Misc
ksharpe | July 6, 2006On July 5, 1996, Dolly the sheep became the first successfully cloned mammal. Ten years on, has cloning developed the way you expected it to?
apalazzo | July 1, 2006Direct a change at one site.
Point to the little man in your head.
Get your blood sugar running.
These are a few Canadian scientific discoveries. Who, who and who are these famous Canuks?
Some Canadian Science Links:
Science Canada
David Suzuki Foundation
Discovery.ca
sb admin | June 30, 2006The Daily Telegraph today reported that "Scientists who carry out embryonic stem cell research and politicians who pass laws permitting the practice will be excommunicated." Does this policy make rational sense, even on religion's own terms?
Here's more from the article:
Scientists who carry out embryonic stem cell research and politicians who pass laws permitting the practice will be excommunicated, the Vatican said yesterday. "Destroying human embryos is equivalent to an abortion. It is the same thing," said Cardinal Alfonso Lopez Trujillo, head of the Pontifical Council for the Family. "…
ksharpe | June 28, 2006What are some unsung successes that have occurred as a result of using science to guide policy?
ksharpe | June 28, 2006Earlier this month, ScienceBloggers Jake Young of Pure Pedantry and Shelley Batts of Retrospectacle got to talking about how, given how many neuro-philes now blog at Sb, it could be fun to start a homegrown neuroscience blog carnival.
Jake picked up the ball and ran, organizing most of Sb's other neuro-bloggers and a healthy handful of bloggers from outside the network to create the first edition of the brand-new neuroscience carnival. The ScienceBloggers agreed on the name 'The Synapse' (also-rans included 'Organ of Destiny,' 'Wider Than the Sky,' and the utilitarian 'Carnival of…
tlambert | June 23, 2006The Christian Science Monitor reports on a plan to effectively do away with the electoral college:
Picture it: On election day in some future year, a presidential candidate ends up with the most popular votes but not enough electoral votes to win.
It's a repeat of the 2000 election in which one contender, Democrat Al Gore, took the majority of the national popular vote, while the other, Republican George W. Bush, clinched the most electoral college votes and, hence, the presidency.
But this time there's a twist: A bunch of states team up and give all their electoral college votes to the…
apalazzo | June 18, 2006As you can tell I'm taking a World Cup induced vacation from writing about science. Not that I don't love science, but it's too hot, I don't have time to work+blog+read science+watch the World Cup.
What to write about? Immigration, Guantanamo, Father's Day, the Italian soccer team, war?
Hmm ... well I have a good story for you then.
Picture it, North Africa, World War Two. My grandfather, who was drafted by the Italian army, was a chauffeur for the Fascists. Like many Italian peasants, my grandfather didn't want to be there, especially the Italian army. This organization was famous for its…
stoat | June 18, 2006Via JA I find David @ Tokyo who blogs about Caribbean Loses Drive For Secret Ballot At Whale Meet. Now I find this a bit weird... the caribbean nations don't have any interest in whaling; they are interested only because they are being bought off by the Japanese (is this wrong? why else do they want to whale?). So... they want to vote in favour of whaling, but can't do this in public because they might get boycotted etc. So they want to vote in favour in private. But then... how does anyone know how they've voted? Who will buy their votes?
Or is there some kind of loyalty/honesty to the being…
ksharpe | June 16, 2006Looking around ScienceBlogs today and yesterday, you may notice a crop of new, blue-and-white buttons on many of the blogs. No, it's not the latest in blog-homepage fashion (though they are pretty spiffy looking). The badges signify blogs that are participating in the ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose fundraising challenge, a drive to raise some money for public-school science educators to take their teaching to the next level--using friendly competition among the blogs and a stash of fabulous prizes to help get the job done.
So what's the ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose fundraising challenge all about?…
ksharpe | June 15, 2006How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
stoat | June 14, 2006Today and yesterday I went on a management training course. This is a complete reversal of policy by me, who has previously avoided them like the plague. Partly this is a feeling that since I am now quasi-managing two people I owe it to them to at least try to know what I'm doing. But partly its a (belated?) feeling that some of the fixed stars in my firmament (e.g., management is a load of b*ll*cks) have proved to be mutable. Sadly I only seem to be able to learn this sort of thing by experience (anyone can learn by their own experience; clever people learn by other peoples experience :-().…
ksharpe | June 12, 2006Hi there. If this is your first visit to the newly-designed ScienceBlogs homepage, welcome. And if you're a return visitor, welcome back.
I want to take a moment to walk you through the new features and functionalities on the page, but first, a reminder.
If you're feeling disoriented by the new design, and are aflame with nostalgia for ScienceBlogs Classic®, I urge you to check out the 'Last 24 Hours' channel, in the upper left-hand corner of the page. Clicking 'Last 24 Hours' will take you to an "alternate homepage" that works exactly as the 'old' ScienceBlogs did: it's an uncluttered space…
apalazzo | June 11, 2006OK still fiddling away with the banners.
Here are the two latest ones:
I've distributed the banners among the various sections (Latest Post, Individual Entries ...) I've also been advised that if I choose to have multiple banners, I should "stick to a single font". Courier New seems appropriate (if you don't know why, you've obviously not used much of NCBI's site).
apalazzo | June 11, 2006I'm here at the lab. Watching the World Cup. Digesting DNA. Subclonning. And splicing in some new banners.
Here are a couple of models:
What do you think?
ksharpe | June 9, 2006Assuming that time and money were not obstacles, what area of scientific research, outside of your own discipline, would you most like to explore? Why?
ksharpe | June 9, 2006Dear Visitor,
Welcome to the new ScienceBlogs! Beginning today, you'll notice a newly designed homepage (built from your feedback) at scienceblogs.com and the addition of 25 new blogs to our network.
Science is driving our global conversation unlike ever before. From climate change to intelligent design, HIV/AIDS to stem cells, science education to space exploration, science is figuring prominently in our discussions of politics, religion, philosophy, business and the arts. New insights and discoveries in neuroscience, theoretical physics and genetics are revolutionizing our understanding of…
ksharpe | June 7, 2006Ask a Big Question, get...fewer answers. But really well-considered, provocative ones.
This week, the ScienceBloggers mulled:
"Do you think there is a brain drain going on (i.e. foreign scientists not coming to work and study in the U.S. like they used to, because of new immigration rules and the general unpopularity of the U.S.) If so, what are its implications? Is there anything we can do about it?"
Read on for their relplies.
Most of the bloggers pointed out the question isn't asking about a "brain drain" as it's most commonly defined -- rather, it's asking whether the influx of foreign…
apalazzo | June 5, 2006There's a giant crater underneath Antartica! The collision that caused it may have also precipitated the Permian-Triassic extinction ... or perhaps not.
Can't get to the overloaded Knox homepage to read the Colbert Commencement speech? Well then click here.
MIT Cosmologist vs. Mus musculus. From Max Tegmark's homepage:
According to the authoritative text on the subject, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, humans are the 3rd most intelligent species on Earth, superceded not only by dolphins but also by mice. This page provides evidence supporting that hypothesis, although it can be debated…
ksharpe | June 5, 2006This week, I'll post the Ask A ScienceBlogger question early, before the roundup. Here's the query that the ScienceBloggers will be mulling over this week. Look for their answers, accumulating until Wednesday:
"Do you think there is a brain drain going on (i.e. foreign scientists not coming to work and study in the U.S. like they used to, because of new immigration rules and the general unpopularity of the U.S.) If so, what are its implications? Is there anything we can do about it?"