Shameless Plug
laelaps | November 16, 2007
John Scalzi visited the infamous AiG Creation Museum, took a slew of pictures, and now he's running a caption contest. You can find the full set of photos online and all the details of the contest can be found here (the deadline is this coming Sunday), but don't forget to check out the initial report on the trip to the House of Ham.
[Hat-tip to Molly who pointed me to this (and created her own humorous image)]
laelaps | November 16, 2007I made yesterday all about sauropods as the announcement of Nigersaurus was sure to be big in the news, but in all the hubub some significant events were overlooked. First off, my fellow scibling Darren of Tetrapod Zoology fame announced the publication in the journal Palaeontology of a paper he co-authored with sauropod specialist Mike Taylor on an "immensely" amazing find that was right under everyone's noses for some time; Xenoposeidon proneneukos. Make sure you read Darren's summary, the SV-POW! coverage, and Mike Taylor's summary (with a link to the paper itself!). This announcement…
laelaps | November 13, 2007It's that time of year again*; the final deadline for the 2nd edition of The Open Laboratory (featuring the best of science writing from around the blogosphere) is fast approaching. Coturnix (of A Blog Around the Clock fame), inexhaustible as ever, has compiled a list of all the submitted posts thus far, but the anthology still needs more submissions. Only 50 (plus one cartoon and one poem) will make the cut in the end, but given the huge response that this project has received this year the selected entries will truly be the best of the best.
*No, not the call to battle in the "War on…
laelaps | November 10, 2007Chris has the 9th edition of The Boneyard up at the Catalogue of Organisms. Diseased bones, mass extinctions, some wonderful scientific artwork, and cursorial early birds are all featured, so be sure to check it out! Also, don't forget that the next edition of the geo-carnival The Accretionary Wedge is fast approaching, and the paleo-oriented among us have been asked to contribute our thoughts about what our fondness of "squishy things" has to do with geology and the history of earth (get your posts into to Kevin of The Other 95% as soon as you can).
laelaps | November 9, 2007Many of the details of the 2005 Kitzmiller v. Dover Area School District case are common knowledge among science bloggers and online communities concerned with evolution, but I have to wonder how many people really know about the background of the case? Fortunately, PBS will be airing a new documentary about the important case called "Judgment Day: Intelligent Design on Trial" on November 13 (next Tuesday).
PBS has issued a press release about the upcoming show and has a whole website full of resources related to the show, but I think PZ has some even more interesting news. In a review in…
laelaps | November 9, 2007The theme for the 2nd annual Alliance for Science National High School Essay Contest has been announced; the 2008 theme is going to be the extremely interesting and relevant subject of "Climate, Agriculture, and Evolution." Indeed, it's good to see changes in ecology integrated with evolutionary change, and I'm definitely looking forward to reading the winning entries when they're selected next year. The deadline isn't until February 29th, 2008, but it's never too early to get a jump on this sort of work (you can't write up a good paper on this topic overnight), so why not start getting the…
laelaps | November 5, 2007
The fiberglass skull of Barnum Brown's second Tyrannosaurus rex fitted on the revised mount now standing on the 4th floor of the AMNH.
The AMNH in New York is home to some of the most impressive biological collections in the world, the institution playing host to various students of natural history. This tradition of allowing researchers and graduate student access to the collections is now taking another step forward with the opening of the Richard Gilder Graduate School, currently offering a Ph.D. in Comparative Biology. As the "Welcome" statement from John J. Flynn states, much of…
laelaps | November 5, 2007I'm a little late on this, but if you haven't already, head on over to Greg Laden's fancy new digs here at ScienceBlogs! Be sure to stop by the Sandwalk, too, as it's celebrating it's first blogiversary.
Update: Also, Chris is celebrating his 100th post with a brand new carnival about classification and systematics, Linnaeus' Legacy! Be sure to check out the taxonomic goodness.
Update the 2nd: Be sure to say "hi" to another brand new member of the ScienceBlogs community, The Quantum Pontiff, too.
laelaps | November 5, 2007For all of you who enjoy the various photographs I post here every day, I've now opened a CafePress store featuring some prints, mugs, and calendars emblazoned with some of the best photographs I've taken in 2007. There are shots of various creatures, big and small, from the Bronx, Philadelphia, and National Zoos, although I hope to soon have a "Best of 2006" calendar with some earlier (but no less impressive) shots. If you'd like to take a look, click here.
laelaps | November 5, 2007
The next edition of the paleo-carnival The Boneyard is coming up this Saturday at Catalogue of Organisms, so be sure to get your entries to me (evogeek at gmail.com) or Chris (gerarus at westnet.com.au) soon!
laelaps | November 1, 2007
A close-up B&W shot of the Willamette Meteorite. The holes the riddle one face of the meteorite were not caused by "cosmic collisions" but by the bolide rusting away in the ground prior to its removal from the Oregon soil (it consists of 91% iron).
Virginia Hughes is an editorial assistant here at ScienceBlogs who was especially helpful in moving Laelaps over to it's new home, and now she's brought her excellent writing to The Gist on Smithsonian.com. The first story? A 30-pound hunk of the Willamette Meteorite appraised at $1.3 million was withdrawn from auction after it failed to…
laelaps | October 31, 2007Creature-features are fun to watch any time of the year, but they're an absolute must on Halloween. Although there are many excellent SF and horror films to choose from, this year I'm going to have to pick John Carpenter's The Thing.
Based on the Don A. Stuart (AKA John W. Campbell, Jr.) story "Who Goes There?" The Thing is a blend of several horror-film styles that leaves the audience guessing as to who's human and who is not. Set at an Antarctic field station, the film tells the story of the crew encountering an alien that can imitate any living form after the slightest of contact, the…
laelaps | October 30, 2007Yesterday I wrote about an absolutely horrible opinion piece that appeared in the Rutgers newspaper The Daily Targum, the author suggesting that those he deemed stupid deserved to die. Although I gave a detailed response on this blog, I wanted to address the Rutgers community as a whole and I shot off an editorial reply to the paper. I didn't hear back from the Targum editors so I wasn't sure whether my piece would run or not (especially since I was critical of the editorial board for not checking Pironciak's piece), but lo and behold, it's been published. There's little in my response that I…
laelaps | October 29, 2007Matt has put up the latest and greatest edition of The Boneyard, guiding visitors along a haunted fossil-picking tour of the best paleo-blogging from the past two weeks. Trust me, this one is not to be missed. I'm still looking for a host for the week after next (and into the foreseeable future), so if you're interested in bringing The Boneyard to your blog please contact me.
laelaps | October 26, 2007Just a quick reminder that the next exhibition of The Boneyard will be going up tomorrow at the Hairy Museum of Natural History, so be sure to get all your paleo (or palaeo, if you prefer) oriented links to me or Matt soon! If you need some inspiration check out Matt's fantastic artwork and discussion on phytosaurs, a group that often doesn't get the attention it deserves.
There's some good opportunities for some cross-over posts coming up as well, as the next edition of The Accretionary Wedge is fast approaching, and it's host (Kevin Z of The Other 95%) has asked for submissions about "…
laelaps | October 18, 2007I try to visit the AMNH in New York City as often as I can, but it looks like I'll be making a few extra trips this coming November. While the exhibits alone are worth a visit, the museum often plays host to various scientists and authors as well, and it appears that they'll be running at least three public talks next month focusing on conservation and extinction.
On November 13th, David S. Wilcove from Princeton University will be speaking about his book (just released this week) No Way Home which covers animal migrations and the pressures they're facing from human activities. While I haven'…
laelaps | October 17, 2007
Hmmm...
I must admit that the attention this blog has been getting as of late has left me astonished (when I first started writing I wondered if anyone would ever read my posts), and Eric of The Primate Diaries has given my ego another boost by bestowing The Intellectual Blogger Award upon me (my only regret is that I can't give him the same award in return). Part of the joy of receiving such recognition is passing it on, however, and I've been thinking long and hard about which other bloggers really get my mental wheels turning when I read their work. Envelope, please...
The Anterior…
laelaps | October 14, 2007Neil has got the latest edition of The Boneyard up at microecos, complete with some fantastic artwork by Dan McCarthy. The next edition will be up in two weeks at the HMNH.
laelaps | October 12, 2007Everyone now and then I come across a post so good that I wish I had written it myself; Matt of the HMNH has posted on such piece of excellent science blogging all about dinosaur furculas. It might not sound very exciting to those unfamiliar with dinosaur anatomy, but the ignorance of fused clavicles in theropod dinosaurs until recently has had a major impact on concepts of evolution (especially involving birds). I'm sure it'll turn up in tomorrow's edition of The Boneyard over at microecos, and I wouldn't be surprised if someone nominated it for the next installment of The Open Laboratory,…