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jwilbanks | July 30, 2009I spoke last week at an event at the British Library about the future of the scientific article. It was a lively event - lots of friendfeed and twitter reactions - and it got me thinking a lot about the way we use publication in science.
In my conversations with research staff and leaders at the BL, I ran across this statement. Publishers frequently claim four functions: registration (when was an idea stated?), certification (is the idea original, has it been "proved" to satisfactory peer review?), dissemination (delivery), and preservation of the record. The journal thus provides for both…
sb admin | July 30, 2009TIMEâs Laura Blue notes that the U.S. has an appalling rate of preterm births (we were ranked 30th in the world in 2005, behind Cuba and Poland) and that prematurity costs us around $26 billion a year â but, she tells us, researchers donât know why we have this problem. In many cases, thereâs an apparent cause â like the motherâs age or health status, the babies being multiples, or a caesarean-section delivery â but doctors still canât pinpoint a culprit in approximately 40% of preterm births.
Blue highlights the work of Emory University researcher Dr. Alfred Brann, who uses a different…
mspringer | July 30, 2009As a student I know that toward the end of the semester it's sometimes a struggle to pay attention and retain motivation. As a teacher I have to try to fight that tendency in whatever way I can. It's not necessarily possible to make a physics quiz entertaining, but sometimes they can at least be made interesting.
You have a baseball-sized lump of metallic cobalt-60. It's radioactive, and is thus spitting energy in all directions mostly in the form of beta and gamma radiation. Wrap it in a sufficiently thick lead shell and that radiative energy is going to be absorbed and converted to…
grrlscientist | July 30, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 3425 - 1364 - 1316 - 1242 - 1205 out of 394 candidates registered. YIKES! I am now in fourth place! Obviously, I need your votes more than ever to recapture first place, so please ask your friends and relatives to vote for me now!
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay; hopefully, you will…
cortex | July 30, 2009The Neurocritic has a fascinating summary of a recent paper investigating different types of memory in marathon runners. Why marathoners? Because completing a 26.2 mile race is an insanely arduous exercise, and leads to the massive release of stress hormones such as cortisol. Here are the scientists:
Indeed, cortisol levels recorded 30 min after completion of a marathon rival those reported in military training and interrogation (Taylor et al., 2007), rape victims being treated acutely (Resnick, Yehuda, Pitman, & Foy, 1995), severe burn injury patients (Norbury, Herndon, Branski, Chinkes…
grrlscientist | July 29, 2009
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) is a 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. To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either use this automated submission form or use the cute little widget on the right (sometimes that widget doesn't upload when the mother site is sick). Be sure to include the URL or "…
gregladen | July 29, 2009Yes! And one of the top staff of that department just sent PZ Myers and the Secular Student Alliance a letter warning them to behave on their upcoming trip to the Creation Museum.
I hope every single one of those overtly homosexual visiting heathens is armed. With a Flip. I have one I can loan you if you are a local, just let me know.
Armbands will not be tolerated!!!!
gregladen | July 29, 2009Hey man. I confess that did not groove to it, that I did not feel the beat and sense the vibes. But now I do. Hidden. Hidden deep in her sorry salty subtle soul all this time and I did not sense the vibes.
Because I could not do the transformation like William.
Before (watch between 1 minute and 1 minute and 45 seconds):
After:
Sorry, you will have to click here to feel the vibes.
gregladen | July 29, 2009Or, more accurately, of their book Unscientific America: How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens our Future ... will be found here, in Stephanie Zvan's latest post at Quiche Moraine.
grrlscientist | July 29, 2009My fifth blogoversary is coming on 4 August 2009 (FIVE YEARS of continuous blog writing!), and I'd like to celebrate with all of you. I'd like to meet my readers and all those who write for ScienceBlogs and for Nature Networks who are in NYC for a party this weekend, preferably on either Friday or Saturday evening for a drink- and food-fest. If you cannot comment here, please email me at GrrlScientist@scienceblogs.com so we can arrange something fun in the Big Apple. (Of course, I am happy to meet you on other days as well, if this works out) If you ask nicely, I will get us in to the AMNH to…
grrlscientist | July 29, 2009Since I have recently developed quite a history of visiting cold and snowy places, often during the winter, I wish to preserve that tradition. I am competing for the opportunity to go to Antarctica in February 2010 -- a dream adventure that I've always wanted to pursue (and almost did pursue when I was an undergraduate researching Fin Whales and Crabeater Seals at the University of Washington). To enter, all candidates must publish a picture of themselves and write an essay explaining why we think we are the best choice, and solicit votes from the public. Whomever receives the most votes wins…
grrlscientist | July 29, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 3299 - 1318 - 1264 - 1231 - 1192 out of 402 candidates registered. YIKES! I am now in fourth place! Obviously, I need your votes more than ever to recapture first place, so please ask your friends and relatives to vote for me now!
If you've already voted, then please encourage your family, friends, colleagues and neighbors to vote for the person whom you think would be best for this unique job: traveling to Antarctica for the month of February 2010 and writing about it for the public on a blog. Here is my 300-word essay; hopefully, you will…
cortex | July 29, 2009Over at Mind Matters, there's a cool post by Fionnuala Butler and Cynthia Picketton on the benefits of watching television when lonely, which seems to provide the same sort of emotional relief as spending time with real people:
For decades, psychologists have been interested in understanding how individuals achieve and maintain social relationships in order to ward off social isolation and loneliness. The vast majority of this research has focused on relationships between real individuals interacting face-to-face. Recent research has widened this focus from real relationships to faux, "…
grrlscientist | July 28, 2009
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) is a 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. To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either use this automated submission form or use the cute little widget on the right (sometimes that widget doesn't upload when the mother site is sick). Be sure to include the URL or "…
gregladen | July 28, 2009Europeans laughing at each other:
A Swedish couple in search of the isle of Capri drove to Carpi, an industrial town in northern Italy, because they misspelt the name in their car's GPS.
Italian officials say the couple asked at Carpi's tourist office where they could find Capri's famous Blue Grotto.
...
"Capri is an island. They did not even wonder why they didn't cross any bridge or take any boat," said a bemused tourism official in Carpi.
bbc
edyong | July 28, 2009Folks,
I'm taking a bit of a breather from blogging for a week. My wife and I are celebrating our second-year anniversary and I'm lavishing her with attention for a week. It's also a busy time at my day job, and it's a slow news week - a fortuitous confluence of events which mean that I get to put my feet up for a bit.
I'll be back with fresh material probably on Sunday. Until then, I'll be posting up some oldies (but goodies) from the Wordpress site.
E
gregladen | July 28, 2009The Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday voted to approve Sonia Sotomayor as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice over nearly solid Republican opposition, paving the way for a historic confirmation vote.
source
Only one Republican voted in favor of Sotomayor (Linsey Graham). What bunch of morons.