Shameless Plug
laelaps | July 15, 2009If you are going to be around Brooklyn, New York tomorrow night and don't already have plans you might want to stop by JLA Studios to check outGeeking Out, hosted by Gelf Magazine. Among the guests will be paleoartist Viktor Deak, the man responsible for the beautiful hominid restorations in the "Lucy's Legacy" exhibition and the book The Last Human. Even if you cannot make it, though, you can still check out this interview with Deak.
laelaps | July 8, 2009In my review of Joshua Blu Buhs' new book Bigfoot: The Life and Times of a Legend I wrote;
As with many legendary creatures, advocates Bigfoot's existence often claim that the creature has been known for hundreds or even thousands of years. How could so many cultures in so many parts of the world have stories about "wild men of the woods" if none actually existed? An entire volume could be devoted to this question alone (for starters, see the chapters on "yeren" in The People's Peking Man) ...
Given that both books (Bigfoot and The People's Peking Man) were published by the University of…
laelaps | July 7, 2009I am a little late to the party on this one, but please welcome Eric Michael Johnson of The Primate Diaries to ScienceBlogs. He has already racked up an impressive amount of bloggy-goodness at his new home, and his work is well worth the read. Check it out.
laelaps | June 30, 2009Earlier this week I had the pleasure of answering a few questions for the Paw Talk blog about dinosaurs, blogging, and kittens. You can check it out here (and many thanks to Ava for inviting me to participate!).
laelaps | June 4, 2009For some scientists, "blog" is one of the worst four letter words there is. Aren't science blogs pits of ill-formed opinions where the ignorant can post anything they like without fear of peer-review? Of course not, but unfortunately there are many professional scientists who consider blogging a dangerous thing. That's why I am glad to say that the National Academy of Sciences has started up a blog of their own, The X-Change Files, as part of their Science and Entertainment Exchange.
The X-Change files is a blog well-worth checking out, and they already have quite a few heavy hitters (like…
laelaps | June 1, 2009Many thanks to everyone who has sent in material for the Ida carnival. There is plenty to post, but I have decided to delay the carnival by one day. Instead it will go up tomorrow afternoon, and I will be accepting entries until 9 AM tomorrow. Why? Because today is the Silence is the Enemy blogswarm and I want to encourage readers to check it out/contribute to it rather than keep fretting over Ida. I strongly urge you to read Sheril's post and follow the links over to essays from other participants.
laelaps | June 1, 2009Voting for the new 3quarksdaily contest has recently opened up, and now you can vote for your favorite blog posts. I was glad to see that Laelaps is represented by four entries, although admittedly it was difficult for me to choose which one to vote for! If you want to give me a hand head over to this page and cast your vote. The entries that receive the most votes will then go on to a final round on June 8, 2009 when Steven Pinker will hand-pick the best of the best.
laelaps | May 31, 2009Just a quick reminder: Tomorrow I will be posting a collection of links all about "Ida", from the hype surrounding her announcement to the actual science of the PLoS One paper describing her, sometime in the early afternoon. If you are interested in contributing please e-mail me at evogeek AT gmail DOT com by 9AM tomorrow morning. I'm looking forward to what comes in.
laelaps | May 29, 2009Welcome, new readers. Thanks for sticking around after all the excitement over "Ida" last week. You can expect plenty more posts on strange mammals, odd evolutionary hypotheses, and new peer-reviewed research in the near future, but if you just can't wait, check out a list of some of my "greatest hits" posted by sbh of Rational Rant. I was definitely flattered to receive such praise, and I don't think I could have made a better list myself (although I would include my essays on "Giant Killer Lungfish From Hell").
laelaps | May 28, 2009The folks at 3quarksdaily have just announced that they are going to award three prizes (called, appropriately enough, quarks) to some of the best examples of science blogging on the web. All you have to do is pick out your favorite blog post written sometime between May 24, 2008 and now and submit it in the comments. The submission process will be open until midnight on June 1, 2009, shortly followed by the opening of public voting. Then six finalists will be selected from which the winners will be chosen by Steven Pinker.
If you have any favorite Laelaps posts please feel free to submit…
laelaps | May 26, 2009There has been a lot of moving and shaking going on at ScienceBlogs lately. Not only have we welcomed two new library science bloggers (Christina's LIS Rant and Confessions of a Science Librarian, welcome), but three of my favorite bloggers have left the Sb community. John Lynch (Stranger Fruit, now a simple prop), John Wilkins (Evolving Thoughts), and Afarensis have headed off to new corners of the blogohedron. They will be sorely missed here, but update your links and bookmarks so you can continue to read their excellent work.
laelaps | May 21, 2009The good news: Earlier today I had the pleasure of participating in an interview about "Ida" on the BBC4 program Material World. I was a little nervous (this was my radio debut), but it was a lot of fun. I just wish we had some more time! You can check it out here (if you're in the UK) and here (if you're not).
The bad news: Over at the Disco Institute-run Evolution News & Views blog Robert Crowther praises my critique of the Darwinius paper for not "toeing the line" about this fossil being the "missing link." I would have hoped that Crowther would have learned that science-savvy folks…
laelaps | May 20, 2009Many thanks to everyone who has read, commented, and promoted my posts on "Ida", the 'missing link' that wasn't. I have been floored by the response - over 25,000 visits in the last 24 hours; being mentioned on Wikipedia; being quoted on Slashdot; and being picked up by blogs on the Guardian, the New York Times, the Times online (twice!), Popular Science, and New Scientist websites. And to think I was worried that no one would pay attention to my little 'ol blog amongst all the hype...
I think the prize for the best response has to go to Ed of Not Exactly Rocket Science, though. Ed writes;…
laelaps | May 15, 2009Yesterday the New York Times posted a review of the AMNH's new "Extreme Mammals" exhibition. The review pays more attention is paid to the evolutionary themes of the exhibit than to what is in it, but I will be bringing you a more detailed look at the displays during a special blogger preview early this evening (between 4 and 5:30 PM). I can hardly wait!
laelaps | May 13, 2009A little while back I posted a little teaser on Twitter (or a "tweezer", as BrianR aptly called it) that I had some exciting news about my book. Now I can finally share it. I am proud to announce that I will be working with literary agent Peter Tallack of The Science Factory on my book project. I still have a lot of work to do, but this is a major step towards producing an absolutely smashing book about evolution and paleontology for you all to enjoy!
laelaps | May 12, 2009Over at loveart there is a great interview with Sb's own Jessica Palmer of Bioephemera. There's plenty there about science, journalism, art, blogging, and how they all intersect, so I definitely recommend that you give it a look!
laelaps | April 30, 2009The news has already broken at SV-POW! and Tetrapod Zoology, but in case you haven't heard Mike Taylor has successfully defended his Ph.D.! This is wonderful news. I am sure that the study of sauropods will benefit from his continued work in the field.
My only regret is that I can't buy him a drink since I am not going to be able to make it to SVP in England this year. (I actually owe quite a few people a drink or two. At this rate I had better hope I win the lottery to cover the bar tab I will surely build up...) Earning a Ph.D. merits a few rounds alone, but Mike (among others) has provided…
laelaps | April 26, 2009After a long wait, the new Palaeontologia Electronica is now online! It even includes a review of Jane Davidson's A History of Paleontology Illustration by yours truly. Check it out!
laelaps | April 21, 2009I rarely ever go to a place like Barnes and Noble to buy books, but a few months ago I had a gift card that burning a hole in my pocket. The question was what to buy. As always I browsed through the science section and didn't see much of interest. Most of the titles available were about subjects I was already familiar with or didn't strike my fancy.
I was just about to head home when I spotted Mary Roach's book SPOOK. It wasn't typical reading fare for me, but I remembered hearing good things about it. When I got home I started in on it and could not put it down. I even read the whole thing…
laelaps | April 10, 2009After the recent eruption of geo-blogs here on Sb I bet physics fans will be glad to hear that we have just added an astrophysics blog, Starts With a Bang, to the stable. If photography is more your thing, though, you should check out the other new addition; a photo blog with rotating guest bloggers. First up is entomologist Alex Wild, and what he has shared so far has already made me a little envious.