Shameless Plug
laelaps | February 29, 2008Today got off to a pretty bad start, so I'm experiencing a bit of blogger's block. In lieu of anything original, I liked Janet's questions about science blogs so much that I've decided to steal them and put up my own answers. John has done the same, and I expect others to soon follow suit. (Abel has now joined in, as has Greg.)
1. Why do you consider this blog a science blog?
I didn't initially set out with the goal of creating a science blog; it emerged as an outpouring of what I've been learning about and trying to understand about evolution. Some of what I write involves new papers,…
laelaps | February 29, 2008I'm always fascinated to see how rapidly the paleo-blogosphere has grown and diversified, and over at The World We Don't Live In there's a wonderful post about one of my favorite fossil phenomena, "Devil's Corkscrews." That's one for The Boneyard, which, by the way, will be right here at Laelaps on March 8th.
laelaps | February 27, 2008
A bear skeleton illustrated in William Cheselden's Osteographia.
Yeah, I've been on a bit of a "science meets art" bent lately (I don't want to encroach on Bioephemera's territory too much now...), but what's one more link into the mix? Neil has told me that the latest issue of the magazine Cabinet features one of my favorite illustrations of Cheselden's Osteographia as well as articles about Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, the whale of a trial that is the focus of Trying Leviathan, and much more about bones.
laelaps | February 27, 2008
It is often accepted that science and the humanities have long been in conflict with each other, science providing a cold, objective look at the world while having read the entire works of Shakespeare (or similar equivalent) represents the true hallmark of a cultivated mind in the humanities. This disjunction was identified in 1959 by C.P. Snow in his book The Two Cultures, and in a 1963 follow-up he described the idea of a "third culture" in which science and the humanities could support each other and no longer be seen as entirely opposing forces. The development of a Snow's idea of a…
laelaps | February 26, 2008You may recall how I blogged about Norman Silberling's inappropriate comments involving Aetogate the other day, specifically his tacit charge that there's a conspiracy of young paleontologists who are out to get Spencer Lucas for some unknown reason. If you're one of those wretched un- or under-emplyed paleontologists, though, you can proclaim it to the world with some new t-shirts made by ReBecca ("Dinochick") available through her Cafepress store.
[Hat-tip to the Ethical Palaeontologist]
laelaps | February 26, 2008It's times like this I wish I still had television; tonight the PBS show NOVA will have a special called "The Four-Winged Dinosaur" all about Microraptor. You can see a few brief clips from the show and some behind-the-scenes shots in this promotional video;
As with any show involving puppets, though, there were plenty of shenanigans that didn't make the cut for the final program;
More information about the show can be found at this website, and hopefully some of you who can tune in can blog it for the rest of us.
laelaps | February 26, 2008Say hello to the newest member of the ScienceBlogs family, Not Exactly Rocket Science.
laelaps | February 26, 2008
Today marks the 25th anniversary of my birth, and even though this particular day isn't especially extraordinary I figured that I should at least write a few thoughts about hitting the quarter century mark.
As regular readers know, I've been a bit frustrated with my academic career up to this point; I feel like I'm straining at the leash to get out and get to work, and my university hasn't made it especially easy for me. Still, as embarrassing as it might be to still be completing my undergraduate work, I have benefited from taking the "scenic route" and now have a better idea of what I want…
laelaps | February 25, 2008Amanda's got the latest edition of The Boneyard up over at her blog; check it out, and remember that the next iteration will be right here at Laelaps on March 8. (Given that the film 10,000 B.C. will be out that weekend, it would be cool if we could have a Pleistocene theme.)
Elsewhere in the blogosphere, two of my colleagues have picked up on the continuing aetosaur controversy. Dr. Free-Ride and Dinochick have both posted their thoughts on the ongoing investigation. You can keep up with the story via Mike Taylor's frequently updated website about the case.
laelaps | February 25, 2008Last month I met up with hordes of bloggers & journalists at the 2nd annual Science Blogging Conference, but it seems that readers of Sb are increasingly organizing their own meetings. Rather than turn away in a huff muttering "Well I guess you just don't need us anymore," many of us Sciblings want to encourage this emerging behavior among our readers, and a good way to get started would be to join the ScienceBlogs.com fan club on Facebook. It may be a little primitive, but you can browse the list of fans and see who's in your area if you wanted to organize your own meet-up. I have no…
laelaps | February 20, 2008Amanda is already far more prepared than I am for the next Society of Vertebrate Paleontology meeting that will be held in Cleveland, Ohio this coming October. I'm hoping to be there, but somehow I get the feeling that my own experience is going to be a relatively last-minute mad dash to get everything together (if I'm able to scrounge enough money to get me there and back to begin with). I'm pretty optimistic that I'll make it, although I'm sure I'll feel like an extremely little fish in a pond filled with Dunkleosteus.
laelaps | February 19, 2008The next edition of The Boneyard is coming up on the 23rd of the month (Saturday [short notice, I know!]) over at Self-Designed Student. After that it'll be back on the regular two-week schedule, the 15th edition showing up right here. The slate after that is wide-open though, so if you'd like to host let me know in the comments or via e-mail.
laelaps | February 17, 2008Greg has the latest edition of the Boneyard up on display, featuring snippets of William Stout's fantastic new artwork on display at the San Diego Natural History Museum. Greg has uncovered a rich assemblage of posts, so be sure to have a look.
I was also hoping that fans of the Boneyard might be able to lend me some assistance. I know I haven't been the best about keeping on top of the carnival because it goes up on weekends, and many hosts have to dig around for posts because there aren't many actual submissions. I want to make a more concerted effort to get the carnival on its feet again,…
laelaps | February 16, 2008When I was younger I wanted to have Indiana Jones' job when I grew up (just going after dinosaurs instead of archaeological relics). I had an official Indiana Jones hat that I wore everywhere I went, and my father used to tell me that he could see me becoming an adventuring professor one day. Now that I'm a bit older I better understand the fiction of the films, but Radiers of the Lost Ark is still one of my most favorite movies, and I'm definitely looking forward to the new Indy film due out in May;
laelaps | February 15, 2008A friend of mine recently passed this along to me; there's a new article in Science Careers about "impostor phenomenon," a general feeling that success is due to luck more than ability among scientists (and Sb's very own ScienceWoman is interviewed in it, too). I'm sure some of you will identify with it, and although I haven't yet embarked on a serious science career as yet the subject of the article is awfully familiar. It's something that goes beyond modesty to a fear that your success is essentially just a fluke and you might be found out at any moment, the Sword of Damocles hanging over…
laelaps | February 14, 2008Plans for the next annual science blogging conference are already under way, and the 2009 meeting is going to be biggest and best yet. The 2009 meeting will be from January 16th - January 18th, 2009, allowing attendees to double their fun (and bar tabs).
laelaps | February 13, 2008If you've got a spare second (and would like a chance to win a new iPod nano), head over to Page 3.14 and take a quick, anonymous survey that will help out my benevolent masters.
laelaps | February 12, 2008Bora's got an interview with yours truly over at A Blog Around the Clock.
laelaps | February 11, 2008Well, it appears as if that's what he's going to do, anyway. In all seriousness, though, it's a pretty neat painting and the post also includes a time-lapse movie of the evolution of the piece. There's lots more where that came from so be sure to browse around for similar paintings via the Shardcore frontpage.
[Hat-tip to Kevin Z]
laelaps | February 9, 2008Tomorrow is Evolution Sunday and I'll be presenting a lecture called "Unlikely Humans" to the Congregation for Humanistic Judaism of Morris County. Regular readers of this blog probably already know what I'm going to say, but I've tried to combine some old material and some things that I've only just learned, so I'm hoping that it'll be an interesting look at the evolutionary changes that have have resulted in our species attaining its present form.
Given that it's a ppt lecture there there isn't a good way to directly transfer what I'm going to say to this blog afterwards, but it might…