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Netflix for Paintings?

TurningArt is a startup that lets you make a queue of prints by various independent artists, try the prints out in your home or office, and exchange them as often as you like. After you've lived with the print long enough, you can trade it in for the original canvas, watercolor or collage; you just pay the balance of the original's cost (and your subscription fees count as credit toward the purchase price). Check out how it works, below the fold. . . Easy, right? (As an artist, my anxieties are greatly allayed by the fact that they're shipping prints around in those tubes, not the…

The Official Condom of New York

AIDS groups are complaining that Viagra promote unsafe sex, but I wonder what they'd think about these official NYC condoms? What seems like a funny concept is actually part of Mayor Bloomberg's initiative to reduce the spread of STDs by giving free condoms. And we *all* know that its the packaging that really matters in deciding on your choice of free condom! New York hands out 1.5 million free condoms each month, or about 18 million a year. Hundreds of organizations get free condoms from the city and distribute them at health clinics, bars, restaurants, nail salons, nightclubs and even…

Who's your favorite?

CK tells me that The Scientist magazine is taking an online poll about your favorite life science blogs. The link to place your vote is here. There's no legitimate way to bribe you for your vote without raising questions of impropriety, so instead I will attempt to coerce you with insidious logic and campaign strategery. Look at it this way... First of all,Craig's going to be a TV star sometime real soon, so if you vote for us now, you might get invited to his Monterey mansion with an infinity pool overlooking the Pacific. Next, ask yourself who tips you to the hot new personal submarines.…

Hungry For Plastic

CNN as an interesting article on plastic. We now consume around 100 million tons of plastic annually, compared to five million tons in the 1950s when American housewives were just discovering the wonders of Tupperware. To put that into perspective, one ton of plastic represents around 20,000 two-liter bottles of water or 120,000 carrier bags, according to the British Web site Waste Online. But don't think plastic is evil... According to PlasticsResource.com, an educational Web site run by the American Chemistry Council, people have benefited from plastics. Using recycled plastic as a…

John Allen Paulos on the Lancet study

John Allen Paulos writes about Iraqi war deaths: Another figure in the news recently has been the number of Iraqis killed in the war. President Bush mentioned last month that in addition to the more than 2,100 American soldiers killed so far in Iraq, that there were approximately 30,000 Iraqis killed. He was likely referring to the approximate figure put out by Iraq Body Count, a group of primarily British researchers who use online Western media reports to compile an extensive list of Iraqi civilians killed. The organization checks the names and associated details of those killed. It…

A Casino for Conservation?

What if you could gamble for a good cause? Why not build a casino where the profits go to conservation? The idea came to me last night while watching a BBC documentary on gambling with Louis Theroux (see preview below). The segment features a woman who has lost $4 million over the last 7 years (don't worry, she says she had fun doing it) and a Canadian mattress man who lost somewhere over $250,000 in one weekend. Imagine if these people could lose their money and know that it ultimately wound up going toward a good cause rather than in the pockets of already rich casino owners? Yes, some…

Holiday Cheer: Google Earth and Whitacre's Virtual Choir

As an antidote to recent postings about Christmas on Pharyngula, which have nothing to do with science or holiday cheer, I would like to share with you a wonderful innovative example of bridging science and technology with the arts: the Virtual Choir. Composer Eric Whitacre embarked upon an experiment in online social media: he invited singers to post their performances on YouTube and then blended them into a single, integrated performance using Google Earth. According to his website, the Virtual Choir - "Featuring 185 voices from over 15 countries worldwide, The Virtual Choir began as a…

I will not work your show for free!

I was browsing through some old notes when I found this - I think I wrote it in sheer exasperation after yet another email from a production company demanding I work for nothing because, gee whiz, everyone wants to be in TV, right?  I think this will reverberate with anyone who's freelanced for a living.  Apologies to Dr Seuss.   I will not work your show for free! -- I will not work your show for free! I will not be your radio host I will not write you a blog post I will not pen a sharp riposte I will not keep readers engrossed I will not get your brand exposed. I will not write a trial…

So I Was Interviewed...

...For a feature article in this week's Nature on how scientists go about developing and managing online personas. You can check out the article - for free - here. It's a good article, and you'll probably recognize some other familiar faces (e-faces? blog-faces?) in it as well. While the interview, which I did back in the beginning of February, was enjoyable, I fear that my quotation in this article is slightly out of context. To be fair, I don't remember the exact course of the conversation I had with the writer - but here, I'll use my blog to make clear what I meant and ground my statement…

The Implementation of Molecular Evolution for the Masses

A couple of years ago, there was talk in the bioblogosphere about getting the general public interested in bioinformatics and molecular evolution: Amateur bioinformatics? Lowering the Ivory Tower with Molecular Evolution Molecular Evolution for the Masses The idea was inspired by the findings of armchair astronomers -- people who have no professional training, but make contributions to astronomy via their stargazing hobbies. With so much data available in publicly accessible databases, there's no reason we can't motivate armchair biologists to start mining for interesting results. But how…

The Biodiversity Crisis and Open Access Journals

Currently a biodiversity crisis is underway, which many have termed the sixth extinction. E.O. Wilson in 1993 suggested 30,000 species extinctions occur per year, roughly three per hour. How many species are there on earth? That is a tough nut to crack. An extremely conservative estimate would be 3-5 million, but it's likely closer to 30-50 million. In the deep sea there may be as many as 10 million. The other side of this crisis reflects our lack of knowledge of biodiversity on earth. Less than 2 million species have been described. By E.O.'s estimate we are losing species faster than…

Grabbing eyeballs with a blog

Nick Denton is one of those interesting fellows in online media: my first impression was that he runs gossipy sites and therefore must be shallow, but then you discover that he's actually got very finely tuned antennae to what people want to read…and if it's gossip, then so be it. But at the same time there are some real insights into what draws and keeps the attention of those fickle creatures called human beings. This routine memo from Denton summarizing the popular stories of the month is wonderfully revealing, and a good lesson for anyone writing on the web. Kevin Purdy's highly…

A conversation on the way to class.

Do other bloggers ever stalk you in real life? OK, maybe it doesn't count if (1) it's someone you know from real life (and I think even an online course counts as real life here), and (2) it's someone who actually has business to transact in the building in which you run into her. Besides, Julie's a pretty cool blogger by whom to be stalked. Anyway, Julie was kind enough to chat with me as I walked to class, and something like the following exchange took place: J.M.: So how's that ethics in science class of yours going. Dr. F-R: Love! The students are really sharp and they seem really…

Israeli Jews think that Judaism is closer to Christianity

In light of my previous comments on Judeo-Christianity, here is a interesting survey about Israeli Jewish views of other religions, in particular Christianity. Some results: * 41% believe that Christianity is closest religion to Judaism * 32% believe than Islam is closest religion to Judaism * 50% agreed that Jerusalem was central to the Christian faith * 75% percent believe the state should not allow Christian organizations to purchase land to construct new churches in the city (the state or state-sanctioned organizations own most land in Israel) * 80% of secular Jews believe it is…

Climate & the Out of Africa migration(s)

Wet phases in the Sahara/Sahel region and human migration patterns in North Africa: The carbon isotopic composition of individual plant leaf waxes (a proxy for C3 vs. C4 vegetation) in a marine sediment core collected from beneath the plume of Sahara-derived dust in northwest Africa reveals three periods during the past 192,000 years when the central Sahara/Sahel contained C3 plants (likely trees), indicating substantially wetter conditions than at present. Our data suggest that variability in the strength of Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (AMOC) is a main control on vegetation…

So what was that mysterious black gracile felid?

Thanks to everyone who offered an opinion and submitted their thoughts on that photo - and there were no silly answers, because I feel the real answer was not necessarily easy. As some of you correctly determined, the cat was actually not an unfamiliar or obscure species - just the opposite - it's just that it represented a body shape and/or geographical variant of this species that we're not used to seeing... The proportionally long tail shows that this can't be a small cat like a golden cat; it's difficult to be sure from the photo, but the cat also looks much larger than a golden cat […

Tactics and tropes of the antivaccine movement

I've been an observer and student of the antivaccine movement for nearly a decade now, although my intensive education began almost seven years ago, in early 2005, not long after I started blogging. It was then that I first encountered several "luminaries" of the antivaccine movement both throughout the blogosphere and sometimes even commenting on my blog itself. I'm talking about "luminaries" such as J.B. Handley, who is the founder of Generation Rescue and was its leader and main spokesperson; that is, until he managed to recruit spokesmodel Jenny McCarthy to be its public face, and Dr. Jay…

My Picks From ScienceDaily (Neuro edition)

Lots of interesting Neuro/Behavioral stuff came out lately, some really cool, some questionable...so you let me know what you think: Brain's White Matter: More 'Talkative' Than Once Thought: Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered to their surprise that nerves in the mammalian brain's white matter do more than just ferry information between different brain regions, but in fact process information the way gray matter cells do. The discovery in mouse cells, outlined in the March issue of Nature Neuroscience, shows that brain cells "talk" with each other in more ways than previously thought. "…

Are women getting better looking?

Update: The author of the paper clears up confusions. Update: Here's the paper. End Update The British media is abuzz with another paper from Satoshi Kanazawa, the evolutionary psychologist who has great marketing savvy. I can't find the study online anyway, so here is the Times Online: In a study released last week, Markus Jokela, a researcher at the University of Helsinki, found beautiful women had up to 16% more children than their plainer counterparts. He used data gathered in America, in which 1,244 women and 997 men were followed through four decades of life. Their attractiveness was…

Around the Web: Citation cartels, Rooms full of elephants, Doing better and more

The Emergence of a Citation Cartel Ask the Chefs: "What's the Biggest Elephant in the Room?" Review: "How Economics Shapes Science," by Paula Stephan Interview with Paula Stephan -- Economics, Science, and Doing Better Maxing out the curve on ebook adoption Everything you need to know about today's e-book lawsuit in one post Are Apps The Future of Book Publishing? UKSG conference: Libraries: enacting change (libraries as leaders in altmetrics) The BRIGHT Future of Libraries - a Rant Culture Change for Learning E-Books: What Next? Authors use Kickstarter to begin new publishing company Dear…

NC blogging

Anton notes that Dave Winer is advising John Edwards to start a program to teach North Carolinians to blog. Er, Dave, you've been here several times at various bloggercons. And the bloggercons were here because this is one of the Big Centers of blogging in the country. Why should John Edwards start doing something that is already done by people who know what to do and how to go about it and are successful at it as humanely possible? John Edwards is using the new communications technologies better than any politician - he is light years ahead of the competition. He sits in the hotebed of…

But do they stop to ask for directions?

Sex And Prenatal Hormone Exposure Affect Cognitive Performance: Yerkes researchers are using their findings to better understand sex differences in cognitive performance, which may lead to increased understanding of the difference in neuropsychological disorders men and women experience. In one of the first research studies to assess sex differences in cognitive performance in nonhuman primates, researchers at the Yerkes National Primate Research Center have found the tendency to use landmarks for navigation is typical only of females. This finding, which corroborates findings in rodents and…

Happy blogiversary to me!

I almost forgot! It's my blogiversary! On May 21st of 2007, I opened my Wordpress blog after keeping a few notes on Blogger, which I didn't love. I started out blogging about the abomination that is Conservapedia, added my own medical musings that I had collected over the years, and then branched out into the world of medical science, skepticism, and whatever else I wanted to do. In the 10 months I was at Wordpress, I published 332 posts. In my first full month online, I had 381 visits. In August of 2007, I had almost 22,000 page views. In March of this year, the Hoofnagle brothers…

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery

Via Peter Suber, there is now something new - PLoL, or, Public Library of Law: Searching the Web is easy. Why should searching the law be any different? That's why Fastcase has created the Public Library of Law -- to make it easy to find the law online. PLoL is the largest free law library in the world, because we assemble law available for free scattered across many different sites -- all in one place. PLoL is the best starting place to find law on the Web. It's just like PLoS, but the material is law, not science (and the two are not affiliated with each other in any way, just thinking in…

David Cohn on Science Journalism and Web 2.0

David writes: Community is no longer a dirty or scary word. Sciam, Seed, in the US, Germany and all over the world. Online communities are becoming understood and a valued commodity. When Google bought YouTube I said the price they payed wasn't for the technology (they already had Google Video) what they bought was the community. News organizations realize that creating niche communities is a way to stay relevant to advertisers and readers. And science journalism, which de-facto covers a "boring" subject to lots of people, can only benefit by creating a vibrant community of people who have a…

ScienceOnline2010 - Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web (video) - Part 7

Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web - Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, and David Dobbs Saturday, January 16, 10:15 - 11:20am Description: Our panel of journalist-blogger hybrids - Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, Ed Yimmer Yong, and David Dobbs- will discuss and debate the future of science journalism in the online world. Are blogs and mainstream media the bitter rivals that stereotypes would have us believe, or do the two sides have common threads and complementary strengths? How will the tools of the Internet change the art of reporting? How will the ongoing changes strengthen…

ScienceOnline2010 - Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web (video) - Part 6

Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web - Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, and David Dobbs Saturday, January 16, 10:15 - 11:20am Description: Our panel of journalist-blogger hybrids - Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, Ed Yimmer Yong, and David Dobbs- will discuss and debate the future of science journalism in the online world. Are blogs and mainstream media the bitter rivals that stereotypes would have us believe, or do the two sides have common threads and complementary strengths? How will the tools of the Internet change the art of reporting? How will the ongoing changes strengthen…

ScienceOnline2010 - Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web (video) - Part 5

Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web - Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, and David Dobbs Saturday, January 16, 10:15 - 11:20am Description: Our panel of journalist-blogger hybrids - Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, Ed Yimmer Yong, and David Dobbs- will discuss and debate the future of science journalism in the online world. Are blogs and mainstream media the bitter rivals that stereotypes would have us believe, or do the two sides have common threads and complementary strengths? How will the tools of the Internet change the art of reporting? How will the ongoing changes strengthen…

ScienceOnline2010 - Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web (video) - Part 4

Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web - Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, and David Dobbs Saturday, January 16, 10:15 - 11:20am Description: Our panel of journalist-blogger hybrids - Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, Ed Yimmer Yong, and David Dobbs- will discuss and debate the future of science journalism in the online world. Are blogs and mainstream media the bitter rivals that stereotypes would have us believe, or do the two sides have common threads and complementary strengths? How will the tools of the Internet change the art of reporting? How will the ongoing changes strengthen…

ScienceOnline2010 - Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web (video) - Part 3

Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web - Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, and David Dobbs Saturday, January 16, 10:15 - 11:20am Description: Our panel of journalist-blogger hybrids - Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, Ed Yimmer Yong, and David Dobbs- will discuss and debate the future of science journalism in the online world. Are blogs and mainstream media the bitter rivals that stereotypes would have us believe, or do the two sides have common threads and complementary strengths? How will the tools of the Internet change the art of reporting? How will the ongoing changes strengthen…

ScienceOnline2010 - Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web (video) - Part 2

Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web - Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, and David Dobbs Saturday, January 16, 10:15 - 11:20am Description: Our panel of journalist-blogger hybrids - Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, Ed Yimmer Yong, and David Dobbs- will discuss and debate the future of science journalism in the online world. Are blogs and mainstream media the bitter rivals that stereotypes would have us believe, or do the two sides have common threads and complementary strengths? How will the tools of the Internet change the art of reporting? How will the ongoing changes strengthen…

ScienceOnline2010 - Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web (video) - Part 1

Rebooting Science Journalism in the Age of the Web - Ed Yong, Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, and David Dobbs Saturday, January 16, 10:15 - 11:20am Description: Our panel of journalist-blogger hybrids - Carl Zimmer, John Timmer, Ed Yimmer Yong, and David Dobbs- will discuss and debate the future of science journalism in the online world. Are blogs and mainstream media the bitter rivals that stereotypes would have us believe, or do the two sides have common threads and complementary strengths? How will the tools of the Internet change the art of reporting? How will the ongoing changes strengthen…

Another mass murder

As I'm sure you've all heard by now, a deranged gunman went on a shooting spree in a fitness club in LA, killing 3 women and injuring 10 before blowing his own scabrous, rotting brains out. The guy was just plain nuts (in a fairly common sort of way, unfortunately), but he also left behind an online diary. Maybe soon, I will see God and Jesus. At least that is what I was told. Eternal life does NOT depend on works. If it did, we will all be in hell. Christ paid for EVERY sin, so how can I or you be judged BY GOD for a sin when the penalty was ALREADY paid. People judge but that does not…

When Hamsters Attack!

I have a deep, dark secret that I want to confess to you: I love hamsters. I am especially fond of the teensy Russian dwarf hamsters, Phodopus sungorus, particularly their impossibly tiny fuzz-covered feet. So, I was surfing the web during the wee hours this morning instead of sleeping, as usual, and found the most delightful website. When Hamsters Attack is more than simply a collection of news stories about hamsters committing crimes and a list of the Top Ten Most Wanted Hamsters, because it also includes an advice column written by Squiggles the hamster, a list of the top eleven ways to…

Is BEST the Last?

As most of AFTIC readers will know by now, the Berkley Earth Surface Temprature project has pre-released its set of four studies that are still pending peer-review and publication. Bombshell news: the earth has warmed pretty much exactly as all the other analyses have indicated. UHI and micrositing issues do not explain away the measurements. I don't have much to add to the dialogue, but here is a good place for locals to discuss and share links. Watch the cllimate evolve here: Update: here are a few relevant links: Primary sources are here The Economist gets there first Muller has an op…

Anthro Blog Carnival

The forty-fifth and forty-sixth Four Stone Hearth blog carnivals are on-line at Remote Central and Testimony of the Spade. Archaeology and anthropology, two entire carnivals about the ancient uses of buergerite! Buergerite, you will remember, is a mineral species belonging to the tourmaline group. It was first described for an occurrence in rhyolitic cavities near Mexquitic, San Luis Potosi, Mexico. It was approved as a mineral by the King-Emperor of Pannonia-Scythia-Transbalkania in 1966. Submissions will henceforth be sent to my personal email address, not to the old submissions address.…

Ivatepray

An advert in the Economist, and here's the M$ puff online. M$ are trying to persuade the world that Evil Google is invading your privacy by auto-scanning emails to target ads. I can't get exciting by this. Google, and Gmail, are supported by ads (aside: I'm astonished to discover just how much money their is in ads; only with Google did it become clear how much of such useful infrastructure they could support) and I'd rather they read my mail in order to send me useful and/or interesting ads (like this rather tasteful one I've inlined; I got that for searching for same) than spamming me with…

'Songs From the Science Frontier' Update and livestream

Montys project was officially funded, so he is spending today on Ustream, thanking his supporters with videos and songs and getting a chocolate cake smashed in his face at 7 pm Central: Online TV Shows by Ustream Thank you all so much for spreading the word and donating, guys! EDIT 4.55 pm-- One of my readers made A Very Large Donation O.o This person (I dunno who! Tell meeeee!) lives overseas, so they cant collect on their personal concert prize, so they are giving it to me! WHOOO! Maybe we could have it down at the Sam Noble Natural History Museum next to the huge HIV-1! ALSO! We are…

TimeTree of Life

I see that the TimeTree of Life project is now public.  This collaborative project draws on the research of dozens of biologists to estimate the timing of past evolutionary divergences.  The work is available as a book, but the online version has an interactive section that allows the user to name two organisms and get back the date the two last shared an ancestor. For instance, Ants vs. Bees: 163.5 million years ago A word of caution, though.  While the output is extremely precise (i.e., it gives exact dates with decimal places), precision is not necessarily accuracy.  The given dates…

Caltech IQI Postdocs

Postdocs at Caltech's IQI. Now in the new Annenberg Center (named, of course, after Caltech's Ann of the Steele tower :) ): INSTITUTE FOR QUANTUM INFORMATION CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY Postdoctoral Research Positions The Institute for Quantum Information at the California Institute of Technology will have postdoctoral scholar positions available beginning in September 2010. Researchers interested in all aspects of quantum information science are invited to apply. The appointment is contingent upon completion of a Ph.D. Please apply on-line at http://www.iqi.caltech.edu/…

Video for NAS Lecture: Communicating about Evolution

Earlier this month, I was honored to give a lecture co-sponsored by the NIH and National Academies at their historic downtown DC headquarters. The focus of the talk was on "Communicating about Evolution," part of a spring lecture series on evolution and medicine. The video and the slides for the presentation are now online and include closed-captioning. I gave a similar presentation this past weekend in Pittsburgh at the Council of Science Editors' meetings. The presentation runs about 45 minutes with 30 minutes of Q&A. For readers of this blog and followers of the "Framing Science"…

Update on NASA Talk: Communicating Climate Change

For those unable to attend next week's talk at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, there is a call in number to listen to the presentation and discussion. See details on the talk here. Audio will also follow online. Also if you are a non-NASA staff member and would like to attend, here are the details. Leave a comment in the space below and I will email you back with the staff contact information: [Non-staff] will need to contact me at least a day ahead of time so that I can let security know how many people to expect. I'll need a couple of days for foreign nationals, since I'd have to get…

The Massive Failure of the IPCC Report to Break Through to the Wider Public Means New Communication Strategies Are Sorely Needed

As I've chronicled at this blog, the IPCC report was a massive failure as a communication moment. The inability of the IPCC report to break through to the wider public about the urgency of climate change is just more evidence that relying on traditional science communication strategies has increasingly limited returns. Instead, as I describe in my latest "Science and the Media" column at Skeptical Inquirer Online, other public engagement methods are sorely needed. Among options, I suggest reaching the wider public not directly via news coverage, but rather indirectly by way of a "two-step…

Trouble in Middle Earth?

I've been catching up on my online reading, and a couple days ago John Hawks offered this tantalizing hint that Homo floresiensis a k a the Hobbit may be a pathological specimen. Such claims have been made before based on the small skull of the hominid, but they've been pretty powerfully rebutted. But Hawks is claiming that the rest of the skeleton is sickly. He seems to be basing this contention on having seen the bones, and on research by others that will be coming out soon. Now, normally I wouldn't put much stock in this sort of off-hand remark, but Hawks has been so good on his blog that…

Derbyshire on Gilder

Over at National Review Online, John Derbyshire tackles George Gilder's expectorations on evolution. He writes: It's a wearying business, arguing with Creationists. Basically, it is a game of Whack-a-Mole. They make an argument, you whack it down. They make a second, you whack it down. They make a third, you whack it down. So they make the first argument again. This is why most biologists just can't be bothered with Creationism at all, even for the fun of it. It isn't actually any fun. Creationists just chase you round in circles. It's boring. So true. And ... There are two reasons why…

Speaking of Washington (State that is)

Slashdot reports, that the Seattle PI reports, that: Beginning next month [June 7th], Washington residents who play poker or make other types of wagers on the Internet will be committing a Class C felony, equivalent under the law to possessing child pornography, threatening the governor or torturing an animal. Although the head of the state Gambling Commission says it is unlikely that individual online gamblers will be targeted for arrest, the new law carries stiff penalties: as much as five years in prison and a $10,000 fine.' So, poker is equivalent to "child pornography, threatening the…

Public Service Announcement - Don't bother with ebuyer.com. It sucks.

If you are a UK resident, I urge you to consider not dealing with ebuyer.com. Their website did not allow registrations to happen on Firefox (you can login with firefox after registering. I registered using Internet Explorer to give them a try. I should have known). They send you the wrong product (twice in my case, the same product. that's what I call anal) and charge you for the postage. When you return an incorrect product and ask for a replacement, they take in the returned product and go all quiet about it until you call them and urge them to send the correct product. Am sure there are…

Bugs online

This is cool. I always like to find historical documents online; even better when they're free. The Society for General Microbiology has scanned its journal International Journal of Systematic and Evolutionary Microbiology (IJSEM) back to the first edition in 1951 and made the archival articles free to all. Since the discovery of organisms is a once-off affair, subsequent researchers need access to the item that announced it in peer-reviewed print to be able to be sure they are working on the right species. So more than most sciences, taxonomy is a historical science, and since bugs (the…

Biases confirmed!

The OKCupid site dug deep into their database of users and analyzed…a lot of stuff. The interesting one is this chart of reading/writing level by religious belief. Look there: the godless users of OKCupid score higher than the religious users; and furthermore, being more serious about agnosticism/atheism is correlated with better scores, while the more devout you are within a religious tradition, the lower your score. Is anyone surprised by this? Not me. We should regard these data with a little suspicion, though — OKCupid is an online dating site, so it's not an entirely random sample of…

Paperback Pre-orders

Just realized that the paperback version of the book is already available for preorder on Amazon.com (and probably elsewhere). See here. I've changed my book link on the left hand margin to go to the paperback preorder page, rather than to the hardcover page as it has done for the last nine months or so. The paperback itself will be out towards the end of August. Note: For the hardcover version of The Republican War on Science, online pre-orders were a big factor in building momentum for the book. I even made Amazon's list for most pre-ordered titles. For the paperback, I'm not going to push…