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Modern Day Plague Death in America

Its sad serendipity that I found out that an Arizona-based biologist working for the National Park Service, named Eric York, likely died of plague a few months ago. Fatalities due to modern-day plague (caused by the bacteria Y. pestis) are extremely rare, especially in America. I'm not even sure when the last death from plague in America was, although according to the CDC there are on average of 2800 plague cases worldwide and 13 of those are in the USA. Only 1 in 7 of plague cases in the USA are fatal. It is suspected that York acquired the plague when performing a necropsy on a mountain…

Your Playstation3 Does Research Too

SETI used to do it, too. That is, have a volunteer program to chip in your CPU's processing power to help solve some problem (in SETI's case, look for ET). Now your idle Sony PS3 can be put to a similar use, but a bit more earthly. The recent launch of a software update for Sony's Internet-enabled PlayStation 3 (PS3) games console has seen more than 50,000 owners sign up to take part in a medical-research project called Folding@home. The success has now led to discussions to make dozens of other such 'distributed computing' projects PS3-friendly. Such projects are designed to create a virtual…

$10 Million Prizes For Scientists

Who ever said there's no fortune and glory in science? I just got wind of several multi-million dollar prizes for scientists who tackle some tough questions: called X-Prizes. What is an X PRIZE? An X PRIZE is a multi-million dollar award given to the first team to achieve a specific goal, set by the X PRIZE Foundation, which has the potential to benefit humanity. Rather than awarding money to honor past achievements or directly funding research, an X PRIZE incites innovation by tapping into our competitive and entrepreneurial spirits. The X PRIZE Foundation began a revolution in private…

That Other Curious Gentleman - Mr. Catesby

The Pigeon of Passage The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, 1754 Mark Catesby Unlike Benjamin Button, he's not up for an Oscar, but he's also a film star - several hundred years late. Mark Catesby (1683-1749), a forerunner of Audubon, was the first European scientist/artist to document the flora and fauna of North America. He depicted live specimens in their natural habitats, and made special study of both migration and extinction. You can view Catesby's masterwork, The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and the Bahama Islands, Vol 1 and Vol 2, at the University…

Le Corbeau Volant

Le Corbeau Volant, 1875 Edouard Manet While in NYC last weekend, I squeezed in an hour at the MoMA to see their exhibition Wunderkammer: A Century of Curiosities (July 30-Nov 10, 2008). It's really phenomenal. The main criticism I heard as I wandered the gallery was that the collection was perhaps a bit incoherent and scattered, and that may be true, but order barely imposed on a chaotic diversity of specimens is the essence of a wonder cabinet - isn't it? This was one of the specimens that caught my eye: a simple, fluid lithograph of a flying raven by Edouard Manet. It's from the…

Wait, what? Did you see or not?

A slight science journalism FAIL in a story at iO9, originally from the New Scientist: the Title: "First Quantum Effects Seen in Visible Object" the Lede: "Does Schrödinger's cat really exist? You bet. The first ever quantum superposition in an object visible to the naked eye has been observed." the Discovery: "[researchers showed] that a tiny resonating strip of metal - only 60 micrometres long, but big enough to be seen without a microscope - can both oscillate and not oscillate at the same time." the Wait, what?: "Alas, you couldn't actually see the effect happening, because that very…

"For most men, sex is as important as breathing"

I encountered this jaw-dropping story, by one Emily Miller for AskMen.com, as the top "health link" on FoxNews this afternoon: It seems like a reverse sexism started to take hold as the feminist movement came about and equality for women began gaining ground. Some women use their girl-power solidarity to come to a consensus on what's socially acceptable for women to do to men in a relationship. They've agreed among themselves that these behaviors are perfectly justifiable regardless of how they play with a guy's emotions or ego. With that, we've compiled a top 10 list of cruel things women do…

More bones and bikes

R-Evolve, 2009 Jud Turner To complement my previous entry on bikes with an anatomical inspiration, here are some bike-and-bone inspired sculptures from Jud Turner, who is currently showing work at Device Gallery in San Diego. R-Evolve, the sculpture above, was created for a group show, Joyride, in conjunction with the Bicycle Film Festival and NYC's Anonymous Gallery. Turner's artist statement places him squarely in the sciart camp: Quantum physics tells us that apparently solid objects are comprised of vast empty spaces, populated by tiny particles whose individual relationships create…

MLK's I Have a Dream Speech

Most of us probably haven't read the whole speech, but we should. I hadn't remembered this part: But there is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again and again, we must…

History of Alois Alzheimer

I meant to post this early, but the Neurophilosopher has an excellent history of Alois Alzheimer, for whom the disease is named: On November 25th, 1901, a 51-year-old woman named Auguste Deter (below right) was admitted to the hospital, and was examined by Alzheimer. Deter at first presented with impaired memory, aphasia, disorientation and psychosocial incompetence (which was, at that time, the legal definition of 'dementia'); her condition gradually worsened, and she started losing other cognitive functions and experiencing hallucinations. Because of her age, Deter was diagnosed with…

DonorsChoose Wrap-up

The DonorsChoose drive ended a few days ago, and thanks to the amazing generosity of my readers, we were able to raise $1104 for science education in public schools, completely funding 8 projects and partially funding 4 more. 486 students were directly impacted by your donations. All told, ScienceBlogs readers (along with the Seed match) resulted in $69,335 going to science education. That's amazing. And it doesn't have to stop here, Janet has some strategies for getting involved in science education with more than just your wallet. But for now, enjoy the weekend, and know that you'll be…

I thought Iceland was more rational than this

The town of Bolungarvik, Iceland has been engaged in a lot of public works construction projects, like a new road and building a barrier to protect them from avalanches. Unfortunately, there have been delays and accidents, and they've decided what's causing the problem: Elves. Pissed-off, cranky elves. Some people pointed the finger of blame on angry elves who had finally snapped. The dynamiting for the town's new avalanche defence barrier comes less than a year after a new road tunnel through the Oshlid hill was completed — neither of which with the prior blessing of the hidden people.…

SciencePunk Art Challenge: redesign Ben's book!

Today the Big Daddy of bad science journalism, Ben Goldacre, received the advance new-look copies of his fantastically brilliant book, Bad Science. He didn't take well to having his picture in it, either because he is so modest he gets flustered by these things, or because he is in reality several different people engaged in an elaborate ruse the meaning of which we cannot fathom. Anyway, all his harping inspired me demonstrate just how bad the Bad Science cover redesign could have been. His publishers may, for example, have tried to boost female readership by breaking into the misery-lit…

Neuroscience of Oil Addiction

There is an interesting and thought-provoking essay at The Oil Drum.  It was written by href="http://www.uvm.edu/giee/?Page=about/students/Nathan_Hagens.html&SM=about/about_menu.html">Nathan Hagens, a student at the Gund Institute, University of Vermont.   He makes some errors in the science, and engages in some armchair hypothesizing (see graph above), but the overall conclusions are not affected.   He romps through evolutionary psychology, sociobiology, and behavioral neuroscience on his way to explaining why we have an addiction to oil. It clearly is not intended to be a…

Depression vs. Dementia

This item just appeared on the news tubes, and I thought I'd pass it along.   href="http://news.monstersandcritics.com/health/news/article_1396601.php/Distinguishing_signs_of_early_dementia_from_depression_is_tricky">Distinguishing signs of early dementia from depression is tricky Mar 24, 2008, 3:07 GMT Berlin - It's often difficult to differentiate between early stages of dementia and depression, but a precise psychiatric examination can help, said the German society for psychiatry, psychotherapy and neurology in Berlin. 'An Alzheimer dementia usually begins with creeping…

Mark Foley and Congressional Oversight

The best commentary I've seen so far about predatorgate is in the href="http://www.bangornews.com/news/t/viewpoints.aspx?articleid=141292&zoneid=34">Bangor Daily News: Tuesday, October 3, 2006 - Bangor Daily News As deplorable as former Rep. Mark Foley’s advances at pages are, if Congress uses the salacious details of this episode to hide its own sorry oversight record, in this and other recent situations, those teen pages would be misused again. Nothing hides other faults like possible sexual impropriety of an elected official. The FBI is now looking into the alleged actions…

Next RNA Data Club, March 4th

Well after a bit of a holiday, the New England RNA Data Club is back. We'll be meeting next week here at HMS. Here's the latest email: Hello All, The next meeting of the New England RNA Club will take place Wednesday, March 4th. We will have beverages starting at 5:30PM and talks from 6:00-7:00PM in the Cannon room at Harvard Medical School. Our speakers will be: Daehyun Baek, Bartel Lab, Whitehead Lidia Vasilieva, Buratowski Lab, HMS After the talks we will have food and more beverages. If you are in need of parking, please email us back ASAP. This meeting is sponsored by MERCK, Qiagen and…

Zerhouni on the Stimulus Package and Science Funding

There is a lot of fear and worry in the scientific community as it is becoming more apparent that the financial crisis is impacting University endowments and state funding of public universities. Postdocs applying for faculty positions are especially nervous. So how will science funding look in the next few years? There are rumours circulating that the NIH will receive a huge boost as part of the stimulus package. But these are just rumors. Here is some info from Zerhouni, the current NIH director who will be stepping down in the near future: Nature:What solution do you see to the NIH…

No! Don't do it!

I just logged in to my email to find this worrying comment on my post about trepanation: I have been very interested in this procedure for quite some time and I am curious to find someone that has had the procedure done. I am a Reiki Master I work with stones and crystals as a form of intigrated [sic] healing and also African D'jembe for Shamanic sound therapy. I find the information that I am reading very pertanant [sic] to my work and have given very serious thought to having it done but can't seem to find out more about it from someone that has had it done. Namaste, Kevin I am not a…

The "y" gene phenomenon

Inspired by amnestic, I was perusing the videocasts of lectures given at the NIH, when I bumped into this lecture given by Thomas Silhavy on how the outer membrane of gram negative bacteria is synthesized. At the end of the lecture Dr Silhavy brought up some interesting statistics. In 1997, 38% of essential genes in E. coli were unannotated and thus have names that begin with "y". Now "essential" means that the knockouts of these genes give a lethal phenotype, and the products of these genes must serve key roles in various basic cellular functions. Unannotated, does not mean that we know…

Isopod Love Song

Kevin Zelnio is at the top of my list for musicians singing about invertebrates and the deep sea. The competition is small but Kevin is king. Unfortunately, Kevin has some stiff competition. A one man band, Pagan Wanderer Lu, is leading a project to "highlight the plight of the Giant Isopod". In 2008, there will be a tribute CD released. You can hear 4 of the songs at the Bathynomuslove Records Myspace page. The tracks so far are predominately from British bands. More about the biology of Bathynomus here, here, and video here. Paul Hawkins - Isopod (I can evolve) Pocus Whiteface -…

Senate To Fund Ocean Acidification Research

A bill in the senate has passed that will focus research on ocean acidification. The Lutenberg Measure, crafted by Senator Frank R. Lutenberg (D-NJ) and cosponsored by Barbara Boxer (D-CA), directs funds to the National Academy of Sciences to conduct a study of the acidification of oceans and how this process affects the United States. "Ocean acidification is a threat to our marine ecosystem and our economy," said Sen. Lautenberg. "The change in ocean chemistry caused by greenhouse gases is corrosive and affects our marine life, food supply and overall ocean health. But research on ocean…

Sex Crazed Oysters Transmit Herpes

The French love their raw oysters. In fact, the French consume the most herpes, I mean oysters, per capita in the world; an average of 2kg! That's a lot of raw oyster. Well the French were horrified to learn last week that their care-free raw oystering lifestyle had finally hit the rocks. 40 to 100 percent of oysters aged 12 to 18 months have died this summer in all but one of the regions breeding beds. After a few weeks of research, French scientists have determined that their oyster population is unhealthy because they have been too well fed, an irony that only French oysters were…

Rabbitzilla

Annette Edwards has a noble goal: to breed the world's biggest rabbit. It now appears that she has succeeded in her silly little dream of lagormorph gigantism with Amy. While most country folk are content with merely growing the world's largest pumpkin or zucchini, Annette has succeeded in creating a rabbit that could easily eat a child. We agree, this picture is way too big. Fully extended, Amy the rabbit is 4ft from nose to tail. Good lord. Although the inimitable news source that is the Daily Mail quotes three different weights for Amy, the heaviest is 3.5 stone or roughly, in American,…

Pgymy Hogs - This Time with Zero Artificial Selection!

After our miniature pigs post last week, an astute Zooillogix reader reminded us that there already are mini-pigs native to India. Weighing only about 10-20lbs, the Pygmy Hog is critically endangered with less than two hundred thought to be left in the wild. Once native to India, Bhutan and Nepal, these little guys were thought extinct from the 1950s-60s, until a small population was discovered. They can now be found only in the northwest Assam region in India. The pygmy hog is notable as it is the only surviving member of the genus Porcula - which would make an awesome bad horror movie…

DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge 2008: progress toward big incentives.

What would the Blogger Challenge be without hand-drawn bar-graphs? You'll see that Chad is about 80% of the way to a "monkey dance". In less than $1300 in contributions to his challenge, he will be dancing for the amusement of his readers. As for the big incentives I'm offering, my challenge has received a mere 10% of the $4000 goal that will result in my adorning my left ankular region with a philosophy of science tattoo. The overall ScienceBlogs donations (currently creeping up toward $16,000) put us a little closer (about 17% of the way) to the $90,000 threshold for my getting the Sb…

A quick Blogger Challenge update (day 6).

Today is day 6 of our month-long DonorsChoose Blogger Challenge 2007, and here's the current progress: Remember how Mike Dunford raised his initial target of $1588? After taking a moment to bask in the glow of that achievement, he raised his goal to $2000 -- and almost as quickly, his readers met that goal. He's raised it again to $2500 and is currently just $307 shy of that goal. Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle met (and exceeded) her initial goal of $1000. w00t! Deep Sea News is $51 away from its initial goal of $1100. So very close! Dave Munger's two graphs argument prompted a flurry…

Question: How have you adapted the laboratory for students and researchers with disabilities?

I have some posts gestating on ethical issues in science, but I have to clear a bit more grading and committee work before I can do them justice. In the meantime, I want to pose a set of questions to those of you who teach labs and/or supervise laboratory research: Have you been asked to adapt your laboratories for students or researchers with disabilities? If so, what kinds of adaptations have you been able to implement? What kinds of disabilities have provided the biggest challenge from the point of view of coming up with a good adaptation? Are there instances in which your efforts to…

My (shallow) relationship with the American Chemical Society.

It turns out I've been a member of the Americal Chemical Society for three years now. How do I know? They sent me a new mug. While I enjoy my weekly issue of Chemical & Engineering News -- which, I imagine, most ACS members see as the most tangible benefit of their membership -- I must confess that I really love the mugs. Last year, for my second anniversary of membership, they sent me a mug with helium (element 2) on it. This year, the third anniversary, it's lithium (element 3). On the first anniversary, there wasn't a hydrogen mug, but rather a pop-up card featuring hydrogen. So,…

Disciplinary misconceptions (philosophy version).

Chatting with the chair of the philosophy department at one of the local community colleges: CC Dept. Chair: Yeah, so I'm scheduled to teach six classes this term. Me: Six?! While you're the chair?!! CC Dept. Chair: Yeah, six. We have big enrollments, the full-time faculty are fully scheduled, and I can't find enough part-timers to teach all the sections. Me: Good grief! So you have to teach them yourself? CC Dept. Chair: The enrollments are what will get us permission to hire another full-timer, so I can't not teach them. Me: Yikes! CC Dept. Chair: Also, I need to counteract the…

Real Science Fiction

The wonder of a good novel is the way it uncovers universals through particulars. Having just read Allegra Goodman's Intuition, I was struck by the way her descriptions of a fictional molecular biology lab seemed to describe every molecular biology lab. Or is it just that every lab really looks the same? "Two to a bench, like cooks crammed into a restaurant kitchen, the postdocs were extracting DNA in solution, examing cells, washing cells with chemicals, bursting cells open, changing cells forever by inserting new genetic material. There was scarcely an inch of counter space. Lab benches…

Air-Conditioning Makes You Fat

A new paper in The International Journal of Obesity explores several of the ignored factors that contribute to the obesity epidemic. Sure, corn syrup and lethargy are bad, but other suspects include: 1) The decrease in smoking. Apparently, the Virginia Slims advertisements are accurate. Smoking really does make you skinnier by suppressing your appetite. 2) The rise of Prozac. Most anti-depressants have weight gain has a possible side-effect, and when 33 million doses of Prozac are being dispensed every year, those side-effects are bound to have an effect on our collective waistline. 3)…

Is Science Sexist?

I'm not so sure, but two prominent scientists, both of whom are transgendered, allege that scientists regularly discriminate and "ostracize" ambitious female scientists. This is the latest twist of the Larry Summers Debate, which has grown a wee bit tiresome. I alluded to Joan Roughgarden's allegations in Seed last month, but the WSJ has an article on Ben Barres (formerly Barbara Barres), who is also convinced that women and men are treated differently by the scientific establishment. Here is Sharon Begley's great lead: Ben Barres had just finished giving a seminar at the prestigious…

A concise synopsis of a comment thread exchange.

Yesterday Dr. Isis put up a post that seems to have bugged many of the people who subsequently posted comments on it. I have no idea whether the commenters on the post intended to convey it, but here's what's coming across to me as a reader of the exchange: Dr. Isis notes something that makes her (as a self-identified brown person) feel uncomfortable. A whole bunch of self-identified white people turn up to say, "The reverse situation has happened to me, and it doesn't make me uncomfortable at all. Stop being so sensitive." Or, "It would take too many words to accomplish the same…

Snail eradication (day 33).

Well, it was another dry morning in the back yard. And I was sufficiently busy with other stuff yesterday afternoon that I did not have a chance to set up any beery gastropod watering holes. So the pickings today were predictably slim. Not only were most of the plants and planting areas free of visible gastropods, but most of the places where I can count on finding at least one slug on any given morning were slugless. The big bag of potting soil on the ground near the house had a few slugs under it. There are always at least a few slugs under that bag, even when there are none under the…

Snail eradication (day 29).

This morning it was dewy and clear as I went on patrol for gastropods. By the time I was done patrolling, clouds had rolled in and there was no sun at all. Tut, tut. It looks like rain. Needless to say, the dew had awakened the slumbering slugs, sending them out for a constitutional before the (presumptive) heat of the day. but seeing as how I was out on my constitutional with a fresh Soapy Bucket of Merciful Deliverance, these slugs need never fear hot and dry conditions again. The slugs today were a full range of sizes, from teeny tiny to pinky-finger sized. Like yesterday the snails…

News, both happy and wistful.

The happy news and the wistful news concern separate matters, though. First, the happy news: Science fair projects were completed well before dinnertime the day before they were due -- and this despite the fact that the Walgreen's photo-printing kiosk was not "while you shop" but "come back in an hour". The elder Free-Ride offspring (who was required, as were all fourth graders in the school, to submit a project) received a very high grade for the project. The younger Free-Ride project (whose participation, as a second grader, was optional) was awarded the third place ribbon for the grade…

Snail eradication (day 13).

Another cool, dewy morning today as I went out to pick gastropods. The wet grass brushing against my bare legs got at least some of that moisture from the slugs stretched along the blades. Tomorrow morning I'm going to remember to put on jeans before I go out snailing. There was still room in the Soapy Bucket of Merciful Deliverance that I used yesterday and the day before. As a method of gastropod dispatch, the SBMD seems to be a lot less resource-intensive than the bucket o' salt, not to mention less slimy. Plus, since I'm pouring out the water and drowned gastropods onto the compost…

Breaking news from the Free-Ride silkworm colony.

About half of the Free-Ride silkworms (who you know from pictures and videos) have decided that it's time to pupate. Of course, we immediately broke out the video camera. But, then the truth started to dawn on us. It takes a good while for a silkworm to make a cocoon. The ones that seem ready started almost 24 hours ago, and we're only now starting to see convincing signs that there will be cocoons soon. Because, having never made cocoons before, the silkworms kind of flail around for awhile, spinning silk and trying to stick it to surfaces it won't stick to, then tumbling down, then trying…

Snail eradication (day 6).

This morning's garden foray was weird. Where were all the gastropods? In 30 minutes of serious hunting, in past hiding places and what looked like reasonable candidates as auxiliary hiding places, I mostly came up empty. Some possible explanations for this: I've put a serious dent in the snail and slug population, and they need to do some serious reproducing to replenish their ranks. (I doubt I'm this successful so early in the campaign.) The snails and slugs that remain are hiding in the far recesses of the yard (like way the heck under the wisteria in the corner). From there, they may…

Pi Day bake-off pie roundup (with pie charts).

Here are my entries to the ScienceBlogs Pi Day Bake-off: End-of-winter fruit pie Apples and amaretto-soaked dried fruit in a nut crust. Dense and rich. 'I want to taste springtime!' violet custard pie Delicate, creamy, and a little bit fantastic (seeing as how it requires harvesting petals from a couple hundred violets). Schnockaschtettle Quick and easy, with the perfect balance of molasses and crumb topping. Tea-time cheesecake pie Tea-scented cheesecake topped with citrus-y marmalade. Foolish rhubarb pie Tart, sweet, and creamy, rich and yet light Lemon-berry pie Lemon curd in a…

From deep in the heart of Sin City...

There won't be a new post today, as you probably have figured out. The reason is that I'm at The Amaz!ing Meeting, where I'll be participating in the Science-Based Medicine Workshop today and a panel discussion on Saturday. Yesterday afternoon after arriving, I was busy putting the finishing touches on my talk, and then in the evening I communed with fellow skeptics over a libation or two. Unfortunately, I could only make it until 11 PM. Damn the time difference between the Eastern time and Pacific time! I am, however, in a most excellent mood. The reason? Well, I ran into some of my…

Epic rap battles: ZDoggMD versus Dr. Oz

It had to be done. With all the quackery and pseudoscience promoted by TV doctors like Dr. Oz, Dr. Phil, and "The Doctors," sooner or later someone had to choose a manner other than blogging to call them out. ZDoggMD has done just that, particularly dissing Dr. Oz. Why? Why not. Because: Why dis Dr. Oz, indeed? Let's enumerate: He's taller, smarter, better looking, and infinitely more successful than me. He must therefore be stopped. He may have started out with good intentions, but his current incarnation foists hype, pseudoscience, and unproven "alternative" treatments upon millions of…

Wikileaks: US Government Agents = Microsoft Sales Staff

UNCLAS SARAJEVO 001879 SIPDIS COMMERCE FOR 4232/ITA/MAC/EUR (BURGESS AND SAVICH) DEPARTMENT PLEASE PASS TO USTR (MORROW, YANG) DEPARTMENT FOR EUR/SCE, EEB/IPE, EUR/PPD (HANNAN), EUR/PPD-PA,IIP/S TREASURY FOR LINDQUIST COMMERCE PLEASE PASS TO MCCAFFREY AND SMITH AT USPTO JUSTICE FOR CARL ALEXANDRE MOSCOW FOR REGIONAL IPR ATTACHE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ECIN KIPR BK SUBJECT: BOSNIA: MICROSOFT AND PM SPIRIC SIGN STRATEGIC PARTNERSHIP AGREEMENT REF: SARAJEVO 1351 ¶1. On December 18, the BiH Council of Ministers and Microsoft finally signed a Strategic Partnership Agreement for access to legal…

Space Junk Is Getting Serious

Here is an extended quote from the Preface of a new publication you may find interesting. I thought it was fascinating: In 1995, the National Research Council's (NRC's) Committee on Space Debris wrote, The threat that orbital debris poses to international space activities is presently not large, but it may be on the verge of becoming significant. If and when it does, the consequences could be very costly--and extremely difficult to reverse. By contrast, the cost of reducing the growth of the hazard can be relatively low....The committee believes that spacefaring nations should take…

A few connected items related to the coming apocalypse

And I'm only half joking: Three degrees warming doubles risk of civil war Global patterns of civil conflict are directly associated with planetary-scale climate change. Specifically in tropical countries, the risk of civil war have just been shown to double in warmer El Niño years (to about 6% risk per country per year) compared to cooler El Niña years (when the risk is about 3%). A Not so Splendid Table I love NPR, though I'm not a regular Splendid Table listener. This morning's show featured a guest who claimed that all GMO's are bad with no potential benefit to feed the developing world…

Close Up Photo of Asteroid

3D Image of Vesta's Equatorial Region This anaglyph image of Vesta's equator was put together from two clear filter images, taken on July 24, 2011 by the framing camera instrument aboard NASA's Dawn spacecraft. The anaglyph image shows hills, troughs, ridges and steep craters. The framing camera has a resolution of about 524 yards (480 meters) per pixel. Use red-green (or red-blue) glasses to view in 3-D (left eye: red; right eye: green [or blue]). The Dawn mission to Vesta and Ceres is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. It is…

A Vote for Moffett is a Vote for Ants

My old friend Mark Moffett is one of the pioneers of high canopy research, dragging his cameras into the upper reached of the rain forest to learn amazing new things and take some amazing photographs. He's also spent considerable time on and beneath the forest floor studying ants. You know those research projects where they excavate an entire leaf cutter ant colony in order to understand how their underground labyrinths are laid out and function as a sort of earth-encrusted organism? That was Mark. Well, others have done it but he was a pioneer in that research. I met Mark when he was in…

I may have to fire up BitTorrent for this one: Richard Dawkins vs. alternative medicine

The third season of Doctor Who is over. There's nothing on the horizon for many months (such as the return of Doctor Who or Torchwood) that's interesting enough to me coming out of the U.K. that I'd go to the trouble of firing up BitTorrent to check it out, rather than wait until it somehow finds its way to these shores. Until now. Yes, it's Richard Dawkins' long-promised investigation of alternative medicine and New Age practitioners, entitled The Enemies of Reason: Prof Dawkins launches his attack in The Enemies of Reason, to be shown on Channel 4 this month. The professor, the author of…

The age of unreason?

Prometheus makes the case that our current age of unreason can be largely attributed to the Baby Boomers. As someone who can be viewed either as a very young Baby Boomer or a very old GenX-er, I nonetheless heartily agree with his clarion call near the end of his analysis: Our society is growing more and more dependent on rationality, science and technology to keep it from collapsing. It's too late to turn back, now - giving up on reason and returning to magical thinking will cause a human (and probably environmental) catastrophe that would beggar the imagination. And, at the same time, the…