ably | April 6, 2007What ideas, themes, questions emerged from our April 4 salon on visualization? Here are some of our observations:
i) As technology affords scientists greater amounts of data (genetics, cosmology, etc.), visualization and design have become increasingly important as a tool for understanding and for communicating within the initial discipline, between disciplines (as science become more and more cross-disciplinary) and to the general public.
ii) Because successful synthesis and visualization is in many cases about what's not seen (what we intentionally omit in the pursuit of simplicity and…
ably | April 6, 2007The aim of this blog is to foster an ongoing conversation among the participants of the MoMA/Seed Salon. We'll update the blog regularly with new images, links, and thoughts that we hope will spark discussion. If you have any suggestions, please let us know!
ksharpe | April 4, 2007Starting today, ScienceBlogs is introducing a new-and-improved feature that allows you, dear reader, to tap into the brain-power and expertise of the ScienceBlogs collective mind—all to answer your most burning questions about matters scientific.
Every couple of weeks, a ScienceBlogs blogger will craft a succinct, specific answer to a question from his or her area of expertise. The answer will be linked from the ScienceBlogs main page, and it's our hope that response and commentary and even more questions will flow freely after.
The kick-off question for the series is inspired by modern…
ksharpe | April 3, 2007Hello, and welcome to the Sweet Sixteen round of the Science Spring Showdown—ScienceBlogs' answer to March Madness. (Feeling confused? Catch yourself up on what this is all about, here). The phrase "Mad as a March Hatter" might be apposite. But be that as it may, Page 3.14 is nothing short of delighted to host the penultimate match in the Mortar and Pestle Division. The action happens right here, folks. You are basically sitting in courtside seats. The rivalry goes down on Friday. For now, sit back and enjoy the Pre-Game Hoopla!
This Friday, fans will return to Chemical Arena, where Fossil…
vhughes | April 3, 2007
Attention all doodlers: The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is now accepting entries for its second annual Science Idol editorial cartoon contest. The grand prize includes $500 and an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C. to tour the UCS offices and meet with Tom Toles, editorial cartoonist for the Washington Post.
Here's the catch: You gotta make the distortion, manipulation, and suppression of science in the federal government, well, funny. An ambitious task, for sure, but the UCS does offer a couple of tips for creating that winning entry:
This year, we are especially…
vhughes | April 1, 2007
Meet Craig McClain: the snorkeling, Southern-boy sea scientist of Deep Sea News. If you'd like to hire him, especially, he's available for interviews at 831-...
What's your name?
Craig R. McClain. The R stands for rascal.
What do you do when you're not blogging?
I spend a majority of my time conducting research on the biodiversity and body size of deep-sea organisms. This requires spending time at sea on research vessels, sorting samples, measuring specimens, and of course, writing papers. Lately, I also put forth a lot of effort trying to find funding and a tenure track faculty position…
vhughes | March 30, 2007
(Photo by Geoff Smith.)
Today's ScienceBlogger interview is with "science enthusiast and interpreter," Brooklynite, and freelance journalist Orli Van Mourik of Neurontic.
What's your name?
Orli Holmes Van Mourik, which only sounds like a mouthful until you hear my father's name: Johannes Maria Willibrordus Van Mourik. (See what I'm saying?)
What do you do when you're not blogging?
I write for publications ranging from Psychology Today magazine to The New York Observer and dream about book deals.
What is your blog called?
Neurontic
What's up with that name?
It's a fusion of the words '…
ksharpe | March 29, 2007The Pharmalot blog reports today on a Reuter's story about an oral vaccine for Alzheimer's that proved successful at diminishing signs of Alzheimer's in a study of 28 mice bred to develop the disease. Limited testing of the vaccine in humans may be next.
The vaccine works by reducing the amount of amyloid plaques in the brains of the diseased mice, visibly improving their cognitive function. "In other words," writes Ed Silverman at Pharmalot, "[the mice] could find their way to the kitchen counter again."
vhughes | March 28, 2007
Meet Alex Palazzo, cellular biologist and "postdoctoral fellow-at-large" of The Daily Transcript.
What do you do when you're not blogging?
I'm a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard medical school. There I spend my time poking cells and in the process I hope to learn a bit about how cells handle mRNA, how the endoplasmic reticulum works and what are all those other intracellular animacules are doing.
Why's your blog called The Daily Transcript?
OK let's start at the beginning. Each cell is loaded with DNA that is stored in this specialized compartment, the nucleus. This DNA contains all…
ksharpe | March 27, 2007Feeling irritated? Getting blown off course by the emails pinging into your inbox, or the six open tabs in your web browser? Take a deep breath...but also, if you can, take a nap.
A Dutch researcher named Harm Veling has conducted research into distraction and concluded that the state of being tired compromises the ability of a person's brain to filter out distracting stimuli. Veling gave standard tests, in which words to be remembered are interspersed with 'distracting' extraneous words, to normal subjects and to subjects who were mentally tired. He found that normal subjects are able to…
ksharpe | March 23, 2007During the too-warm New York winter of 2007, a parent at Brooklyn's PS 58 started Little Grassroots as a place for children to blog about global warming. On it, the children of PS 58 are joined by kids from as far afield as France, the UK, and Singapore. Their contributions to the blog are lightly curated, but the children and their words really take center stage.
Earlier this month, the blog editor posted an email that a PS 58 first-grader wrote to Colin, the green blogger at No Impact Man.
March 11, 2007
A six-year-old I'd like to nominate for President
This email from a first-grader at…
vhughes | March 22, 2007
This time around, the 3.14 Interview tackles the "excessively outspoken and sardonic" Steinn Sigurdsson of Dynamics of Cats.
What do you do when you're not blogging?
Paperwork—proposals, forms and occasional actual research papers; herding and tending of kids and cats; in between I read and sleep, in that order.
What is your blog called?
Dynamics of Cats
What's up with that name?
Well, in about 1993, a colleague at CERN sent me an e-mail with a "heads-up" on this new network protocol called http, a significant improvement on previous distributed data protocols. He also said this group at…
vhughes | March 21, 2007
After a bit of a hiatus, ScienceBlogger interviews are back! And today, in honor of his one-year blogging anniversary, we feature Steve Higgins of Omni Brain.
What's your name?
James Stephen Higgins, but that James name is one of those crazy family things where every first-born male gets the name and every other one goes by their middle name—so I guess I'm the every other one. Steve is the short answer.
What's your blog called?
Omni Brain
What's up with that name?
There used to be this great sciency magazine (back in elementary school) called OMNI, published by the guy who publishes Hustler…
vhughes | March 19, 2007ScienceBlogs gives a warm welcome to its newest addition, The Voltage Gate, maintained by Jeremy Bruno of Frederick, Maryland.
Jeremy is a biology student, freelance writer, and editor of The Bottom Line, Frostburg State University's independent newspaper. The Voltage Gate—whose name alludes to the voltage-gated ion channels through which nerve impulses travel—will cover topics on ecology, evolution, and conservation.
ksharpe | March 14, 2007As the New York Times reports today, the British government has introduced a sweeping bill that would cut the UK's carbon emissions by 60 percent by 2050. Read the article, or watch Britain's environmental minister, David Miliband, introduce the bill on YouTube:
ksharpe | March 13, 2007This just deserved a greater calling-out: the evil geniuses over at The World's Fair have put together a "Science Spring Showdown", aka "the thinking person's ccomplement to the NCAA tournament!"
Take a look at the brackets, and thrill to such potential match-ups/epic battles as 'Darwin vs Jesus,' 'Caffeine vs High-speed internet,' and 'Fossil fuels vs Logic.' How are these rivalries going to get decided? Ben and Dave might have no idea, but that's all part of the fun. Head over there for a PDF of the bracket, fill it out, tape it to your computer and play along all spring.
ksharpe | March 12, 2007A leaked memo from an official in the U.S. Department of the Interior warns government officials traveling to other countries to avoid discussing topics "involving or potentially involving climate change, sea ice, and/or polar bears."
While the Bush administration continues to debate whether or not to list polar bears as "threatened" under the Endangered Species Act, emissaries of the U.S. government are advised—at least in meetings with the officials of countries bordering the Arctic Circle—to avoid the controversial issue altogether.
As an Independent (UK) article reposted at ClimateArk…
ksharpe | March 10, 2007If you're thinking about pollen much and you're not a farmer or a beekeeper, chances are you probably suffer from wicked seasonal allergies. Then again, you could be an artist.
Kysa Johnson, a painter whose work explores microcosmic and macrocosmic natural phenomena, opens a show this weekend at the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Ridgefield, Connecticut. The paintings depict magnified versions of the tiny particles that populate the air around the museum.
The opening reception for "Kysa Johnson: Blow Ups--Spores, Pollen, and Pollutants" will be held on Sunday, March 11 from 3 to 5pm;…
ksharpe | March 9, 2007While I wouldn't be surprised if he'd seen all the good cephalopod kitsch before, I would like to offer, in honor of squid-loving blogger PZ Myers' birthday today, an image of this scientifically-inaccurate but highly awesome painting of a T-Rex, a sperm whale, and a giant squid having it out in a dark and choppy sea—with a lightning bolt in the background.
The painting was done by Brandon Bird, whos work can be admired on his webpage.
Image: 'Bad Day on the High Sea,' by Brandon Bird, by permission of the artist.