're confessing...

In response to this crazy attempt to smear Mitt Romney with the sins of his fathers literally, a few people are disqualifying themselves from future runs for the presidency with similar confessions. I have to admit there's a skeleton in my family tree, too: apparently, one of my ancestors was hanged as a witch in 17th century Massachusetts. No one will be surprised at that, I suppose. Especially since if your family can trace its roots in this country back almost 400 years, you might well be related to her, too.

New Atheists Ruin Movie for Catholics.

Though its trailer gives no clue as to its true agenda, this venomous supposed comedy is set in a world where lying is unknown and every word spoken is accepted as truth and where -- not accidentally, the screenplay implies -- God does not exist. Until, that is, failed documentary screenwriter and all-around loser Mark Bellison (Ricky Gervais) spontaneously discovers the ability to deceive. That quote is from a movie review in The Catholic Spirit Dot Com. Have a look: Has anybody seen it? (Hat tip: Virgil Samms)

Yellow Submarine in 3D

Disney plans to remake Yellow Submarine ... in 3D. What I want to know is, how did the Blue Meanies get hold of the rights to this film anyway? A 3D remake of The Beatles' 1968 film Yellow Submarine has been confirmed, Disney Studios has announced. It will incorporate the 16 Beatles songs and recordings from the original animated film. Disney Studios chairman Dick Cook said the new film will be directed by Robert Zemeckis using the same motion-capture effects employed in Polar Express. bbc

Singh Vindicated

When the science writer Simon Singh sat down to write an opinion piece on chiropractors two years ago, he could have had little inkling of the nightmare that lay ahead. Yesterday, after a court of appeal ruling hailed as a "resounding victory" for Singh, he has been spared having to stand up in court and prove that the comments that sparked a libel suit from the British Chiropractic Association (BCA) were factually correct - an experience that the three appeal judges compared to "an Orwellian ministry of truth". source, more

Repressed Political Speaker To File Human Rights Complaint in Canada

[The speaker] said she will file a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission over the way she was treated by the University of Ottawa. In a column posted on the website Townhall.com, [she] said she hopes the "august" commission will find out whether the school has warned other speakers to watch their words the way she was warned this week. Click here to read more about the poor treatment Ann Coulter is receiving from the evile Canadahoovians. Oh, and Ann, you're a faggot. As it were.

Kicking 'em where it hurts

From Orcinus, I've learned a useful new term ("spockoed", referring to using aggressive tactics to shame the right-wing extremists) and that Michael Savage and Ann Coulter are suffering for their calumnies, which is always satisfying. There might be a little too much self-satisfaction, though: I think there's a large enough culture of right-wing extremism to keep them both profitable for a long time to come, and I suspect that knocking down one or two sleaze-artists just means new ones will rise to take their place.

The Boob Have Commanded Me

As we all know, the Skepchicks are all about boobs and nothing else. Typical chicks. Can't think of anything else. And their boobs have commanded me to make one more request from my readers to consider donating some money to the senseless no-account purpose-free orgy that they will be hosting here in the Twin Cities here in July. Click here for details. And if you think I'm being sarcastic, that's funny. Because you're only reading what I'm writing. Your not seeing what I'm thinking.

Home-school texts dismiss evolution

As expected, the home schoolers are by and large doing it wrong. No wonder they are always trying to hide the statistics behind manufactured libertarian values. Christian-based materials dominate a growing home-school education market that encompasses more than 1.5 million students in the U.S. And for most home-school parents, a Bible-based version of the Earth's creation is exactly what they want. Federal statistics from 2007 show 83 percent of home-schooling parents want to give their children "religious or moral instruction." source Hat tip: Ana

New research into scar-free healing

New research from the University of Bristol shows that by suppressing one of the genes that normally switches on in wound cells, wounds can heal faster and reduce scarring. This has major implications not just for wound victims but also for people who suffer organ tissue damage through illness or abdominal surgery. Read more here. Image: Treating skin wounds (blue) with osteopontin antisense DNA (bottom) reduces the size of wound granulation tissue (area between arrows) and results in reduced scarring. Photo by Dr Ryoichi Mori

The genetics of politics

Here's an interesting article from Scientific American about the genetics of politics. The article discusses a study headed by University of California, San Diego political scientist James Fowler suggesting that genetics can strongly influence whether or not a person will vote. The authors are careful to explain that the research findings DO NOT suggest that genetics can determine whom people will vote for, only whether or not they are likely to vote. They further emphasize that environment also plays a significant role in voting. Check out the article here

Tonight: Black Holes and Holographic Worlds - Live

At 8:00 pm EST tonight, tune in to the live stream of Black Holes and Holographic Worlds, which Greg Boustead and myself will also be covering live from NYU's Skirball Center. Moderator Alan Alda and physicists Raphael Bousso, Robbert Dijkgraaf, Andrew Hamilton and Kip Thorne will explore recent discoveries about what are perhaps the most mysteriously named objects in the universe - black holes - and how they have led to the idea that our entire world might be something like a hologram. Hope you join us!

Don't they cause enough pain and suffering as it is?

Wolf J, Curtis N. Brain abscess secondary to dental braces. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2008 Jan;27(1):84-5. Blum-Hareuveni T, Rehany U, Rumelt S. Devastating endophthalmitis following penetrating ocular injury during night sleep from orthodontic headgear: case report and literature review. Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2006 Feb;244(2):253-8. Fact: Orthodontic devices of all types are the spawn of the devil. Some go straight for your brain, while others prefer to wait until you are fast asleep and then poke your fucking eyes out.

David Bowie lyric of the day

He'll build a glass asylum With just a hint of mayhem He'll build a better whirlpool We'll be living from sin, then we can really begin Please savior, saviour, show us Hear me, I'm graphically yours Someone to claim us, someone to follow Someone to shame us, some brave Apollo Someone to fool us, someone like you We want you Big Brother Song: Big Brother. Album: Diamond Dogs (1974) Why this song? Given what's going in over the last few years, you have to ask?

Saturday Morning Video - Mitosis

You can find almost anything on Youtube. Here is a video from Nikon (maker of great microscopes) of mouse fibroblasts (connective tissue cells) dividing and migrating around a coverslip. Ah, this is why I became a cell biologist. Look at those guys go! (And to think that some would call them bags of molecules -which they are ... but they are pure beauty) Also notice that the cells must contract and round up just before they divide. While you're at it visit Nikon U. a web resource for microscopy.

Spectacular Deep Sea Species Discovered

The Census of Marine life is the gift that keeps on giving. Here are the latest pics of some new species they've discovered at the bottom of the ocean. A blind lobster from the genus--Thaumastochelopsis Sweet new comb jelly More below the fold... Ampelisca mississippiana - a new kind of amphipod New species of squat lobster Adorable new pebble crab A new species of shrimp, seen here standing on a yellow worm (they both eat the same marine plants) Read more about these species on nationalgeographic.com.

Surely Nobody Saw Titantic.

Don't blame me for not pointing it out sooner, but I have only seen Titanic once and as I recall it was an excruciating experience. Luckily, Leonardo is redeeming himself (more later). The Russian expedition planting a flag on the Arctic floor seems to be plagued with further controversy. Recently, video and movies distributed among media outlets apparently contained footage from the blockbuster movie (above). Who uncovered this? Media? Nope, a 13 year old Finnish boy with a DVD player. You can see the video in all of its embarrassing glory here.

Mom, Can I Keep It?

From Yahoo News... An Indonesian fisherman hooked a rare coelacanth...and briefly kept the "living fossil" alive in a quarantined pool.  Justinus Lahama caught the four-foot, 110-pound fish early Saturday off Sulawesi island near Bunaken National Marine Park, which has some of the highest marine biodiversity in the world. The fish died 17 hours later, an extraordinary survival time, marine biologist Lucky Lumingas said Sunday. "The fish should have died within two hours because this species only lives in deep, cold-sea environment," he said.

Tuna Relief

SEED Magazine is running a welcome news story on a Japanese/EU agreement to ease their collective appetite for tuna. This is a very important development. The Japanese have been a significant source of politicial pressure at ICCAT in the past. This cooperative atmosphere for marine conservation may herald a new era in fisheries management. If you're interested in learning more about bluefin tuna (the most expensive fish in the world), there's addtional background information on the Gulf of Mexico spawning grounds for bluefin tuna from a DSN story posted October 2006.

And Here We Go

From CNN... President Bush will announce Monday he is lifting an executive order banning offshore oil drilling, the White House said. If President Bush can persuade Congress, more oil rigs like this one off Canada could appear off U.S. shores. If President Bush can persuade Congress, more oil rigs like this one off Canada could appear off U.S. shores. The move is largely symbolic because there is also a federal law banning offshore drilling. Bush has been pushing Congress to repeal the law passed in 1981.

Friday Deep Sea Picture: The Artwork Of Ben Lawson

We came across these wonderful drawings of deep-sea creatures from artist Ben Lawson. He was gracious enough to let us share his drawings and sketches with you. Be sure to check out Ben's website for many more fantastic and imaginative artwork (I really like the poison plants collection) and be sure to contact him if you are interested in purchasing any of his works. If you have a weird and grotesque animal, he may be interested in drawing too. Enjoy! More under the fold.

What is it?

First, thanks to all of you who have been adding my posts to StumbleUpon.com. Over the past three days my traffic has been double, even triple, of what it normally is, and as far as I can tell much of it is coming from StumbleUpon. Thank you, and I hope some of you who are new to Laelaps like what you see and stick around. Second, here's a little teaser of the creature that will appear in tomorrow's "Photo of the Day." Any guesses as to what it is?

Killer Crustaceans from "Inner Space"

The Bleiman brothers just mentioned Deep Star Six, which I fondly remembered from my video-store clerk days. Believe it or not, I think Deep Star Six was better than the gross-out cheese-fest that was Leviathan, although the latter received a lot more airplay on UPN, TNT, and TBS when I was younger; Leviathan, of course, was a much more direct rip-off of ALIEN; Like JAWS, ALIEN was a terrifying film that everyone wanted to emulate, although some films (like Creature) were less shy about lifting bits of the plot;

Muskrat queen

Congratulations to Dakota Abbot, this year's champion muskrat skinner, and the new Miss Outdoors: "Oh my God!" a boy in the audience yelled, at the sight of a woman in perfect makeup with her hand inside a muskrat. Then, from another part of the crowd: an older woman's voice: "She's good." I wish Ms. Abbott the very best of luck in her pursuit of a marine biology degree. She's clearly well-qualified. While you're at it, check out the video of the event. Hat tip to: Digital Cuttlefish.

People need to play with magnets

Question from class: *What do magnets interact with?* Basically, everyone said "metals". I am quite surprised. No one specifically indicated that magnets only interact with iron and steel (of the materials they would likely see). I understand that steel is a very common material they are likely to encounter, but what about aluminum? I think this points to the idea that very few of my students have actually played with magnets. This is a shame. Everyone loves magnets. So, I propose you go out and give someone you love some magnets today.

Not another Sb/DonorsChoose attack ad!

This time they're going after Tara. So sad that a fundraiser would inspire such an underhanded attack. Someone must be feeling very desperate! * * * * * Reading Aetiology was fun -- but suddenly I was washing my hands obsessively, sending back rare hamburgers at restaurants, and turning down rest-stop guitar-string tattoos. My friends want to know what happened to the happy-go-lucky guy I used to be. That blog turned out to be a vector of buzz-kill. I plan to protect my kids from the germ theory of disease.

Friday Sprog Blogging: animal art

Despite the younger offspring's unwillingness to provide details last week, it would seem that they really were studying turtles. This rendering was made with leaves and other plant matter. Also, I learned from the younger offspring that the "tummy" part of a turtle's shell (not shown) is called the plastron. Elder offspring made the illustration below. The one making the diary entry is the ant, at the lower right. It is possible (though unconfirmed) that the larger animal is a wombat or a bandicoot. Update: The furry animal is a rabbit.

Homöopathie rebuked

The last time I was in Germany, I was surprised at the pharmacies — they all had big displays of homeopathic 'remedies' in the shop windows. I suppose it made some sense, since the profit margins on water have to be tremendous. There is some good news, though: Der Spiegel has a cover story on the homeopathy illusion (horrible google translation to English). The Germans are also talking about removing homeopathic snakeoil from the list of supported medicines under their national health plans. Oops, there goes the profitability…

Physics and McSweeney's

Funny stuff from McSweeney's: General relativity is your high-school girlfriend all grown up. Man, she is amazing. You sort of regret not keeping in touch. She hates quantum mechanics for obscure reasons. Cosmology is the girl that doesn't really date, but has lots of hot friends. Some people date cosmology just to hang out with her friends. Can we come up with a similar list for the brain sciences? I think you could replace quantum mechanics with brain imaging and perhaps substitute electrophysiology for general relativity. Via kottke

Notable Science Books

So the Times didn't think much of science books this year. Personally, I think the three big omissions from the "Notable" list are Musicophilia, Isaacson's Einstein and The Stuff of Thought. What other science books did you think were notable this year? I'm not sure how "notable" is supposed to be defined in this context, but let's say it's some combination of "good" plus "important". In case you need some inspiration, here's the Amazon list of best science books, which I'm honored to be included in.

SI/USGS Weekly Volcano Activity Report for 4/22-28/2009

The weekly USGS/SI roundup is out. Highlights (beyond Slamet) include: Explosions (some heard 25 km away) and incandescent blocks that started fires at Galeras, Colombia. Ash and tephra being thrown tens of meters into the air and a 4-m tall spatter cone being built at Pacaya, Guatemala Also in Guatemala, Santa Maria's Santiaguito dome produced ash plumes and explosions. Steam, ash and sulfur odors from the continuing eruption at Redoubt, Alaska. Increased seismicity, steam and ash plumes along with a thermal anomaly at El Reventador in Ecuador

Another tidbit from AGU...

I was chatting with a fellow from AVO and he called the simultaneous eruptions of Kasatochi, Cleveland and Okmok a "once in a millennia" event. So, enjoy it! He also mentioned that the Kasatochi eruption released the most sulfur dioxide into the atmosphere since the 1991 Pinatubo eruption ... but we had an idea of that already. And who knew that there has been uplift at Uturuncu in Bolivia? I sure didn't, but Steve Sparks does.   More to come later this week when I can go to all the Chaiten posters.

Rep. Mark Souder resigns over affair with staffer

In the video above, you can watch Indiana's Rep. Mark Souder yammer about creationism with staffer Lisa Jackson. He crows about his on-screen experience in Expelled: No Intelligence, and his efforts to twist Smithsonian emails into a conspiracy. Souder recently won his primary election, but just resigned from Congress after revealing that he carried on an affair with Ms. Jackson. Given that the two also made a video about the importance of abstinence, the affair is a little bit embarrassing. It couldn't happen to a nicer guy.

Seeing things in a new light

I don't care for North Korea. It's a repressive Stalinist cult, walled off from reality. But sometimes they find a nut: A government official in North Korea blamed for the nation's currency devaluation has been executed by the state. "Pak Nam-gi, who was reportedly sacked in January as chief of the planning and finance department of the ruling Workers' Party, was executed at a shooting range in Pyongyang." Maybe if we stood a few of the banksters in front of a firing squad, we wouldn't have to fix their mess again.

Solidarity Forever

John Cronan, Third Engineer of the Maersk Alabama, explains how the crew kept pirates from taking over the ship: We are American seamen.  We are union members.  We stuck together, we did our jobs.  And that's how we did it. Or as they like to say: When the union's inspiration through the workers' blood shall run There can be no power greater anywhere beneath the sun Yet what force on earth is weaker than the feeble strength of one For the Union makes us strong Solidarity Forever.

The Open Laboratory 2008 - in the final stretch!

We are in the final stretch! The submissions have been trickling in all year, and a little bit more frequently recently, and many more over the past couple of weeks, so, if you have not done it yet, it is high time now to dig through your Archives for your best posts since December 20th 2007 and submit them. Submit one, or two, or several - no problem. Or ask your readers to submit for you. Only submissions received through this form are valid. Then take a look at your favourite bloggers and pick some of their best posts - don't worry, we can deal with duplicate entries. Do not forget new…

Research with vulnerable populations: considering the Bucharest Early Intervention Project (part 1).

The Neurocritic alerted me, in a comment on an earlier post, to a pair of papers in the 21 December 2007 issue of Science that raise some difficult ethical questions about what sorts of research are permissible. Quoth the Neurocritic: This may be a little off-topic, but I was wondering if you read this article in Science, beginning of abstract pasted below. In a randomized controlled trial, we compared abandoned children reared in institutions to abandoned children placed in institutions but then moved to foster care. Young children living in institutions were randomly assigned to…

Quackademic medicine versus cancer quackery: The central dogma of alternative medicine is questioned by an advocate of "integrative medicine"

Since I seem to be on a roll the last few days discussing cancer quackery, I thought I'd just go with it at least one more day. Frequently, when I get on these rolls laying down the Insolence, both Respectful and not-so-Respectful, over antivaccine quackery I start whining about how I need to change topics, but not this time around, not this topic. It takes a lot more than what I've posted lately to make me feel as though I need a change of pace. Besides, for whatever reason, the blog fodder is flying at me fast and furious, whether it be the dubious testimonial I discussed yesterday, yet…

The revenge of "microfascism": PoMo strikes medicine again

It's grant crunch time, as the submission deadline for revised R01s is July 5. However, in a classic example of how electronic filing has actually made things more difficult, the grant has to be done and at the university grant office a week before the deadline if it is to be uploaded in time. So, my beloved Orac-philes, I'm afraid it's reruns again today, but, benevolent blogger that I am, I'll again post two about the same topic. Since I recently reran a really old post that started it all, I thought I'd follow up with the two additional posts about the same topic. This is the third one and…

The Unfalsifiable Theory Of Everything from viXra

Today is another bit of rubbish from viXra! In the comment thread from the last post, someone (I presume the author of this paper) challenged me to address this. And it's such a perfect example of one of my mantras that I can't resist. What's the first rule of GM/BM? The worst math is no math. And what a whopping example of that we have here. It's titled "Spacetime Deformation Theory", by one Jacek Safuta. I'll quote the abstract in its entirety, to give you the flavor. The spacetime deformations theory unifies general relativity with quantum mechanics i.e. unifies all interactions,…

Probability Distributions

I'd like to start with a quick apology. Sorry that both the abstract algebra and the new game theory posts have been moving so slowly. I've been a bit overwhelmed lately with things that need doing right away, and by the time I'm done with all that, I'm too tired to write anything that requires a lot of care. I've known the probability theory stuff for so long, and the parts I'm writing about so far are so simple that it really doesn't take nearly as much effort. With that out of the way, today, I'm going to write about probability distributions. Take a probabilistic event. That's an event…

Ethics Questions, dealing with senior researchers

Over at Adventures in Ethics and Science, Janet Stemwedel, our resident ethicist, has been writing about academic dishonesty and how professional researchers should respond to it. I've been on the receiving end of dishonesty on three occasions - ranging from a trivial case (arguably not dishonest at all) to the profound. I'll describe my three experiences, along with how I did respond to them, and how I could have responded to them. Unfortunately, my experience isn't very encouraging, and most of my advice comes down to: always, always keep a paper trail: it can't hurt, but don't count on…