Uncategorized
gregladen | August 10, 2010When I met the Chechen president in the capital's football stadium last summer, he told me: "Women are so much more interesting when they are covered up."
Officials nearby smiled awkwardly as Kadyrov boasted that Chechen men can take "second, third and fourth wives" and that polygamy, illegal in Russia, was the best way to revive his war-ravaged republic.
According to some estimates, one in five Chechen marriages begins when a girl is snatched off the street and forced into a car by her future groom and his accomplices. The internet is full of videos of these "bride stealings" set to romantic…
gregladen | August 10, 2010The former Senator from Alaska was one of five killed in the crash of a small plane on which were nine people. Former NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is among those who may or may not have. NPR is reporting this.
Earlier in his career, Stevens was an AGW denialist, but later got on board and began to support legislation to curb human impacts on climate. Then, later, he became a "The glacier is coming anyway" denialist, but mostly slipped into incoherent babbling when it came to climate change.
The crash apparently happened yesterday, and for some time today reports as to whether or not…
gregladen | August 10, 2010Jeff Medkeff died of liver cancer in August 2008. This year, the Atlantic Area Skeptics will hold the annual Star Party event in his honor, and with the intention of raising money for cancer research.
Jeff Medkeff, also known as the Blue Collar Scientist was an astronomer, writer, skeptic and friend to many of us. In the late 1990's, he began working in the field of astronomical technology as a systems engineer and software developer. He was also an asteroid hunter. As a result of his work he discovered or co-discovered hundreds of asteroids and named several asteroids after famous skeptics…
pharyngula | August 10, 2010…then Jeffrey Goldberg and the staff of The Atlantic have a personal message for you.
Oh, my. The tone!
gregladen | August 10, 2010The chorus of support for the teaching of evolution continues, with three statements from the American Society of Plant Taxonomists, the American Statistical Association, and the Union for Reform Judaism.
In its statement, the American Society of Plant Taxonomists endorses "the use of evolution in the scholarship of its members and supports teaching this theory in schools, colleges and universities," adding, "As educators, we believe that evolution is an essential component of science education. In the absence of an evolutionary context, our understanding of the origin and complexity of the…
cwilcox | August 9, 2010Boy, diving all day every day sure makes you miss a bunch of stuff on the internets. Here's a quickie catching up of things I should have told you about already:
Jason tagged me in a meme because I have some kind of substance*. It would be breaking web etiquette not to follow suit. So here's the deal: I have to sum my "blogging motivation, philosophy and experience in exactly 10 words." So here I go:
The world could feel the way I do about science.
Oh, and TAG to... let's see... Allie, Scicurious, Travis... and some more people. When I have more time to think. I've got some transit days…
dolittle | August 9, 2010Based on information presented at the Global Change and Global Science: Comparative Physiology in a Changing World conference, August 4-7, 2010 in Westminster, Colorado.
Inna Sokolova, associate professor of biology at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, studies the affect of high carbon dioxide on oyster survival, growth and shell hardness. The results of her research suggest that creatures once thought to be fairly adaptable to changes in the environment, may be in serious trouble.
Photo of oyster courtesy of Inna Sokolova.
Her research group monitored oysters that were kept in…
gregladen | August 9, 2010"There are the obvious effects like oiled birds and saltmarshes, but it seems many of the effects will be more insidious. Scientists I spoke to are particularly concerned about the larval phases of fish and invertebrates, which are planktonic and not able to avoid patches of oil the way free-swimmers might. Experiments conducted after Exxon Valdez have shown that very small amounts of oil can have sublethal affects as well. Fortunately for BP, the ecology of the Gulf was already crippled. ..."
This is an excellent interview. Read the rest here. Jennifer's blog is here. .
gregladen | August 9, 2010... and 2010 Amendments to The National Academies' Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research:
In 2005, the National Academies released the book, Guidelines for Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research, which offered a common set of ethical standards for a field that, due to the absence of comprehensive federal funding, was lacking national standards for research. In order to keep the Guidelines up to date, given the rapid pace of scientific and policy developments in the field of stem cell research, the Human Embryonic Stem Cell Research Advisory Committee was established in 2006 with…
mikethemadbiologist | August 9, 20108...9...10? Were I Deepak Chopra, I would, no doubt, find some deep, mystical significance in today's date. But I'm the Mad Biologist, so I'll just leave you with some links. Science:
Save the Whale Poop
An introduction to the microbiome
'Poo-powered' car seen on the streets of Bristol. But is there panic on the streets of London?
Guantanamo Bay, Site of Important Ecological Research
"My Mommy is the Boss of the Sink" and Scientist Dads Step Up
Other:
The Washington Post Tries New Tactic in Campaign to Cut Social Security
Public Pension Shortfalls: Don't Forget Braindead Economists…
jgoldman | August 9, 2010Sometime late Saturday night, it seems I agreed to shepherd (cat-herd?) a new blog carnival. It all started when I noticed that people seem to be blogging about poop a lot. It was pointed out that some blog about urine. Carin Bondar wanted to add barf and blood to the mix.
So, Bora and I are masterminding THE CARNAL CARNIVAL.
Click on over to the Carnal Carnival blog to see the schedule, volunteer to host, and pick a topic.
kcollins | August 9, 2010It's time for round two!
Tell us: If you could make one new scientific discovery or invention, what would it be?
We will turn your answers into a beautiful Word Cloud! Submit your answers and see the results in the next newsletter!
An image of our first Wordle which asked: Who is your favorite scientist of all time?
Help us spread the word:
Forward this question and link to your friends or post it on Facebook.
Collect your students' answers and enter them into the form.
Have ideas for questions we should ask the nation? Submit them here.
To find out more about Wordles and to create…
dolittle | August 8, 2010Based on information presented at the Global Change and Global Science: Comparative Physiology in a Changing World conference, August 4-7, 2010 in Westminster, Colorado.
Jessica Hellmann and her research team at Notre Dame have conducted a series of studies in which manipulating the temperature of the butterfly larvae's environment revealed how the two species might respond to global warming.
Photo: Anise swallowtail caterpillar (Papilio zelicaon)
courtesy of Shannon Pelini.
The team studied the larvae--or caterpillar phase--of two butterfly species, the Propertius duskywing butterfly (…
pharyngula | August 8, 2010A site called Progressive Nation is pleasantly surprised by the results of a Fox News poll.
Is it possible that even the center-right tilting viewing audience of Fox news programs is also open to significant upgrades of gay civil rights? That is what a surprising new, unscientific survey of a Fox web audience seems to be showing.
With pleasure, I direct you to this interesting Fox News online poll in which at the time of this posting 300,499 votes had been cast.
I hate to break the news to them, but that poll was pharyngulated and also hit hard by bots. Sorry. That's the thing about online…
dolittle | August 7, 2010Based on information presented at the Global Change
and Global Science: Comparative Physiology in a
Changing World conference,
August 4-7, 2010 in Westminster, Colorado
"In trying to predict how species will respond to climate change caused by global warming, researchers and scientists are turning to comparative physiology, a sub-discipline of physiology that studies how different organisms function and adapt to diverse and changing environments. By comparing different species to each other, as well as to members within a species that live in different environments, researchers are learning…
jgoldman | August 7, 2010Dear friend of the blog and frequent commenter the Dog Zombie just got her masters!!!!! She studies dog brains by pursuing DVM and MS degrees. One degree down, and two to go!
She writes (via email) that she was
a little worried that people would think "why do I care about something touchy-feely like whether hospitalized dogs are stressed?" But people did show up, and asked really good questions, so I gather that they were listening and absorbing. A lot of people told me I did a good job, so I presume that I did. Actual defense went fine. Really glad to be done :)
Personally I think it is…
dr. dolittle | August 7, 2010Last full day of the conference. This morning I will take in Global Change and the Emerging Threat of Dead Zones: Can Individuals, Populations, Species and Communities Respond to Increasing Hypoxic Oceans? (Altieri). Also interested in The Physiology of Trace Metal Homeostasis and Toxicity (Grosell). Oral abstracts begin after lunch and poster sessions start late afternoon.
Best of all, tonight is the Awards Banquet. Of the three awards that I'm aware of, my favorite is the Comparative Physiology Section Scholander Award, the most prestigious young investigator award presented by APS in the…
gregladen | August 7, 2010Oceanographer John Delaney is leading the team that is building an underwater network of high-def cameras and sensors that will turn our ocean into a global interactive lab -- sparking an explosion of rich data about the world below.