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Evolution, Back on the Bookshelf

I'm happy to report that the eyes are back. My third book, Evolution: The Triumph of an Idea, came out in 2001. It's a survey of the history and cutting edge of evolutionary biology, from the origin of new species to mass extinctions, from the rise of complex life to the emergence of humans. The book explores evolutionary races between hosts and parasites, between males and females. It puts evolution in a historical context as well, showing how Darwin's theory emerged out of the science of his time and how social and political tensions foster hostility to evolution today. Scientific American…

Is Bisphenol-A Turning Our Kids Nasty?

Researchers from Simon Fraser University, just a stone's throw from where I sit in Vancouver, have determined that the side effects from this endocrine disruptor can alter children's behavior: Researchers have just linked prenatal exposure to bisphenol-A - a near-ubiquitous industrial chemical - with subtle, gender-specific alterations in behavior among two year olds. Girls whose mothers had encountered the most BPA early in pregnancy tended to become somewhat more aggressive than normal, boys became more anxious and withdrawn. Another recent study, by Joe Braun of the University of North…

Drug-free Tyson's chicken: Fowl or Foul?

I'm conflicted over Tyson Foods's decision to sell antibiotic-free chickens. On one hand, anything that increases supply and reduces the costs of chicken that aren't pumped full of antibiotics is good. Antibiotic-laced chicken farms are breeding grounds for antibiotic-resistant bacteria, bacteria which can enter the food supply or transfer those resistance genes to other populations through anything from dirt on trucks from the farm, or fertilizer produced from the chicken droppings. On the other hand, Tyson Foods has a horrific labor record. It provides cheap chicken by using every trick…

23andMe offers free genome scans to 4,500 senior athletes, seeking genetic fountain of youth

A tweet from personal genomics company 23andMe (see screenshot below) sparked my interest: I knew 23andMe had been successful in recruiting Parkinsons patients as part of its targeted drive, and the 337 unspecified "patients" are the product of their broader recruitment drive for diseased genomes, Research Revolution (which I've dissected in a previous post) - but the athletes were news to me. A little Google-trawling revealed (see page 15 of this PDF article from Palo Alto Online) that 23andMe offered free genome scans to all of the participants in the currently ongoing Palo Alto Senior…

ScienceOnline'09: Interview with Eva Amsen

The series of interviews with some of the participants of the 2008 Science Blogging Conference was quite popular, so I decided to do the same thing again this year, posting interviews with some of the people who attended ScienceOnline'09 back in January. Today, I asked Eva Amsen, a participant at the 2007 and 2009 meetings, to answer a few questions. Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Who are you? What is your (scientific) background? Hello readers of Bora's blog! I'm Eva, nice to meet you. I finished a PhD in Biochemistry…

Forensic Pharmacy, Drug Regulatory Affairs, and Combined MBA/MS in Pharmacy: Go Gators!

This just in from David B. Brushwood, RPh, JD, Professor of Pharmaceutical Outcomes and Policy at the University of Florida College of Pharmacy. David said, "we could use your help promoting the programs to anyone you know who might be interested." So, I know you and since you read this blog, you might be interested (see here for more information on these programs and others already ongoing): We have really worked hard to develop three new online, part-time programs that will interest you. These are in addition to the programs that are up and running. The new programs start this fall.…

Follow-up on links and citations to primary literature in legacy media

Yesterday, we wrote and all discussed PalMD's pet peeve about mass media outlets not using journal citations when reporting new science, health, and medicine stories. A lively comment thread ensued here and there. But, as usual, I am reminded that blogfather, Bora Zivkovic, discussed this issue several times in the past at A Blog Around the Clock: Ethic of the Link (13 June 2009) Why it is important for media articles to link to scientific papers (3 March 2010) Why is some coverage of scientific news in the media very poor? (3 June 2010) Of these three, I would strongly encourage those in…

Mooney on Hansen

Seed has just put online my piece from the last issue--a profile of NASA's James Hansen. A lot has been said about Hansen in the past--he is inarguably our best known climate scientist--so I leave it to you to figure out whether I've actually said anything new. Here's a hint, though: I think I have. Enjoy.

Everyone has a Blog ...

So today I was "shopping" online for cDNA clones from Open Biosystems (about 70-100$/cDNA clone) when I see this: In case you can't read it here is a blowup: So on the Open Biosystems website, some guy is blogging about podcasts and his daily commute? It would seem that everyone (and every website) has a blog.

Should you buy an electric car if you live in a coal state?

If most of the electricity used to charge your electric car is made by burning coal, is it still worth it, in terms of CO2 release, to buy an electric car? Yes. And you will also save money on fuel. Don't believe me? Want me to show you? What, are you from Missouri or something? Fine. I'll show you. A few years ago, when there were no affordable electric cars that were real cars, we decided to look into buying the next best thing, a hybrid. We wanted to get the Toyota Prius because it looked like a good car, had long proven technology, and all the people we knew who had one were happy…

What Age and Sex Are You? (Poll Results)

First of all, I would like to thank my readers for participating in my little polls. I am collecting poll results from you because I am writing a book proposal right now, and would like to have a clearer idea of the demographics of my readers so I can include these data in my book proposal. Since this particular book will focus on the special physiological and behavioral qualities of animals and what they teach us humans about our own biology and behavior, I think that my blog readers represent a nice cross-section of who might be interested in reading my book. The results from the last week'…

Mechanical Brides of the Uncanny

From Mechanical Brides of the Uncanny by Edward Bateman In "Mechanical Brides of the Uncanny," artist Edward Bateman creates images that explore photography's role as historical evidence. Presented as a collection of discovered carte de visites, this book documents a forgotten age of mechanical wonders. Carte de visites were an immensely popular form of photography in the last half of the nineteenth century. They were widely traded and collected, with subjects ranging from portraits of everyday people to those of luminaries. Bateman uses this history to question the idea that all…

Solvated Electrons (Blue?!)

Electrons are reactive guys when they're on their own, and tricky to isolate. If you take a bit of fur and rub it on some amber, you end up with a surplus of electrons, but they won't hang around long (the reason I mention amber is because this is what the Greeks used - the word electron comes from the Greek for amber). This is kind of cheating, though, you just have a surface with surplus electrons. Actually isolating them is tricky. If you're a poor scientist like me and use a CRT you found by the Dumpster, your monitor has an electron gun, and you actually have some ephemeral isolated…

Kindle Reader on Linux: We shall install no wine before it's time (UPDATED)

UPDATE: The wine-based linux Kindle Cloud Reader file that I used to have is now no longer current, and I don't have the newer file. However, if you want to read Kindle material on your Linux computer, the browser-based Kindle Cloud Reader is better. Use that! And it is time. The Kindle Reader now works in Linux, under wine (which stands for "wine is not emulator"). Details follow. You need to install the 1.3.xx version of wine, the development release, which may involve going to the wine site and following instructions to add the development repository. Who wants the stable version of a…

Country Music and Suicide

From VSL comes this list of truly weird scientific studies. My favorite was this one, which "assesses the link between country music and metropolitan suicide rates": Country music is hypothesized to nurture a suicidal mood through its concerns with problems common in the suicidal population, such as marital discord, alcohol abuse, and alienation from work. The results of a multiple regression analysis of 49 metropolitan areas show that the greater the airtime devoted to country music, the greater the white suicide rate. The effect is independent of divorce, southernness, poverty, and gun…

Iceland issues stamps made with Eyjafjallajökull ash

One of the commemorate Eyjafjallajökull ash stamps being issued by the Icelandic Post - made with ash from the eruption itself. Many Eruptions readers would consider themselves volcanophiles (or volcanificiandos?) and I would venture to guess there is a subset of volcano enthusiasts who are also philatelists as well. A philatelist (for those of you out of that select circle) is a stamp enthusiast - a stamp collector. Now, in our modern interwebbed world, I wonder if stamp collecting as a hobby has diminished, but that doesn't stop countries from still trying to make some money from stamp…

Health care reform, part I

I know only one certainty regarding health care reform in the US: I won't be a significant policy maker. And neither, likely, will you. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't educate ourselves, try to understand the problems and potential solutions, because whatever our government implements over the next year, health care reform is going to be a process, rather than a single, achievable endpoint. I've been consciously avoiding writing this piece, but people keep bugging me. One of the reasons I've avoided it is because I'm not a policy expert, and I don't want to do the extensive research…

ScienceOnline2010 - interview with Fenella Saunders

Continuing with the tradition from last two years, I will occasionally post interviews with some of the participants of the ScienceOnline2010 conference that was held in the Research Triangle Park, NC back in January. See all the interviews in this series here. You can check out previous years' interviews as well: 2008 and 2009. Today, I asked Fenella Saunders from The American Scientist to answer a few questions. Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Where are you coming from (both geographically and philosophically)? What…

Friday Link Dump

Here are some good links. Science firstest: Titanoboa - thirteen metres, one tonne, largest snake ever. Did Triceratops fight with their faces? Is Obesity Contagious? Other: Galbraith: Fiscal Balance and Credibility Buy America or Bye America Refuted economic doctrines #4: individual retirement accounts The Bad Bank Assets Proposal: Even Worse Than You Imagined Refuted economic doctrines #5: Trickle down Depression economics: Four options

Buy This Book. Today.

I did already. Female Science Professor (the Grand Dame of science/academic blogging) has just published a blook - a collection of her best blog posts. You can and should buy "Academeology" on Lulu.com and later nominate it for the Blooker Prize. And while you are shopping at Lulu.com, do I really need to remind you that this and this are still available there?

Darwin Quotes

We can allow satellites, planets, suns, universe, nay whole systems of universe[s,] to be governed by laws, but the smallest insect, we wish to be created at once by special act. - Charles R. Darwin, Support The Beagle Project Read the Beagle Project Blog Buy the Beagle Project swag Celebrate Darwin Day Prepare ahead for the Darwin Bicentennial Read Darwin by yourself.

Ottaviani speaks

Who has heard of Jim Ottaviani? He's a guy with an excellent line of science-related comics — I have "Bone Sharps, Cowboys, and Thunder Lizards", but there are quite a few others I have to buy now — and now Scott Hatfield interviews Ottaviani at the San Diego ComicCon. Remember, we need multiple approaches to get science across to people, and comics/graphic novels have wide appeal!

Bush Reading Camus?

The White House says that Bush read Camus' The Stranger on his summer vacation, and Tony Snow says he even discussed it with some of his aides. Slate has a hard time believing it. So does the Carpetbagger Report. I'm not sure I buy it either. I think I'd have an easier time believing that Miss Manners was spotted backstage at a Wu Tang Clan show.

It's a Mystery

"Mint Flavorings" is quite prominent on the list (provided by my gastroenterologist) of foods that heartburn sufferers should avoid (along with pretty much anything else you might want to eat...). If you go to the store to buy some over-the-counter heartburn remedy-- Maalox, Mylanta, whatever-- what's the one flavor that's most common? Mint. Somebody explain that one to me.

Shawn Otto's Book Launch Talk (with Don Shelby)

You'll remember that I recently wrote up Shawn Otto's talk at The Loft. The talk was filmed and is now a major motion picture! Now that you've seen the talk, here's your list of things to do: Buy the book here. Sign on to Science Debate.org here Sign the American Science Pledge here Join the Republican Party. Oh, and the NRA too!

Scalzi has to go to the Creation Mausoleum!

Everyone did good: they met Scalzi's challenge and then some, so now he has to go spend $20 and tour the horrid little place. This will chap Ken Ham's buns, too. Sure, he'll have to buy a ticket, but he also raised $5,118.36 all of which will be donated to Americans United for the Separation of Church and State. Good deal!

I Love the Smell of the Deep Sea in the Morning

Following in the footsteps of Craig, I have a short piece published in the July/August issue of SEED Magazine for their Why I Do Science column. "On the Allure of the Ocean's Novelty" explores why I love doing the science I do. Just a hint, it doesn't have to do with the pay... Now go to your book stores and buy a copy (and skip immediately to page 34)!

More books and reports on the future of academic libraries

I haven't done one of these in a while, so there's quite a backlog to clear. Reports Digital Scholarly Communication: A Snapshot of Current Trends Crowdsourcing, Attention and Productivity Strategic Outsourcing and Cloud Computing: Reality Is a Sober Adversary Library Storage Facilities and the Future of Print Collections in North America XC User Research Preliminary Report (Extensible Catalog) Edgeless University: why higher education must embrace technology Beyond Scientific Publication: Strategies for Disseminating How Teens Use Media: A Nielsen report on the myths and realities of teen…

Anti-Gay Marriage Insanity

You gotta love this kind of fevered rhetoric from the religious right: The president of the American Family Association (AFA) of Pennsylvania says lawmakers in her state have voted to destroy traditional marriage. The pro-family group is decrying a move by Pennsylvania senators that weakened a proposed state marriage protection amendment by stripping from it a ban on civil unions. Last week, the state Senate voted 38-12 in favor of a proposed constitutional amendment protecting marriage but removed language prohibiting civil unions. That June 21 vote follows one earlier this month, in which…

The Wildlife of Nambia

The new Collins Nambia Wildlife guide is the perfect companion for travelers from the US who are trying to get away from it all. Quickly and quietly. This handy field guide provides the usual information about the alt-Animals one finds in this remote African country, such as the Vote Suppressing Guerrilla, the Red Butted Baboon and the most common animal, the Wild Ass, and of course, the R.I.N.O. But beyond that, this guide also provides useful information for the Indicted Tourist traveling to Nambia. Find out where to get your laundry done, even if it is mainly small bills you want to…

Bush Meets with Robert O'Brien Trophy Winner

Remember this month's winner of the Robert O'Brien Trophy (formerly the Idiot of the Month Award), Gerald Allen? He's the drooling halfwit state rep from Alabama who wants to ban all books and plays that have a gay character in them. Well guess what? He was at the White House this week. At the request of the President, no less: Earlier this week, Allen got a call from Washington. He will be meeting with President Bush on Monday. I asked him if this was his first invitation to the White House. "Oh no," he laughs. "It's my fifth meeting with Mr Bush." Yikes. When I wrote about Allen, I assumed…

Hal Lindsey on Katrina

Well you knew that Hal Lindsey couldn't stop himself from jumping in to join the wingnuts' parade of stupidity on the hurricane. And you knew that the Worldnutdaily would be the ones to publish it. Here he is, in all his glory: But I believe there is another essential point being missed. Since America has forsaken the Christian principles on which our country was founded and on which all our founding documents were based, God's gracious protection that is so evident in American history is being withdrawn. We are also forcing God's people, Israel, into indefensible positions in the land God…

EXERGAMING!

I actually have a couple EXERGAMES for mah Wii. I wouldnt buy a Wii for these games, but they do make me sweat when the weather/timing keeps me from getting to the gym: Golds Gym Cardio Workout-- This is basically 'Guitar Hero' with jabs/upper-cuts/hooks/ducks/blocks/etc. It can get pretty damn hard, and is def an underrated EXERGAME for Wii. The controls are a bit frustrating at times (you do a move, it counts it as a 'MISS!'), but the routines that are strictly punching are great. Music is crappy, but I just turn it down to the minimum to catch the beat and listen to a couple episodes…

I Know Why the Caged Researcher Sings

Researchers from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Aberdeen in the UK are conducting a study on the relationship between bird songs and... uh... apparently any facet of the human experience. In what sounds to me like an interesting premise with impossibly broad scope, they will attempt to determine "how bird sounds evoke time, place and season and how people experience and draw upon bird sounds in science, art, music and their everyday lives" explained Dr. Whitehouse, lead project researcher. In case that wasn't enough, the good doctor has thrown technology into the mix. "…

I know you've got a brain, Senator Clinton. Now, if you'd be so kind as to remove it from your...

Senator Hillary Clinton has apparently decided to join John McCain in calling for a "gas tax" holiday for the summer. Their plan would suspend the 18.4 cent per gallon tax on gas (and the 24.4 cent tax on diesel fuel) from Memorial Day to Labor Day, giving consumers a temporary break from the high cost of fuel. If, that is, the companies that sell the fuel don't decide to raise their prices and erase the relief. In a Presidential campaign season that's been marked by more than its fair share of stupid ideas, this one's still a standout. Nothing says "responsible leadership" (or, for that…

Written in Stone, the series, and a plea for some advice

A few weeks ago, during the last part of the "So you want to write a pop-sci book" series, I briefly mentioned the idea of creating a series of mini-documentaries which would help promote my forthcoming book Written in Stone. The more I thought about it, the more I liked it, but I have a bit of a problem. I have never created a short film before (well, outside of TV class in high school), and I am asking for a bit of advice from those who are more experienced with video projects. At the moment I have two primary questions. The first is, what sort of digital video recorder should I buy? I…

Warning: Delta Airline May Lie to You

When I injured my knee last February, it became apparent that I would not be able to fly to my BIL's wedding in DC. So..... ... we called Delta Airline and asked if it was possible to get the ticket refunded or something. This was many weeks before the wedding itself. A Delta employee, over the phone, assured us that there would be no problem at all. Just get one of those "you can't fly" notes from the doctor, and bring it to the terminal on the day of the flight. A voucher would be issued. So I got the note from the doctor, and Amanda brought it to the terminal on the day of the flight.…

Jon Stewart, you let me down

Last night, Stewart interviewed Marilynne Robinson. I do not expect attack dog tactics from Stewart, ever, but I also didn't expect him to so totally buy into her premises. It was very disappointing. The low point came as Stewart tried to justify Robinson's nebulous argument that science and religion need each other, and he offered stock apologetics. The more you delve into science, the more it relies on faith. No, it doesn't. The less you delve into science, and the more superficial your understanding of the evidence, the more likely you are to ascribe its more difficult concepts to faith.…

Darwinian Nerdgasm

Darwin’s papers held at Cambridge are now online. Major props to John van Wyhe and the people at the Darwin Online project for this.

Credit Default Swaps: Gambling as Insurance

So, the financial questions keep coming. I'm avoiding a lot of them, because (A) they bore me, and (B) I'm really not the right person to ask. I try to stay out of this stuff unless I have some clue of what I'm talking about. Rest assured, I'm not spending all of my blogging time on this; I've got a post on cryptographic modes of operation in progress, which I hope to have time to finish after work this evening. But there's one question that keeps coming in, involving the nature of things like so-called "Credit Default Swaps", which I thought I'd explained, but apparently my explanation…

Immunity Project: Crowdsourcing an HIV vaccine?

If you pay taxes in the US (and many other countries), you are helping fund HIV/AIDS research, including the development of HIV vaccines. This includes my research project, so, YAY! Thank you! What happens, is, we pay taxes. Part of that cash goes to various government agencies to dole out to researchers. When researchers think they have a cool idea, they write up their cool idea, explain it, add preliminary data and previous publications showing they know what they are doing. Then other scientists read those proposals and go 'Hey, that looks like a good idea! I think they can pull it off!'…

Thinking about money soothes sting of social rejection and physical pain

Money has subtler benefits beyond the ability to buy lavish goods or luxurious services - it's also a psychological and physical salve. According to research by Xinyue Zhou from Sun Yat-Sen University, handling money can soothe the sting of social rejection and appease the physical pain of hot water. Even bringing up the mere thought of money can have these effects. Popularity matters to social animals like humans, who rely on each other for our wants and needs. Our dependence on each other makes it important to get along with our peers. But in many societies, money can bypass that need,…

The iPad and Skeptical Computing

I'm going to make an argument that you should buy an Apple iPad despite widespread rumors of hardware problems and despite widespread criticisms of its design as funky and flawed. And by "you" I mean yooz guyz who are skeptics. In order to get there, to the point of this argument, I'm going to have to define skeptical computing, and to do that, skeptical anything, and to do that, what being a skeptic is. That sounds like a long journey but I promise to be concise. What is a skeptic? A skeptic is a person (or other sentient, symbolically thinking being) with the ability to make rational…

Another Tuesday, another Café Scientifique

We're having another Café Scientifique here in Morris this evening—come on down! Nic McPhee of the Computer Science discipline (who also has a weblog, Unhindered by Talent) will be discussing "Privacy, security, and cryptography: What happens to your credit card number on-line, and is that e-mail really from your boss?". It is open to everyone, of course, and is being held at the local coffeeshop, the Common Cup, from 6:00 to 8:00 this evening.

A new online philosophy of biology journal

It's called Philosophy and Theory in Biology. This is based on some heavy hitters: Massimo Pigliucci, Jon Kaplan, Alan Love and Joan Roughgarden are the editors, and the editorial board looks like a Who's Who of philosophy of biology. No apparent page charges, and it's online only (I hope they take care of the enduring archiving), but it looks interesting. How it differs, apart from being virtualised, from Biology and Philosophy, Biological Theory and the several other more specialised journals I can't yet say.

Crooked Timber Seminar on Republican War on Science

Over at the excellent blog Crooked Timber, a lengthy and extremely productive seminar discussion has just gone online about my book, with contributions from John Quiggin, Daniel Davies, Ted Barlow, John Holbo, Steve Fuller (of Dover evolution trial fame), Tim Lambert, Henry Farrell, and John Quiggin again--all followed by a lengthy response from yours truly. I'll have more to say on this soon, but I hope you will dig in to this excellent discussion, starting out with the seminar introduction by John Quiggin....

Walking Catfish

After some torrential rain in Pinellas County, Fla, residents were treated to some friendly neighborhood walking catfish. Once again, this was sent to us by Kevin Zelnio who runs an online Viagra store or some such. Interestingly, the link he sent us was from a recent local news broadcast, but a little bit of sleuthing showed that they were just running old CNN footage from YouTube which they tried to pass off as their own. Scoundrels! Reminds me of what we do here everyday...

TGIF: "Fish Guys"

Between the online game with the ROV and this movie from YouTube, you'll be sure to get no work done today. This "Fish Guys" movie is a very funny short film about graduate pursuits in museum collections from the 48 Hour Film Project. That means the whole thing was conceived and produced within 48 hours. The script is based on a journal article, and it works, believe it or not! Directed by Trey Stokes. Filmed on location at LA County Natural History Museum.

Science Writing! Online!

The Best Science Writing Online 2012 can be read online right now — but don't you want to order your very own precious hard copy, too?

Evolution and Adaptive Function of Sleep

The panel discussion from the 'Waking Up To Sleep' (February 9th and 10th, 2007) conference has been filmed and the video is now online. A very interesting discussion on the evolution and adaptive function of sleep. Watch it here. More videos of individual talks are here (hat-tip to reader NBM) Related: (Non) Adaptive Function of Sleep