Science
awild | February 4, 2010
Termite mounds visible in Australia's Northern Territory- I've circled three, but dozens are in the image.
Central Illinois still resembles the frozen lifeless tundra, so to get my bug-hunting fix I've been surfing about on Google Earth. Here at -13.066783, 130.847383 I've found something: Australia's magnificent magnetic termites. The green things are trees, but the little black pimply bits? Those are the termites. On the ground they look like this:
A magnetic termite mound in north Queensland, Australia.
Why "magnetic"?
The mounds are shaped as thin blades along a north-south…
oracknows | February 4, 2010I realize I complain periodically about when I get into what seems to me to be a rut in which I'm writing pretty much only about anti-vaccine lunacy. This is just such a week, when the news on the vaccine front has been coming fast and furious, first with Andrew Wakefield's being found to have behaved unethically and dishonestly by the British General Medical Council, only to be followed up a few days later with the news that the editors of The Lancet had retracted his 1998 paper, the paper that started the MMR scare in the U.K. and launched a thousand autism quacks. Meanwhile, the cranks…
grrlscientist | February 3, 2010TheTimes Online had a poll on one of their blogs last month, asking their readers if science in their free time is a 'guy-thing'? Who is reading their blog? So I thought I'd also write a poll asking something similar. The poll (below the jump) was written quickly, but with the intention of gathering as much data as possible from answers to that one question (If you check their poll and mine, you'll find the data I am collecting is somewhat different from theirs). I am going to let the poll run for one month and will summarize the answers at the end. I admit that I am as curious as you are…
bioephemera | February 3, 2010
Modeling the flight of a bat (click to enlarge)
Dave Willis et. al., Brown University and MIT
Visual complexity is a paradox. On the one hand, complexity is a compelling feature known to capture a viewer's attention and stimulate interest. . . . On the other hand, complexity only arouses curiosity up to a point. When a visual is extremely complex, viewers may tend to avoid it altogether. -- Connie Malamed
I had a great time this weekend devouring Connie Malamed's oversized treasury of data visualization, Visual Language for Designers. The book couldn't be more appealing: it's like someone…
awild | February 3, 2010...are at it again:
The twilight zone:
ambient light levels trigger activity in primitive ants
What's unfortunate about this title is that the judgement "primitive" has nothing to do with the research. It is unnecessary. The study is about how one species of ant uses ambient light levels to trigger foraging. It's a nicely done bit of work. But whether or not these ants are "primitive" has zilch to do with the science.
Back in the day, western anthropologists would study Primitive Culture. Such terms are no longer used in that field, and for good reason. It's not just that labeling other…
drorzel | February 3, 2010It's been a while since I've done a fun with graphs post about the Amazon sales rank of How to Teach Physics to Your Dog, but that's not because I've stopped tracking it. It's getting to be enough data, though, that it's worthwhile to look on a slightly coarser scale, so here's the sales rank data binned by day:
This shows some clear structure, specifically two points with dramatic drops (that is, dramatic improvements in the Amazon rank-- smaller numbers are better), followed by slow climbs. The two big improvements correspond to the immediate post-publication blog boost, and the…
drorzel | February 3, 2010Yesterday's post on a variation of the "Twin Paradox" with both twins accelerating was very successful-- 337 people voted in the first poll question, as of a little before 9am, and the comments to the original post are full of lively discussion. That's awesome.
I wish I could take credit for it, but the problem posed is not original to me. It comes from a 1989 paper in the American Journal of Physics, which also includes the following illustration setting up the situation:
The article contains a full explanation, and also the following figure illustrating the result:
The correct answer is…
ddobbs | February 3, 2010
I was thrilled this morning to learn that this humble, erratic blog was named one of Top 30 Science Blogs by Eureka, the new monthly science magazine recently launched by the Times of London. I find myself among some most admirable company, including giants, longtime favorites of my own, and a few blogs new-to-me-but-presumably-really-good-anyway.
Given my history of ambivalence about blogging, my sporadic rhythm, my not-best-practice of ranging far and wide, and my generally low traffic, I find this recognition a surprise, but a happy one. I feel a bit like I've been upgraded (possible…
grrlscientist | February 3, 2010tags: Kitchen Science: An Offbeat Look at Water, water, documentary, science, BBC, satire, parody, humor, comedy, fucking hilarious, streaming video
A peculiar (scientific?) look at the three phases of water and how it affects living things ...
grrlscientist | February 2, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
The next edition of Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is less than two weeks away and it is seeking submissions! Can you help by sending URLs for well-written science, medicine, and nature blog essays to me?
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been published in the blogosphere within the past 60 days.
The…
grrlscientist | February 2, 2010
Image: wemidji (Jacques Marcoux).
Nam et ipsa scientia potestas est (And thus knowledge itself is power)
-- Sir Francis Bacon.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) was published late last night and can be read here: Scientia Pro Publica -- 20th edition. This is the first blog carnival that John has ever hosted, so be sure to go there and leave encouraging comments and other forms of praise.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling blog carnival that celebrates the best science, nature and medical writing targeted specifically to the public that has been…
oracknows | February 2, 2010Sure, this is old, but I hadn't seen a video quite this cool before. Behold, a human polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN, or neutrophil) on a blood film, "chasing" Staphylococcus aureus.
There are more videos of cells in action here.
It never ceases to amaze me how cells can detect biochemical gradients over such short distances and use them for navigation. I'm sure I'll find it just as fascinating right up until the day I can't think of science anymore.
drorzel | February 2, 2010Just about everybody has heard of the Twin Paradox in relativity: one twin becomes as astronaut and sets off for Alpha Centauri, the other remains on Earth at mission control. Thanks to time dilation, the two age at different rates, and the one who made the trip out and back ends up younger than the one who stayed behind.
Of course, the paradox is not that the two twins have different ages-- rather, it's that from a simple approach to special relativity, you would think that each twin should see the other's clock running slow, since it seems like getting into a rocket and flying off into…
bioephemera | February 2, 2010
Why time goes slower when we get older
Rhonald Blommestijn
for Douwe Draaisma interview, Audi Magazine
Dutch graphic designer Rhonald Blommestijn's illustrations play with medical and technical themes in unexpected ways. Check out his blog, and his series of concept illustrations for the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO).
The Effect of Playstation on the Human Body
Rhonald Blommestijn
For Playstation Belgium
Rhonald Blommestijn
For the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
awild | February 2, 2010Given that the current crop of video games is not nearly science-nerdy enough, my friend Rob Mitchell made this graphic as a helpful suggestion to anyone looking to design a new one. I'm just passing it along...
pharyngula | February 2, 2010I just got the details on my evo-devo talk in Belfast — it will be on Friday afternoon.
drorzel | February 2, 2010Congratulations to Alain Aspect, John Clauser, and Anton Zeilinger for winning the 2010 Wolf Prize in Phyiscs:
The 2010 Wolf Prize in Physics will be shared by Prof. John F. Clauser of the US; Prof. Alain Aspect of France's Ãcole Normale Supérieure de Cachan; and Prof. Anton Zeilinger of the University of Vienna. The jury in this field praised them "for their fundamental conceptual and experimental contributions to the foundations of quantum physics, specifically an increasingly sophisticated series of tests of Bell's inequalities, or extensions thereof, using entangled quantum states."
All…
awild | February 1, 2010A first glance at Obama's proposed 2011 budget, and I feel relief. Given earlier rumors of a freeze on discretionary spending I had feared the worst, but it seems our government is investing heavily in science as way out of the current economic mess. The National Science Foundation (NSF) may see an 8% increase- great news for biologists! NSF is the primary source of support in this country for basic science, including myrmecology.
Incidentally, the New York Times' graphics department deserves a raise. Their simple interactive summaries of complex issues are absolutely brilliant- the…
awild | February 1, 2010According to a new study by Olivier Roux et al in PLoS One, she is spreading pheromones from a previously unknown gland:
Abstract: In Oecophylla, an ant genus comprising two territorially dominant arboreal species, workers are known to (1) use anal spots to mark their territories, (2) drag their gaster along the substrate to deposit short-range recruitment trails, and (3) drag the extruded rectal gland along the substrate to deposit the trails used in long-range recruitment. Here we study an overlooked but important marking behavior in which O. longinoda workers first rub the underside of…
drorzel | February 1, 2010Last week, I asked for nominations of the most amazing laser application, with the idea being that I will collect a list, write up the top vote-getters in a series of blog posts, and then we will have a vote to determine what is THE coolest laser application of ALL TIME!
At least, you know, as far as you can do that on a blog...
Nominations will remain open until next Monday, but I wanted to remind people, and give you a list of the top nominees thus far. These will be pretty hard to top, but there are still lots of laser applications that have not been mentioned, so be sure to get your vote…