Blogospheric science
jstemwedel | June 8, 2007One year ago, ScienceBlogs experienced a major expansion. In that year, I've been lucky enough to meet some of my fellow ScienceBloggers, though given the size of this operation, I've only met the proprietors of about a fifth of the blogs here.
So far.
Happy blogiversary! Cupcakes for everyone, and pictures (with links to the blogs of the pictured bloggers) below the fold.
jstemwedel | May 10, 2007
I got a chance to have dinner with Bora last night in San Francisco on the eve of his job interview with PLoS ONE. This gave us the opportunity for a free-wheeling discussion about the potential of new technologies to change the ways scientists communicate with each other (and with non-scientists), the ways that conversations (and drawing people into them) aren't coupled too tightly to the fancy technical thingies (the "aps") that carry them through cyberspace, the ways that interfaces and functionality can exert subtle influences on the ways people interact with ideas and with each other,…
jstemwedel | May 5, 2007Depending on your blog reading habits, you may already have heard the news that feels almost like cosmic justice that a law firm has rescinded an offer of employment from a third year law student whose online activities the firm found troubling. The linked posts will give you some flavor for those activities (as will this post), so I'm not going to go into the gory details here. However, I wanted to say a few words about this comment Amanda Marcotte made on Sheezlebub's post on the matter:
While it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, I simply have to voice my unease with the politics of…
jstemwedel | April 29, 2007I've been dawdling on this. I was tagged by not one but two of my blog pals for the Thinking Blogger meme. Here are the official rules of the meme:
If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
Link to this post so that people can easily find the exact origin of the meme,
Optional: Proudly display the 'Thinking Blogger Award' with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn't fit your blog).
Needless to say, I'm flummoxed by the fact that Zuska and Bill would have been in my list -- but they tagged me…
jstemwedel | April 25, 2007Pencils ready? Here's a quick quiz; circle all that apply*:
1. You're a scientist and you've just published some research in a peer reviewed journal. You want:
a. Scientists in your field to read and discuss your work.
b. Interested non-scientists to get the important bits of what you found and why it matters, whether by powering through the article themselves or by getting a clear explanation of the article from a scientist.
c. No discussion of your article at all -- once it's on the page in the journal, there's nothing else to say about it.
d. All discussions of your findings to be based…
jstemwedel | April 24, 2007This tool uses an algorithm to guess whether the chunk of text you enter into the text box was written by a male or a female. What do you suppose it thought about my writing?
It depends on the post. For example this post got:
Female Score: 1616
Male Score: 1380
which is to say, "FEMALE", while this post got:
Female Score: 3271
Male Score: 4308
which is to say, "MALE".
Who knew I was so versatile?
The algorithm seems to be based on tracking frequencies of words that, apparently, are more commonly used by females (with, if, not, where, be, when, your, her, we, should, she, and, me, myself…
jstemwedel | April 7, 2007PRESS CENTER | UPDATED BRACKET
Janet: Welcome to team coverage of the much anticipated Chair Bracket match between Kuhn and Theory!
Ben: Yes, I think we can agree on our assumptions that this will be quite a battle.
Janet: I certainly hope so, Ben. Otherwise, we're going to spend the whole game talking past each other!
Ben: Before the gladiators take the field, let's take a quick look at how they got here. In first round play, Kuhn surprised the crowd by trouncing Popper, while Theory squeaked by Experiment by a single point.
Janet: The second round saw another trouncing at the hands of…
jstemwedel | April 5, 2007Those who follow the political blogs more closely than I do were probably aware eons ago that some of the A-list political bloggers significantly trimmed their blogrolls (while dubbing it, strangely enough, a blogroll "amnesty"). Others, like Terrance at the Republic of T (who is as close to the Platonic form of Serious and Engaging Blogger as any blogger of whom I'm aware), took note of this just recently, with a thoughtful post about the interactions of the various "tiers" of the blogosphere and the ways hierarchies get entrenched. Chris Clarke and Pam Spaulding also wrote insightfully…
jstemwedel | April 2, 2007In case you somehow missed it: tech writer and blogger Kathy Sierra canceled public appearances after receiving death threats. In addition to the death threats, she called attention to some posts about her that were threatening in tone (though probably falling short of actual threats) and definitely mean on now-defunct sites set up by other A-list tech bloggers. Since blogging about this, SIerra has received more threats. A number of bloggers think Sierra has smeared the people who ran the now-defunct websites by not drawing a clear enough distinction between the death threats (which they…
jstemwedel | March 30, 2007The pregame show has already started on the Acid vs d-orbitals game, but we've just received another set of predictions about this game and the Fossil Fuels vs. Erlenmeyer Flask match (hmm, should I say "match" there?) from the Molecule of the Day guy. Adjust your best accordingly!
Acid vs d-orbitals:
I have to agree with Derek Lowe - d orbitals for sheer utility. They inform huge swaths of chemical usefulness, notably in the case of metal catalysts. Acids might pull ahead for reasons of recognition, and the second row of the periodic table might be more comfortable territory to relative…
jstemwedel | March 29, 2007You've been waiting patiently. It's almost here!
PRESS CENTER | UPDATED BRACKET
GAMES TO BE PLAYED NEXT WEEK (April 2nd to 6th, 2007)
While the first two rounds of chemistry play were hosted here, Acid vs. d-orbitals will be hosted by The World's Fair and Fossil fuels vs. Erlenmeyer flask will be hosted by Page 3.14. (If you haven't already, check out the pre-game prognostication here and here. I heard a rumor that more is on the way.)
Next week, it's time for me to put on my philosophy of science hat and cover (with Ben Cohen) the Kuhn vs. Theory game, to be hosted right here.
Other…
jstemwedel | March 26, 2007As we head into the Science Spring Showdown Sweet Sixteen, it seemed prudent to turn to some experts for their predictions on the two remaining games in the chemistry region, Acid vs. d-orbitals and Fossil fuels vs. Erlenmeyer flask. (Of course, we won't soon forget the exciting first and second round games that brought these four teams to the Sweet Sixteen.)
Here's what some members of the chemical cognoscenti have to say:
Acid vs. d-orbitals:
While professing not really to understand the American basketballesque nature of the tournament, Propter Doc was willing to call this one as follows…
jstemwedel | March 20, 20071st ROUND RESULTS | PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
Welcome to coverage of the 2007 Science Spring Showdown second round play in the Chemistry region. The fans in Chemical Arena resorted to a face centered cubic strategy to pack themselves into the stands. You could almost feel the electricity in the air as the products of the first round match-ups were poured into the separatory funnel of the second round. The fans and the teams shook things up. Which teams came out in the top layer, and which saw their hopes of going all the way drained out?
Acid: 105
Ethanol: 87
In one of the most…
jstemwedel | March 19, 2007PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
Even given a weekend to come back to equilibrium, some chemistry fans are still perturbed by some of the results of first round play in the MORTAR AND PESTLE bracket. FTIR's upset win over NMR has many a Monday morning spectroscopist splitting his peaks trying to analyze what went wrong. And while Ethanol is a perennial powerhouse in this conference, many tournament watchers had anticipated celebrating Caffeine at their Monday morning lab meetings.
Friday's games were just the first step in a mutli-step synthesis of a tournament champion. Tomorrow, just…
jstemwedel | March 16, 2007PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
The March weather in California has taken a turn for the beautiful this afternoon, but to chemistry conference fans, the natural beauty of the great outdoors is no match for the beauty of the competitions inside the Chemical Arena. The crowds donned their safety goggles and souvenir nitrile gloves and piled in to observe the action. The press box was a flurry of strip-charts and lab notebooks. After some excited play, here are the first round results:
Entropy: 117
Enthalpy: 84
While Entropy was the favorite of the odds makers going into this game, Enthalpy…
jstemwedel | March 14, 2007PRESS CENTER | PRINTABLE BRACKETS
It's time for a quick run down of the teams from the Chemistry Conference who made it to the tournament this Spring -- some who we fully expected to see here, and a few surprises. But it's also time for you, the fans, to make some noise in support of your favorite teams! If we follow your observations on these competitors down to the quantum level, they're bound to effect the outcome (albeit in a probabilistic way).
Here are the first round match ups:
Acid vs. Base: It's not a surprise to find these teams here, as they're standbys in the Chemistry…
jstemwedel | March 12, 2007... especially if you've just lost an hour to an unseasonably early Daylight Savings (can I blame the groundhog for this?), here are some attractive time sinks:
Pick a bracket. Maybe you've already picked your bracket for the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Even ScienceBloggers partake in such diversions, myself included. (This year, all my picks were determined by coin toss.) But basketball isn't your only Spring spectator sport option. Check out the 2007 Science Spring Showdown at The World's Fair. Grab a bracket and start making your picks. The match-ups to watch in the first…
jstemwedel | March 12, 2007Chris at Mixing Memory points to research that suggests musical preferences provide a window to the personality. I haven't seen the research yet but, at Chris's prompting, I'll throw myself into the ring as an experimental subject by listing 10 songs I like an awful lot*:
Red Hot Chili Peppers, Knock Me Down
Ani Di Franco, Gravel
Public Enemy, Can't Do Nuttin' for Ya Man
Sleater-Kinney, Good Things
Steely Dan, My Old School
Billy Bragg, St. Swithin's Day
Nina Simone, My Baby Just Cares for Me
The Beatles, I'm Only Sleeping
Descendants, Wendy
Dar Williams, In Love But Not at Peace
There are…
jstemwedel | March 9, 2007There's a rumor* that, when he's in his cups, PZ Myers sounds like an overeducated -- some might say Shakespearian -- pirate.
Therefore, in honor of his birthday, I offer this sonnet:
Paul Myers' squids are nothing if not fun,
Eviscerating with their beaks aglow.
They squirt their ink upon each Myers son
And Davy Jones, whose locker lies below.
Once naught but a developmental stage,
"Pharyngula" a mighty blog now names
Where readers may delight or burn with rage:
For PZ pulls no punches, plays no games.
This sage whose bearded visage is resolved
With zebrafish in nearby tanks arrayed:
How…
jstemwedel | March 5, 2007In a private communication, Sciencewoman asks:
Just out of curiosity, how have you been able to blog under your real name? Has your department been supportive? Are you post-tenure and immune from some of the pressures that the rest of us feel? Or is it that a philosophy department views outreach/education differently from a strict science department?
In the same communication, she also suggests that I might answer these question in a blog post, so I am.
Some of you will recall that I've written before about issues around using one's own name or a pseudonym as a blog author. In one of those…