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Links 2/10/11

Links for you. Science: Flu breakthrough promises a vaccine to kill all strains: British team's success with jab that targets proteins common to every type of flu virus Sexual discrimination against women in science may be institutional On Evolution, Biology Teachers Stray From Lesson Plan Scientific Perspiration Other: Crooked Morality Cops. The local view on AOL/HuffPo: we're still where innovation is happening Bad News for Charter Schools Will the Three Birds Sing? (Republican freshman congressman David Rivera will probably be the first to join Tom DeLay in the hoosegow) The Boring…

Links 2/4/11

Ugh. What a week. Links for you. Science: Perspective on the Parenting Debate: Rich Parents Don't Matter? Children's Genetic Potentials Are Subdued by Poverty The shape of social progress - I Other: Too Bad Facts Don't Deter Anti-Choicers The danger of certainty (it really is astonishing just how ignorant some atheists are of religion and religious people) Update on conditions in Ireland...another letter from Ireland Follow the Money (like Yves Smith, I find it perplexing that many people can't bring themselves to realize that some people wanted to sell loans that would fail) Vernon Smith…

Links 1/18/11

A Tuesday that feels like a Monday. Ugh. Links for you. Science: Opening science Homeopathy: Cure or Con? Local Health Department Costs Associated with Response to a School-Based Pertussis Outbreak --- Omaha, Nebraska, September--November 2008 New User-friendly Resource Connects Human Genes To Biological Functions Other: Fairy Tales of the Coming State of the Union: Our Grandchildren Must Have the Burden of Repaying the National Debt "Who I Wanted to Kill Was Every Democrat in the Senate + House": Where the Notion of Right-Wing Political Murder Comes From Right-Wing Media Paranoids Haven't…

Sunday Links

Merry Sunday! Here are some links. Science: This is why I blog: gratitude from stellar student, recovering addict seeking grad school advice Amyloid plaques, bacteria trigger immune response How would you like some posturing Congress Critter to de-fund your grant? Swine flu: not down for the count Other: Privileging opposition to abortion Mike Castle Plays Poker With Crazy People Crazy Never Sleeps Who Is a Convert? Sales pitch still needs work: At his healthcare press conference, Obama still didn't have the right language to sell the idea An American ex-pat's view of the Western European…

Some Tuesday Links

Here are some links for you. Science firstest: But What If You Can't Afford To Stay Home? Pandemic Lotto H1N1: Why Do Schools Close, And When Do They Open? H1N1 flu: confirmed case counts Other: The Far Right's First 100 Days: Shifting Into Overdrive You don't need to eat a veggie burger to be grossed out by poo lagoons The Top 5 highest and lowest priced Boston condos sold in April Recast (ARM loans) The cost of wind, the price of wind, the value of wind Faith In Teaching is A Paper Nonprofit A Reader Asks... (about Andrew Sullivan) Sen. Ben Nelson (D-NE) Opposes Public Health Plan. His…

Friday Links

Thank the Intelligent Designer it's Friday; I've had a long week. Anyway, here are some weekend links for you. Science: Special panel says state in midst of "epidemic'' of OxyContin and heroin use Clostridium difficile infection is spreading from the hospital to the community Deep in the Forest, Bambi Remains The Cold War's Last Prisoner: Deer Still Shun Iron Curtain Border, 20 Years After the Guards and Barbed Wire Vanished Feeling grumpy 'is good for you' Other: What If Obama Didn't Need 60 Votes? The real reason the climate bill is going to suck Budget context Reconstruction for the…

Support Pro-Science, Anti-Creationist School Board Members

For those who don't know, Texas is very important in determining what is found in U.S. textbooks due to its large purchasing power. While keeping anti-science wackaloons off of school boards is a good thing anywhere, it goes double in Texas. Sheril Kirshenbaum explains: There are two, local races, where every penny goes to work, that have big implications for science education all over the country. The outcome of either contest could tip the balance away from anti-science extremists who seized control of the schoolboard to professional educators with the students' best interests in mind.…

Carnival of Evolution is Seeking Submissions

Overnight (well, overnight for my time zone), I received an email, beseeching me to submit a story or two to the carnival of evolution. I did that, but then decided to go one step further, to ask you to also submit a story of your own, or stories you've read, to this carnival -- afterall, there's no law that says you can't submit other people's writing if it's published on a blog. If you'd like to read the complete archives, you can access them from the Carnival of Evolution website (which looks much nicer than the Scientia Pro Publica website, sigh!) Oh, and while you're at it, keep in mind…

Are You Pouring on the Pounds?

tags: man drinking fat, NYC Health Anti-Soda Ad, Are You Pouring on the Pounds?, diet, nutrition, sports drinks, soda, sweetened drinks, television, disgusting, streaming video Most people don't realize how easy it is to gain weight from drinking sugary sodas, juice drinks, sport drinks and sweetened tea and coffee drinks. Just one 20-ounce bottle of soda can pack 250 calories and more than 16 teaspoons of sugar. Is the lemon-flavored iced tea any better? Not by much with 210 calories and 14½ teaspoons of sugar. Sugar-sweetened beverages add hundreds of calories to your diet each day. Don't…

Circus of the Spineless: Seeking Submissions

Do you remember how I've been campaigning to save several science-y blog carnivals from oblivion? Well, since one blog carnival is currently being revived, partially due to my noisemaking, I am taking my support one step further: I am hosting the upcoming issue of the Circus of the Spineless on 6 April. So this means that I need your help. If you have written a "translation" of a scientific paper, or an essay, a photoessay or if you have a stunning image of a squishy (or crusty) animal that lacks a backbone -- not including American politicians -- to share with the world, please send the…

Circus of the Spineless: Seeking Submissions

Do you remember how I've been campaigning to save several science-y blog carnivals from oblivion? Well, since one blog carnival is currently being revived, partially due to my noisemaking, I am taking my support one step further: I am hosting the upcoming issue of the Circus of the Spineless on 6 April. So this means that I need your help. If you have written a "translation" of a scientific paper, or an essay, a photoessay or if you have a stunning image of a squishy (or crusty) animal that lacks a backbone -- not including American politicians -- to share with the world, please send the…

Circus of the Spineless: Seeking Submissions

Do you remember how I've been campaigning to save several science-y blog carnivals from oblivion? Well, since one blog carnival is currently being revived, partially due to my noisemaking, I am taking my support one step further: I am hosting the upcoming issue of the Circus of the Spineless on 6 April. So this means that I need your help. If you have written a "translation" of a scientific paper, or an essay, a photoessay or if you have a stunning image of a squishy (or crusty) animal that lacks a backbone -- not including American politicians -- to share with the world, please send the…

Justice for Gloria

In 2002, Thomas and Manju Sam had a very sick child: their daughter Gloria was suffering from a life-threatening case of eczema, and essentially screamed herself to death by painful suppuration. That's a ghastly tragedy, and we'd normally feel for the parents who suffered that loss. My sympathies are all for their daughter, however, since her parents watched her die…and treated her with homeopathy. Oh, wait. "Treated" is the wrong word. They neglected her with homeopathy. I can't call it good news, but at least it's a small measure of justice. Thomas and Manju Sam have been convicted of…

Wild in the City

tags: birding, bird watching, birds, television, Animal Planet, streaming video Richard Crossley, a birder who co-author the book, The Shorebird Guide, has been involved in making documentaries on birdwatching, and particularly on birds in cities. But unfortunately, the higher-ups at The Animal Planet network don't believe there is really a market for TV shows about birds and birdwatching. So the people producing bird shows are looking for a strong response from the birding community indicating that there is indeed a niche for such programs [5:28] Now that you've watched the video,…

A Speculative Enterprise

Below, Anthony Dunne answers our final question. I can't think of any reasons why a cross-disciplinary approach would not be appropriate.â¨â¨ Design is a great catalyst for encouraging speculation in disciplines wary of moving away from how things are to how things could be, or even ought to be. I'd like to see a lot more research being done into the social, cultural, political, and even ethical impact of new "technologies, solutions, and insights" before they are implemented. Basically, more speculation: speculative political science, speculative genetics, speculative synthetic biology,…

Around the Web: What makes a librarian, Fending off university-attacking zombies and more

What makes one a librarian? Goodbye, Faculty Status Library employees protest changed title: New designation for incoming employee provokes heated debate why should librarians learn python? (a better answer) Why Not Grow Coders from the inside of Libraries? Alt-Ac: Breathing Life into Libraries or Eroding the Profession? Of Hybrarians, Scholar-Librarians, Academic Refugees, & Feral Professionals Fending off university-attacking zombies Defining the library ... reflexively The Powerful Art Of Resilience Pages of History (end of the scholarly journal article?) Topic Pages: PLoS…

Around the Web: Why privacy matters, Reading & believing, Classroom tech and more

Why Privacy Matters Even if You Have 'Nothing to Hide' Reading and Believing Who really benefits from putting high-tech gadgets in classrooms? "if libraries did not exist, it would be necessary to invent them" Academia as Music Industry Wolfram Alpha Pro democratizes data analysis: an in-depth look at the $4.99 a month service Physical Sciences Case studies: information use and discovery New Media Consortia - Horizon Report - Ten Top Trends in Education Why Pay for Intro Textbooks? The Future of Taxpayer-Funded Research: Who Will Control Access to the Results? Tim Berners-Lee Takes the…

Around the Web: The Cornucopia of the Commons, Hybrarians & scholar-librarians,

The Cornucopia of the Commons Discouraging EDU Lessons from Netflix Streaming A gentle introduction to Twitter for the apprehensive academic Setting the Agenda: Key Issues for Scholarly Publishing Of Hybrarians, Scholar-Librarians, Academic Refugees, & Feral Professionals An ex-Googler's inside view on Google+ vs. Facebook Six Reasons Tablet Devices Will be Owned by 20% of Incoming Freshmen in U.S. Higher Education by Fall 2012 Tips for being a great blogger (and good person) Is It Cold in Here? Rock Stars and Superheroes If this is the future, count me out Warning! Social Networks Are…

Friday Fun: 21 scandalous secrets revealed on WookieLeaks

Er, sorry. Apparently it's one of those weird Internet twitter meme things today that all the kids think are really neet-o and groovy. Anyways, here's a couple from the blastr post: @StuartPownall: Stormtrooper armour to be investigated after recent firefight leaves no survivors. @MaxReboYouKnow: Death Star construction oversight committee recognized vulnerable defense point in exhaust port, considered it "secure" @deathspal Series of Droid mutilations baffle storm troopers. "Their arms are just ripped clean off" Said one trooper @dclas: Leaked memos re: Bespin mining colony raid prove…

Seed's Daily Zeitgeist: 10/4/2006

Huzzah for Smoot and Mather! In this comment, Momma Free-Ride discusses her time working on COBE (the project, not the satellite itself) with the newest Nobel laureates. TEDTalks: Al Gore Al Gore talks about averting disaster and shows off his bizarrely attuned comic sense. (via The World's Fair) Best of Nikon Small World Contest (flash-free edition) These may be the most attractive science-photo-contest-winners of all time. Did someone say "set as desktop background?" And now for something completely different: What makes foods disgusting? Hint: Brains fit the bill. Numbers Are Male, Said…

Seed's Daily Zeitgeist: 9/21/2006

Charles Darwin and the Racing Asparagus NPR dishes about how Darwin used food to his advantage...besides eating it. What ingenuity! (via Jonah) Climate-controlled White House "Oh no, we'd never control the information presented to scientists! We're all about open discourse on the issues." Right. Pale Blue Dot III.0 Don't come in too close. A little distance flatters our complexion. Escher's "Relativity" in LEGO® These little building blocks defy paradox. Take that, 2D sketch artist! (via AIR) Massive Tag Body Spray Slick Spreading From Jersey Shore With all of the global warming hype,…

Bookclub on autism

The ScienceBlogs Book Club has started up again, and this time around the book under discussion is Paul Offit's Autism's False Prophets: Bad Science, Risky Medicine, and the Search for a Cure(amzn/b&n/abe/pwll). Offit has an entry over there right now, and more will be piling on soon. This is a good subject to tackle, too: the anti-vaccination clowns are yet another outbreak of lunacy and innumeracy and anti-science nuttery, and Offit's book fights the good fight. Expect howls of outrage from the clowns. (By the way, one of the circuses full of clowns is trying to oppose our poll-crushing…

Is there such a thing as a non-biased grant review?

Is the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) turning down deserving research proposals because of potential biases in the grant-review process? The answer may be yes, if preliminary findings of an experiment being conducted by NSF officials holds up. A recent study described in science magazine, cites one researcher who was ranked highly only by a set of reviewers only in the case where her name was withheld from them.  She concludes: "The current system is definitely a 'a buddy system' where it's not what you know but who you know, where you work, and where you publish. And the rich get…

I have landed in DC!

I'm here at the Hyatt Regency in Washington DC, and I've received a lot of questions about my plans and availability. Here's the deal: I'm here for an AU meeting, and that's my first priority; then I'm giving a talk at GMU Saturday evening. I may have to depart from the traditional post-seminar beer pilgrimage this time, though: my talk is overlapping a bit with an AU event in the evening, and I should scurry back early to catch part of it. Now there is the possibility of a late night (like, 10:00) get-together here at the Hyatt or nearby, and if there is any interest, I could probably gather…

Celebrating Role Models in Science & Engineering Achievement: Clara Barton!

Clara Barton -- Nurse, Educator Her work as a dedicated battlefield nurse during the Civil War, and her founding of the American Red Cross helped set the standards for emergency medical care and disaster relief. She was so timid, shy and depressed as a child that she was removed from school. But later Clara Barton transformed these drawbacks into a career of helping others, hallmarked by her service as a valued nurse in treating wounded soldiers in the Civil War and later founding the American Red Cross. Learn how Clara -- known for her gutsy, no-nonsense attitude as a leader -- built a…

(Can't Get No) Satisfaction

Humans have voracious appetites--for food and drink, stability and comfort, emotional fulfillment. How we satisfy those appetites is the subject of several posts on ScienceBlogs this week. On Neurotopia, Scicurious discusses an fMRI study that looks at how certain brain regions are activated when we think about our favorite foods when we are hungry versus when we have just eaten. DrugMonkey considers a paper that investigates the reliability of DSM-IV diagnostic criteria for MDMA abuse and dependence. And Razib of Gene Expression shares a figure from a Gallup poll comparing the relationship…

Early screenings for colorectal cancer save lives

Early detection can prevent almost 100 percent of colorectal cancer cases. Combating the disease is a question of social innovations that convince people of regular testing. The Felix Burda Foundation, founded in 2001 by Dr. Christa Maar and Dr. Hubert Burda, with the quest to decrease the mortality rate of colon cancer in Germany, recently took their expertise to America. During a one-day symposium, hosted by the German Consulate, an international line-up of experts and activists came to share their perspectives on prevention, treatment, how to raise awareness and change attitudes,…

The Buzz: MRSA is Back and Badder Than Ever

A notorious bacterial foe has made its first documented appearance in the U.S. and is jumping species around the farm scene. First, MSRA—methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus— was found in chickens. Just recently, research conducted by ScienceBlogger Tara Smith from Aetiology found that ST398, a strain found in pigs, was also found in many of the humans who came into contact with the pigs at a large food production farm in Iowa. While this strain seems to spread readily between animals and humans, its potential for lethal infections is still unclear. Related ScienceBlogs Posts: Swine…

RtB on Tiktaalik

There are a number of creationist organizations flourishing in America. One I've criticized many times is the Discovery Institute, which I suspect is now waning in influence after the Dover debacle; another is Answers in Genesis, which is a Mecca for the Young Earth Creationists; and one other is Reasons to Believe, which is an Old Earth Creationist haven for crackpots. Despite their doctrinal differences, though, it's amazing how uniformly they respond to evolutionary discovers with denial. The recent discovery of Tiktaalik has been instructive: all three organizations have now weighed in,…

New Reader Poll: Mac or PC?

Everybody loves those Mac commercials...you know, with Mac and PC anthropomorphized? (Greg Laden's got a few spoofs with Ms. Linux, too.) Many of the ScienceBloggers swear by Macs and the Mac OX operating system. Others say that they have to use Windows for a lot of specialized lab software. I thought it'd be an interesting poll for a larger audience, as I'm sure many of you are working in labs much of the time. So, which operating system do you use the most often? Click Here for PollOnline Surveys | Online Polls | Email MarketingView MicroPoll Want to know the results? We'll publish…

Phoenix Lands!

After a 10-month, 420-million-mile journey, NASA's Phoenix probe touched down on Mars' northern Arctic Circle at 4:53 p.m. Pacific Time Sunday, becoming the first to ever successfully reach a polar region of the Red Planet. And boy are the ScienceBloggers excited! For the next three months, Phoenix will dig into the soil to find out if its composition is--or was ever--suitable for life. Humans have wondered about finding life "out there" for millennia. What do you think--is it possible? Click Here for PollOnline Surveys | Online Polls | Email MarketingView MicroPoll Want to know the…

Welcome, Not Exactly Rocket Science!

It's a boy! It's a girl! It's...Not Exactly Rocket Science! Yes, the latest addition to our happy ScienceBlogs family is here, and we couldn't be more excited (well, unless someone sent balloons...) (More below the fold...) Not Exactly Rocket Science is the blog of Ed Yong, a freelance science writer living across the pond. He writes solely from primary research papers in a pointedly jargon-free fashion. In its pre-ScienceBlogs incarnation, Not Exactly Rocket Science featured stories covering news in animal behavior, evolution, psychology, the environment and other topics; since joining…

Welcome, Angry Toxicologist

Please welcome the newest addition to ScienceBlogs, Angry Toxicologist. As the Toxicologist says in an introductory post, I am a Ph.D. scientist in the public health sector with a good amount of toxicology and regulatory knowledge. I'm not going to be dishing about projects I am privy to, but I am much freer to make my opinions known anonymously, than I could do in a completely public forum. Although other topics will probably be brought up from time to time (Friday is no day for science), this blog will be focused on public health and the science behind it and will be written for the non-…

One Billion Bulbs

Most people would rather have five dollars now than ten dollars next month. One Billion Bulbs is doing its best to retrain these hoarding instincts. The goal of One Billion Bulbs is to convince users that switching from incandescent to compact fluorescent lightbulbs makes good environmental and economic sense. They already have some retail heavyweights on board: as Andy Rubin, Wal-Mart vice president for sustainability, told NPR's Robert Seigel, Wal-Mart currently saves $8 million dollars a year by using CFLs in its in-store fan-deliers. One Billion Bulbs invites you to reap the benefits…

Beyond Cloud Nine

On Universe, Claire L. Evans notes the renewed appreciation than can come with a change in perspective—whether it's seeing the space shuttle Endeavour roll past a Sizzler in South Central, or daredevil Felix Baumgartner leap towards the Earth from 24 miles up. Baumgartner, aided only by gravity and a spacesuit, broke the speed of sound during his four and a half minute freefall. And thanks to a video camera, he shared his experience with the world. Evans writes "The 21st century is an epoch of P.O.V. feats, of go-pros taped to helmets and steering wheels, streaming the direct visual stimulus…

Global Warming Reiterated

At first glance, Richard Muller's "conversion" from global-warming skeptic to true believer—based on research funded by global warming denialists—is a welcome surprise. Hey, people can change their minds! But on Stoat, William M. Connolley takes a more critical view. Connolley asks, "Everyone who has doubts gets to run their own re-analysis of the temperature record? Wouldn’t it be quicker if people just read the existing literature?" Most of the data used by Muller has been around for years, and so has his conclusion: that humans are rapidly raising the temperature of this planet by…

Thanksgivings prayer

In the past we had to make sure to remember to tell the kids not to make fun of their cousins (and adults) for saying a prayer before the Thanksgivings dinner. We tried to give a personal example by holding hands with other family members, bowing our heads and supressing laughter for the duration. This year, for the first time, we had a Thanksgivings dinner at home, just the four of us. When the dinner was served and we sat around the table we looked at each other with a question mark on our faces - what to do? My wife saved the day:"Thank God we do not have to say a prayer tonight!" Amen…

Abducted by Aliens! Fundie Aliens!

Yikes! This was here in my neighborhood, in Winston-Salem, NC! Poor guy - did he get an education! What does he think about America now? My Half-Year of Hell With Christian Fundamentalists: When Polish student Michael Gromek, 19, went to America on a student exchange, he found himself trapped in a host family of Christian fundamentalists. What followed was a six-month hell of dawn church visits and sex education talks as his new family tried to banish the devil from his soul. Here's his story. Read the whole thing - it is an incredible story. The family's whole purpose in taking him in…

Kudos to my commenters!

If you missed reading some of the comments on yesterday's post, I highly recommend that you go back and catch up. I especially want you all to pay close attention to the comments from Deepak and Keith Robison. Like me, they work in industry and not in an ivory tower. Unlike me, they actually work in the biotech industry, while I work with people who slave away building the picks and shovels (picture a Greta Garbo sigh, for dramatic effect). Their words ring true to me and match the kinds of things that I've seen and experienced. If you're interested in bioinformatics as a career or how…

Nepotism, Google, and personal genomics

Okay, gossip really isn't my thing and I'm not going to make a habit of it, but I'm really kind of surprised by this. Tech crunch (as I learned from Deepak and Eye on DNA) has a post on 23 and me that is quite bothersome. Apparently, one of the Google founders has invested in a company that specializes in personal genomics. All kinds of accusations of nepotism are flying in the Tech Crunch comments section. So what if Sergey Brin (co-founder of Google) and Anne Wojcicki (one of the co-founders of 23 and me) are married. Don't you think Brin has proved himself capable of making good…

Viagra - The Future, part 2

From L.A.Times (you'll have to click - I am purposefully citing out of context for humorous purposes): Military researchers are considering a study to see whether Viagra could help soldiers function better at high altitudes. High altitudes? How high? Who/what needs to get that high? None of the cyclists reported an erection during the trials, she said. Self-reporting, self-schmeporting! What do you think they were thinking about while "cycling"? "If we send a group of guys into the mountains of Afghanistan, they need to be able to deal with the altitude," Fulco said. Eh, as if our boys…

Bush Falls In Love With Dolphins!

Bush to Create World's Largest Marine Protected Area Near Hawaii ".....A turning point came in April, when Bush sat through a 65-minute private White House screening of a PBS documentary that unveiled the beauty of -- and perils facing -- the archipelago's aquamarine waters and its nesting seabirds, sea turtles and sleepy-eyed monk seals, all threatened by extinction. The film seemed to catch Bush's imagination, according to senior officials and others in attendance. The president popped up from his front-row seat after the screening; congratulated filmmaker Jean-Michel Cousteau, son of the…

More flu science

While we fritter away our last week at the beach, here's another installment of past posts on flu science. There are three subjects, but one of them took three installments to relate. That's because these involve cutting edge science papers in influenza science and we wanted to take enough time to explain them in ways that were understandable to non scientists. It's likely we weren't completely successful in every case, but even if you don't understand every detail, you can get a flavor for the struggle taking place in laboratories all over the world to understand this virus: "The complexity…

In case you were wondering…

No, the Minnesota recount is not over yet, and we still don't know whether Franken or Coleman will be our senator. At last word, Coleman held a 192 vote lead, but thousands of ballots are awaiting a verdict on eligibility from the state Supreme Court. It's the most mind-numbingly tedious process ever, so far. However, scrutiny of the ballots has revealed one vote for the Flying Spaghetti Monster for Soil and Water Conservation Supervisor, and another for Franken and Lizard People for US Senator. The latter was rejected as an overvote, but the former did also have a vote that counted for Al…

Tweetlinks, 11-01-09

Follow me on Twitter to get these, and more, in something closer to Real Time (all my tweets are also imported into FriendFeed where they are much more easy to search and comment on, as well as into my Facebook wall where they are seen by quite a different set of people): Doctors' Lack of Respect Weighs on the Obese Frogs in Boiling but Confusing Water: A Review of Climate Cover-Up List of cognitive biases Top Twitter Lists are very male...let's make a women-in-STEM and/or women-bloggers lists and such and push them. A room of her own - 'Incredible story about a teacher who left a student $…

The best of Higher Ed blogging

Teaching Carnival #12 is up on Scrivenings. Next time, on October 1st, the carnival will be hosted by me here. I will be posting an official 'call for submissions' in a few days, but in the meantime, if you write a post that has something to do with Academia and Higher Ed, please try to remember to tag it with the "teaching-carnival" tag. Still, since the tagging technology is unreliable at best, you can only be guaranteed the inclusion of your entries (and yes, multiple entries are welcome) if you e-mail them to me at: Coturnix@gmail.com. Put "Teaching Carnival" in the title and inquire…

Just Science Week

A number of science bloggers are doing the Just Science Week, pledging to write about science every day, and ONLY about science. While I was planning to write more about science anyway, I cannot promise not to blog about evrything and anything else that strikes my fancy at any given time - that is just not the way I blog. I could not resist an occasional foray into non-science blogging even back when I did my own "All Clocks All Week" stint, from August 14 till August 25 (check all the cool stuff in-between those two posts I linked to). So, I am not going to do it this week either,…

Gene?

In the series of "Basic Concept And Terms" (yup, I know, John is well known for misspelling people's last names, including mine), several people have already chimed in with their own definitions of the "gene", demonstrating how unclear this concept is and how much disagreement there is among the practitioners depending on the type of research they are doing (e.g, molecular biology, developmental biology, population genetics, evolution, etc.). See how the term was defined and explained by PZ, Sandra and Greg so far and you'll see those differences in emphasis. Now Larry Moran joins the fray…

The usual lies

The climate change denialists have been whooping it up in my email lately, crowing in triumph over the fact that James Hansen's former "supervisor" has disavowed his work and claims there were no political efforts to suppress the scientific facts. I haven't really cared — it's an argument from imaginary authority, nothing more — but I was very amused to learn that this "fact" is in the same category as other denialist "facts": it isn't. This fellow, John Theron, is a cranky old gomer who retired 15 years ago, and was thus not even present in the oppressive Bush administration, and never had…

There are many of us here who deserve to read this

Are you an elitist bastard? I know I am! If you're like me, then, you'll appreciate a whole collection of unabashedly elitist, thoroughly bastardly sneers and tirades in the Carnival of the Elitist Bastards #2. Revel in it, you smug scoundrels. And hey, I'm helming this carnival at the end of July, so send me your broadsides. If they meet my arrogantly high standards, they might make it into the next edition. All I ask is that you take your inspiration from Lord Flashheart, and do it with a bang. If you're really, really good, you might also volunteer to run one yourself. They've got a lot…