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DSN Readers Make A Difference

Last year DSN and our readers raised money to send 53 seventh and eigth grade sciences students of Kipp Academy of Opportunity to the Aquarium of the Pacific. KIPP Academy of Opportunity is a free public middle school of choice, which opened in the Summer of 2003 in South Los Angeles. This new charter school accepts 90 fifth graders each year, and serves approximately 360 students in grades 5 through 8. KIPP Academy of Opportunity enables students to become self-motivated, competent, and life-long learners. Armed with these skills and achievements, the students of KIPP Academy of Opportunity…

Garden update: day 52.

Since it's been a while, I thought it was time for another update on the plant denizens of our raised garden beds which we planted back in July. The first thing to note is that, to a first approximation, the automatic drip irrigation system we set up to water the beds works reasonably well. There are a few patches that don't get quite enough water without some hand-watering every couple days, but the important thing is that the seedlings made it through our week-long trip to Wisconsin last month. The second thing to note is that we've been having rather more hot spells this summer than is (…

Friday Sprog Blogging: random bullets of December.

*For Hanukkah this year, the elder Free-Ride offspring got E. coli and the younger Free-Ride offspring got Rhinovirus -- not the actual microbes, but the Giant Microbes stuffed versions. These gifts actually exploited a convenient loophole in Casa Free-Ride's moratorium on new stuffed animals, seeing as how bacteria are not part of the Animal Kingdom, and viruses aren't even technically alive. The eyes on these plush microbes did offend the sensibilities of the Free-Ride parental units, but we survived years of toy snails with eyes not properly located on eye-stalks. The real outrage was…

Friday Sprog Blogging: what (and where) is science?

Dr. Free-Ride: What science have you been learning in school lately? Younger offspring: We've been learning what animals are nocturnal and what animals are diurnal. Dr. Free-Ride: What other science have you learned this year? Younger offspring: Oh, lots of different things. Dr. Free-Ride: Hey, if there were a new kid in your class who hadn't had science before, how would you explain what science is? How would you be able to tell it apart from reading or math or writing your letters? Younger offspring: Science is something you learn from parent helpers. Dr. Free-Ride: Huh? Younger offspring…

Ethics case study: science goes to the dogs.

I want to apologize for the infrequency of my posting lately. Much of it can be laid at the feet of end-of-term grading, although today I've been occupied with a meeting of scientists at different career stages to which I was invited to speak about some topics I discuss here. (More about that later.) June will have more substantive ethics-y posts, honest! Indeed, to tide you over, I want to ask for your responses to a case study I wrote for the final exam for my "Ethics in Science" class. First, the case: Peter is a graduate student in a laboratory that does a variety of research projects…

Friday Sprog Blogging: classroom snake.

This school year, the elder Free-Ride offspring has a classroom teacher who used to be one of the elementary school's science teachers. (Owing to budget cuts, both the science teachers have "retreated" to be general purpose classroom teachers, and all the classroom teachers have to teach their own science lessons.) I'm happy about this because it means the science instruction the elder Free-Ride offspring gets in the classroom is going to be good. The elder Free-Ride offspring is happy about this because it means there's a snake in the classroom. The snake in question shares a name with a…

Pitching an idea for a new show in the Star Trek franchise.

Like a good nerd, I love me some Star Trek. I will confess to having a strong preference for the original series (TOS), on account of that was what my parents watched with us when we were wee young nerds growing up. (My dad had a freakish ability to tell within the first few words of Kirk's "captain's log" at the opening which episode it was going to be.) Something I didn't realize until I was a mature nerd was just how regularly, in TOS, Kirk and/or the rest of the crew of the Starship Enterprise violated the Prime Directive, which, as Wikipedia tells it: dictates that there can be no…

The inner workings of the North Pole.

I was presented with this picture by the younger Free-Ride offspring. I'm not entirely sure whether it's more accurate to describe it as a map or a process diagram. However, this being December 24th, it is timely. Here is what I can glean from the various pieces of the diagram: Elves' working stadium. Of course, the elves are the backbone of Santa's work force. It's never clear to me that they are happy workers. I hear occasional rumors that the elves have tried to organize a union, only to be thwarted by the man in red. I'm not even sure Santa pays the elves, and they seem to…

No more Acupuncturists Without Borders?

One of the more depressing things I've seen coming from various practitioners of quackery is a tendency for them to mimic Médecins Sans Frontières (in English, Doctors Without Borders). You know Doctors Without Borders, don't you? It's a fantastic organization that brings volunteer physicians, nurses, and other health care professionals into disaster areas and war zones in order to bring health care to people who desperately need it regardless of politics or ideology. Unfortunately, because MSF is such an admirable group, quacks with good intentions but no effective remedies have mimicked…

The perils of engaging the public

People wonder why scientists involved in controversial areas are reluctant to address the public. Courtesy of our favorite band of anti-vaccine bloggers at the anti-vaccine propaganda blog Age of Autism, we see yet another reason why. Yes, AoA's resident attack poodle Jake Crosby decided to disrupt the Q&A session of a public talk (videocast here) by the editor-in-chief of BMJ, Fiona Godlee: Throughout the question and answer session, I patiently waited my turn, until finally called on by Dr. Glass (you can view the exchange on the 54:00 of the NIH Videocast): "Yeah? Introduce yourself…

Saving your pets from tomorrow's Rapture

I'm a dog lover. I love dogs as pets and can't imagine my life without having a dog as a pet. When our dog Echo died unexpectedly of a particularly nasty form of cancer at 8 years of age, I was devastated. Our current dog is a great dog, and quite the character. But what would I do if I were one of those fundamentalist Christians who apparently believe that we are at most 26 hours from the Rapture? (Or maybe not. No one said what time zone is the time zone that determines when the Rapture occurs.) I'd be whiffed straight up to heaven, but what about my dog? He'd be left to fend for himself!…

Want a brain, Moran?

It is easy to make fun of other people with whom we disagree, but when it comes down to it, how do we really know when we are being smart about something vs. getting it all wrong? Gut feeling? Our friends agree with us? Some smart person tells us what to think? This is a problem that as plagued humanity since the first time anyone tried to establish ground rules for leaving flint chips around the camp where our unshodden Neanderthals brothers and sisters, who came by to visit now and then, would step on them1. Practical Wisdom: The Right Way to Do the Right Thing by Swarthmore Professors…

Celebrate Freedom Day

I started to work in Africa in the mid 1980s. Since I had been admitted to a graduate program that was heavily involved with work in Kenya, it would make sense that I'd work there, but I was well aware of the fact that there would be no work at Koobi Fora until the Koobi Fora monograph was done, since those in charge of that research felt a responsibility to get what they had done published before collecting more data from the field. I had the opportunity to work in South Africa as well, and there were good reasons for me to do that, but there was one very large reason not to: Apartheid.…

Too much coffee!

Yikes! In my grant writing frenzy the last few days, this could easily have been me: Jasmine Willis, 17, developed a fever and began hyperventilating after drinking seven double espressos while working at her family's sandwich shop. The student, of Stanley, County Durham, was taken to the University Hospital of North Durham, where doctors confirmed she had overdosed on caffeine. She has since made a full recovery and is now warning others about the dangers of excessive coffee drinking. Ms Willis, who had thought the coffees were single measures, said the effects were so severe that she began…

The fourth and final season of Battlestar Galactica?

From a variety of sources, I've learned that the fourth season of Battlestar Galactica is probably going to be the last and that the beleaguered humans will find Earth. Here it is, right from Admiral Adama himself: iF MAGAZINE: What's coming up for season four? EDWARD JAMES OLMOS: It's fantastic. I think they're going to discover some very important issues about what the fan base really, really wants to see and what's to understand about this show. We're heading into the final season. This is the final season as we speak. All of us are very saddened by that, but we always knew there was going…

Barry Glassner, Fear, Poor people and their babies: Friday!

I've been interested forever in human perceptions of risk and culturally mediated fear. I got to work with some of the cook risk perception people at the Kennedy School of Government for a while (as a bystander), and as an archaeologist, I find the question of risk and fear important in human foraging (and other) decisions. For instance, humans can specialize or not as foragers, and they can include or exclude certain kinds of resources. Did early humans in southern Africa avoid dangerous bovid prey and prefer allegedly less dangerous antelopes? Did various groups that avoid fishing (East…

Arabian Dinosaur Trackway Discovered

Dinosaur tracks are reported for the first time on the Arabian Peninsula. These new tracks are located in Yemen. This find is interesting and important for several reasons. You can place all the dinosaur remains from Arabia on one table, which is what they used to say about human fossil before several tens of thousands of human ancestor bits and pieces were eventually accumulated. But this does not mean that we don't know much about Arabian Dinosaurs. Back in the days of dinosaurs, the big triangular-shaped piece of land known as Arabia was firmly attached to, and indeed, totally part of,…

Microsoft Wants Yahoo

A letter from Steven Ballmer to Yahoo: Dear Members of the Board: It has now been more than two months since we made our proposal to acquire Yahoo! at a 62% premium to its closing price on January 31, 2008, the day prior to our announcement. Our goal in making such a generous offer was to create the basis for a speedy and ultimately friendly transaction. Despite this, the pace of the last two months has been anything but speedy. While there has been some limited interaction between management of our two companies, there has been no meaningful negotiation to conclude an agreement. We…

Gnome 2.22

Gnome 2.22 was just released (a few days ago). This is not the big-bang major overhaul type of release we have just seen with KDE, but it is worth nothing. Information on Gnome can be found here. A few highlights: GNOME 2.22 introduces a new application, Cheese. Cheese lets you take photos and make videos using your computer's webcam. You can apply a range of different effects like mauve, noir/blanc, shagadelic, and warp. You can share these photos and videos with your friends, load them into F-Spot, or set them as your account photo. Cool. GNOME 2.22 introduces GVFS: a new network-…

Shall we end software patents? Please?

ESP is a new organization formed for the purpose of putting an end to the madness. The madness, of course, is the new corporate business model of patenting something utterly absurd, such as "click on something and something happens" or "computers can store data" or "tell the user there has been an error" ... then you get a team of lawyers in expensive suits to take down all of your competitors by suing them for having the audacity to steal your ideas. ESP will be the ACLU of the software world. I hope they have a lot of money. Here is their press release, in part: Boston, Mass., February 28…

That's a bit much, don't you think, Saudi Arabia?

When it comes to detesting woo such as psychics like Sylvia Browne, I take a back seat to no one. But even I think beheading is a bit severe for such nonsense. Apparently, though, the religious loons who run Saudi Arabia disagree: Amnesty International is calling on Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah to stop the execution of a Lebanese man sentenced to death for "sorcery." In a statement released Thursday, the international rights group condemned the verdict and demanded the immediate release of Ali Hussain Sibat, former host of a popular call-in show that aired on Sheherazade, a Beirut based…

Report a bad doctor to the authorities, go to jail? The trial, day two

While I'm at it blogging about the trial of Anne Mitchell, the nurse who is being maliciously prosecuted for having reported a doctor who hawks serious woo in the form of colloidal silver for H1N1 and who also happens to be buddies with the County Sheriff, I thought it would be worthwhile to post this update from ABC News: I also want to report report on the latest update I've received from the Texas Nurses Association, which is covering the trial every day: THANK YOU to everyone who has contributed to the TNA Legal Defense Fund in support of Anne Mitchell. A number of donations have come…

Stay classy, Dr. Joe. Stay classy.

It's amazing how these "natural" medicine mavens reveal their true nature when faced with a little adversity. As you may recall, Mike Adams was eliminated from the running for a Shorty Award in Health, thanks to the cluelessness of his fans and followers. He immediately erupted into tirades full of conspiracy-mongering, as well as a hilariously off-base, spittle-flecked attack on "skeptics" that was so full of straw men that his adopted Central American home will probably have to import straw for its farm animals for the foreseeable future. As a result of his being eliminated, Mike Adams…

Now there's a cage match I'd like to see when I get back from Chicago...

...Mark Crislip versus Doug Bremner. Dr. Crislip calmly explains the evidence regarding flu vaccination and why it's safe and effective. Perhaps the most important point there is this: So it's a suboptimal vaccine. And that's a problem. One, because it will make it more difficult to prove efficacy in clinical studies and two, there is a sub group of anti vaccine goofs who seem to require that vaccines either be perfect, with 100% efficacy and 100% safe, or they are not worth taking. The influenza vaccine is not 100% efficacious in preventing disease, but it is as close to 100% safe, and much…

Linking and Laughing

The reviews are in on the CEI's ads: Ha ha ha ha ha. Here's a small selection: Andrew Sullivan: I'm not going to knock CO2. And when you watch the ad, you'll find it comes out of your lungs in short, sharp bursts of laughter. Seed's Daily Zeitgeist: Ha! This is great. Let's apply their logic to fecal matter: We excrete it out, plants take it in as fertilizer. So why not dump it everywhere? Some call it "crap." We call it life! nicteis: It's finally happened. Someone has actually managed to underestimate the intelligence of the American people. Fruitbat I particularly liked the footage…

Tim Ball, Down in the Quote Mine

One favourite tactic of creationists is that of "quote-mining", using out-of-context quotes from scientists that appear to support the creationists' position. Global warming skeptics play this game as well and a recent Calgary Herald column Tim Ball is a good example of the practice. He quotes James Hansen, Stephen Schneider, Phil Jones, Tom Wigley, Kevin Trenberth all of whom apparently agree that we don't know enough about climate to justify something like Kyoto. He ends up this one: Schneider told Discover Magazine: "We have to offer up scary scenarios, make simplified dramatic statements…

Sweating to the NIH paylines

Like many biomedical investigators, I've been sweating it over the resubmission of an R01 grant my collaborator and I worked furiously on and submitted on November 1. He's the principal investigator, but I'm a coinvestigator with 25% effort; I also wrote one of the three specific aims and most of another, the justification for animal use, and the IACUC (animal use) protocols for the project. Consequently, I have almost as much invested in the success or failure of this grant proposal as its PI does, although he certainly gets props from me for pulling us two co-investigators together with…

Robert Chung on David Kane

Boosted from comments. Robert Chung writes: David Kane wrote: Anyway, it seems clear to me now that you are bluffing Me, bluffing about knowing how calculate a CMR? Ouch, that hurts. David, what a fascinating example of hubris. You do not know how to do something, so you conclude that no one else can either. However, that something "seems clear to you" has, once again, led you down the wrong path -- though for you this seems about par for the course. As you ought to have known long ago, we are clearly not "in the same boat." The reason you ought to have known this long ago is that you have…

Why Republicans reject climate science

Jonathan Chait analyses the reasons why Republicans deny anthropogenic global warming: As the evidence for global warming gets stronger, Republicans are actually getting more skeptical. Al Gore's recent congressional testimony on the subject, and the chilly reception he received from GOP members, suggest the discouraging conclusion that skepticism on global warming is hardening into party dogma. Like the notion that tax cuts are always good or that President Bush is a brave war leader, it's something you almost have to believe if you're an elected Republican. How did it get this way? The…

Stats.org on the Lancet study

Rebecca Goldin: While the Lancet numbers are shocking, the study's methodology is not. The scientific community is in agreement over the statistical methods used to collect the data and the validity of the conclusions drawn by the researchers conducting the study. When the prequel to this study appeared two years ago by the same authors (at that time, 100,000 excess deaths were reported), the Chronicle of Higher Education published a long article explaining the support within the scientific community for the methods used. President Bush, however, says he does "not consider it a credible…

Channel Nine's Sunday: Summer warmer than winter "just an assumption"

You only have to look at the delight exhibited by Andrew Bolt ("Warming priests defocked [sic] on Sunday") in this story on Channel Nine's Sunday to know that they are promoting AGW denial. The reporter, Adam Shand, makes a pretence of objectivity by having three people from each side. But he blindly accepts everything that the three AGW deniers (William Kinninmonth, Jennifer Marohasy and Don Aitkin) say and even repeats some of their arguments himself ("We can't predict the weather, so how can we predict the climate?"). He undercuts the three on the other side. Randall Pearce is…

The Australian's War on Science 76: Dad Jokes

Whenever we had bean salad, my Dad would always ask "What's that?" When told what it was, he would say "Don't tell me what it's been, tell me what it is now!" That's a Dad joke. The defining properties of a Dad joke are that it is not funny and that Dad keeps repeating it. In their ongoing war on science The Australian is now committing war crimes by deploying Dad jokes (which I recall were banned by the Geneva Convention in 1949). Imre Salusinszky, who declared global warming to be dead in January of last year has repeated the same unfunny joke this January: Last year, other parts of the…

"Heretic" and "The Heretic"

In Richard's Bean play The Heretic anthropogenic global warming is a hoax perpetrated by a worldwide conspiracy of climate scientists. In David Williamson's play Heretic the role of nurture in anthropology is a hoax perpetrated by two young Samoan women on March 13, 1926. When you boil down the premise of each play down to its essence, it sound ridiculous and it is. It does make for a good story -- the lone heretic standing up to the scientific orthodoxy and proving them wrong. And from most accounts each play was enjoyable to those who swallowed the premise, but it each a case a good story…

Memorial Day

In the U.S., today is Memorial Day. Although we often forget about it in our rush to head out to the beach or relax over the course of a three day weekend, it is the day set aside to remember those who have died fighting for our nation in its wars. I was debating about what to post today, when I remembered that, last year, I happened to be in Bethesda for a conference sponsored by the NIH. Because of my interest in World War II history and because I had a few hours and hadn't seen the new World War II Memorial before (which had been dedicated on Memorial Day weekend 2004), I decided to take…

A sad day in the medical blogosphere

I'm a couple of days late with this, but yesterday I finally got around to checking some of my usual medblogs when I came across some bad news. Medblogging stalward Dr. Sydney Smith (the nom de blog of Medpundit) is hanging up her blogging keyboard for good. She's been at it since 2002 and in that time had become as close to a fixture in the medical blogosphere as anyone can be. By comparison, I started blogging nearly three years after Dr. Smith, in December 2004, and, although I'm not yet considered an old-timer blogger yet (either that, or I'm deluding myself), I'm rapidly approaching that…

News Flash: Industry thinks there should be fewer whistleblowers at the FDA

A reader sent an article from The Pink Sheet (an industry rag focused on Pharma). If you've never read industry-specific news publications, you're really missing out. They're really facinating and instructive. Sometimes you get early knowledge about industry trends and others, if you're lucky, that are not so subtle messages to other readers. This is one of the latter($ required, sorry). The article is entitled "FDA Staffing Problems Extend Beyond Funding Shortfalls; Culture Shift Sought." I was expecting an article about what changes employees saw as need to change the culture. I was wrong.…

I Shun Red Meat - Does This Make Me A Weirdo?

For health reasons I have given up eating beef in any and all disguises, at least to the best of my ability. My family thinks I'm somewhat of an oddball for this, and of course they're no help, passing around plates heaving with juicy steaks or ribs slathered in barbecue sauce while the dog and I stare at the table like two bumpkins at a burlesque show. Am I crazy to avoid this food item? What do the experts say about it? "Red meat associated with pancreatic cancer" The Karolinska Institute in Stockholm and colleagues conducted a study of more than 61,000 women. The investigators were…

AFP author--DAY3

As the hypotheses shift... It's now been about ten years since vaccines were first blamed to be the cause of autism. First, it was the MMR vaccine. The mechanism by which this vaccine was supposed to cause autism was ill conceived. Measles vaccine virus was proposed to replicate in the intestine causing chronic inflammation and loss of intestinal barrier function allowing for entrance into the bloodstream of encephalopathic proteins causing autism. However, there was no evidence that attenuated measles virus damaged the intestine and no evidence that specific encephalopathic proteins caused…

Is there an antivaccinationist on ScienceBlogs.de? Help me figure it out, my German-speaking readers!

I don't read ScienceBlogs.de for the simple reason that I don't understand German beyond a few words and phrases. Consequently, I don't know what our German counterparts are up to. However, a reader sent me a link that gives me reason to be very concerned about at least one of the blogs in the German ScienceBorg Collective. It's a blog called Lob der Krankheit, which apparently means something like "Praise of Illness." Specifically, my reader referred me to a post entitled "Aluminium muss raus aus Impfstoffen!" because it concerned him. In essence, it means "aluminum must be removed or…

Fractal Paper Snowflakes (Fractal LXVII)

Some time ago, I gave instructions for making your own paper fractal. I’ve decided to do another today. This time, instead of ending up with a crumpled paper ball, you’ll have a design worthy of becoming a holiday decoration. Remember those old paper snowflakes that we would cut as children? We’re going to use the same concept today to create a fractal snowflake. To make this fractal, you’ll need a piece of white paper, some scissors, a straight edge (a ruler, or even another folded piece of paper) and a compass. The latter two items are actually optional--you could trust your eye instead--…

Autumnal Equiknot Animation (Friday Fractal LXI)

This week’s fractal has been delayed slightly, to coincide with the Autumnal Equinox. It isn’t your usual Friday Fractal, either. I was fiddling around this week, thinking about ancient symbols which may have represented some sort of dynamic changes. Were our ancestors fascinated by the relentless cycles of nature on which their lives were so dependant? Changing seasons meant changes in food supply to a hunter-gatherer culture, and thus changes in survival strategies. Rhythmic patterns were the way of life. (Is today really any different?) It stands to reason that some ancient artists would…

Producer Seeks Non-Canine Service Animal Users for Documentary Film

Okay, so Culture Dish is now back from it's short down time for mourning (and finishing my massive pre-tenure dossier, which was due yesterday and looked something like this).  Lots of posting to catch up on.   First, this:  After reading my recent NYTimes Magazine story on the use of non-canine service animals and the surrounding political turmoil (plus all the follow up here), two producers contacted me about doing a documentary on the subject. I'm not formally involved in the project, but I've talked to them at length, and their idea seems like a good one.  They're hoping to get in…

Wheras The Omnibrain give the a State Legislature a piece of his mind

A State Legislature proclaimed an amazing thing recently which has just so made my day! They took time out of their busy schedule of shutting down state parks and getting in a fiduciary pissing match to proclaim that this week is grad student week or some such garbage. Here's the official proclamation: WHEREAS, Graduate Schools play an important role in enhancing the nation's economic competitiveness and innovation; and WHEREAS, the National Science Foundation cites State universities for attracting $5.4 billion in federally sponsored grants and contracts, over the past five years; and…

Thinking with your heart (literally) - It's Woo don't worry ;)

A number of people have noticed that after getting transplants their personality changes - and not only that- their personality changes to reflect the donors personality. ...though she was born and raised in Tucson, she never liked Mexican food. She craved Italian and was a pasta junkie. But three years ago, all that changed for Jaime Sherman, 28, when she underwent a heart transplant at University Medical Center, after battling a heart defect since birth. "Now I love football, baseball, basketball. You name it, I follow it," said Sherman, a psychology student at Arizona State University…

Snowflakes

My journey to the world of snowflakes started about 15 years ago and began with my love for microscopes. Upon showing images from the microscope to friends they had little interest in all the wonderful biology, but were fascinated by the images of snowflakes. There had been little done in this field since Bentley fist took snowflake images from his barn in the hills of Vermont approximately 100 years ago. I live and work in one of the snowiest cities in the United States. Rochester N.Y. is situated between Buffalo and Syracuse and it is often a coin toss which city gets the most snow.…

Lott tells more stories about his survey

After I concluded yesterday that Kopel had probably added the attribution to Kleck in one Lott op-ed, Lott has weighed in, contradicting Kopel's story. In this posting Lott writes: "My vague recollection of what happened is that David Kopel (Research Director at the Independence Institute) called me up asking for more information on who had done self-defense surveys and I mentioned that among them was Gary Kleck." This is contradicted by Kopel's account of what he thinks happened (see yesterday for a summary). It is ridiculous to suppose that Kopel would have needed to ask…

Glutathione (Thx O2, I

The atmosphere doesn't just keep you alive and protect you from the sun - it is responsible for the face of life as we know it. One-fifth of the atmosphere is oxygen, happily waiting to accept electrons from whatever's available. Oxidative metabolism turns sugars and the like into CO2, just like fire. This provides loads of energy, of course. This wasn't always the case! Long ago, there was virtually no O2. During the course of evolution, some humble microbes began to produce oxygen. This wasn't by design, mind you - the oxygen was waste! Photosynthetic bacteria, like plants, gave off oxygen…

Employed at Last

Update, April 2: I hope you all had a wonderful April Fools Day, unmarred by water shortages, supervolcanoes, and threats to your world view. This was a fake, but I should have a real job announcement to make soon - and it won't involve any quack apologetics. After months of searching in a desperate economy, I am incredibly relieved to have been offered a permanent position. Not just relieved, but tremendously excited - I've managed to find an incredibly exciting, challenging, and meaningful job. As of today, I am the newest adjunct fellow at the Discovery Institute's Center for Science and…

What Does it Mean to "Learn Science"?

One of my New Year's blogolutions was to clear out my to-blog folder, and bring closure to my unfinished drafts by simply posting them as-is. This is one of those drafts. Disorganized paragraphs, unfinished sentences, and general incoherence enhance the natural character and beauty of a half-written blog post and should not be considered flaws or defects. Draft date: June 30, 2008 I just checked my watch, and apparently it's time for another science blogging meta wankfest! This time, Blake Stacey is complaining that we don't teach science with our blogs: My thesis is that it's not yet…

A Clarification on Skull Measuring

I got a long email from one of the authors of the skull measuring study and I want to make some clarifications to my previous post. It seems that I was not as clear and thorough as I could have been in my argument. First, my sincere apologies to all physical anthropologists and other researchers who routinely measure skulls that I may have offended with my off-hand comments. I did not intend to cast doubt on a whole field, and I am aware that there are lots of reasons to look at skulls besides comparing cranial capacity of different races, many of them very valuable to medicine and…