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ddobbs | July 8, 2009I must keep my nose on the not-beta, hidden-till-last-minute, writing-Not-For-FREE grindstone, where it's getting shredded to bits -- but in the meantime, wanted to pass on these worthy web distractions, worthy of full engagement if you've the time:
Vaughan Bell peeks at The long dark nightie of the soul and wonders "why mentally distressed women are always portrayed in their nighties." Separately, he considers some strange security concerns raised by the growing use of brain implants.
Much interesting attention to schizophrenia this week: A big study parsing the genetics of schizophrenia,…
cortex | July 8, 2009Why are schizophrenics three to four times more likely to smoke cigarettes than the general population? Over at Brainblogger, Dirk Hanson has a fascinating summary of a few recent papers that tried to understand this saga of self-medication. Nicotine, it turns out, can significantly reduce the sensory symptoms associated with the mental illness. And given that we're unlikely to untangle the genetic causes of schizophrenia anytime soon - the most recent genetic analyses demonstrated just how stunningly complex the illness is - the palliative effects of cigarettes are an important window into…
grrlscientist | July 7, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 833 - 628 - 564 - 493 - 416 out of 248 candidates registered. I am in second place, and third place is creeping up on me. Wow, am I that undesirable as an official blogger?
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 agree that I am a very well-qualified candidate for this…
gregladen | July 7, 2009It has come to my attention that you may not know how to do it.
Once you practice a while, you will look just like this:
And, if you practice enough you will be able to moonwalk like a ghost:
mspringer | July 7, 2009Today was my first day teaching recitation for the summer session Physics 202, the algebra-based second half of intro physics. Physics 202 focuses mostly on electricity and magnetism, where the first course (Physics 201) was mostly classical mechanics.
The summer semester is split into halves for university-wide administrative reasons that are somewhat obscure. The gist of it for me is that I'm only the TA for the second half, replacing the previous guy. As it happens my first topic was electromagnetic inductance, and after going through inductance, mutual inductance, energy in an inductor…
cortex | July 7, 2009It is now abundantly clear that the global economy remains mired in a dismal slump. Consumer confidence is still hurting; the unemployment is still rising; home prices are still falling. Despite the best efforts of Congress and the Treasury Department, nobody knows where the bottom is, or when it will arrive.
Obviously, there are no easy solutions. But it's worth considering how we got here if only to better understand how we might get out. One way to look at the current mess is as a collective breakdown of trust, which led (after the failure of Lehman Brothers, etc.) to frozen credit markets…
grrlscientist | July 6, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 787 - 616 - 551 - 471 - 358 out of 241 candidates registered. I am in second place.
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 agree that I am a very well-qualified candidate for this job opportunity. Voting ends noon EDT on 30 September and there is one vote allowed per…
grrlscientist | July 6, 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) was published today at Greg Laden's Blog.
Scientia Pro Publica (Science for the People) is a traveling 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.
The host for the upcoming 6 July edition is Greg, author of Greg Laden's Blog. To send your submissions to Scientia Pro Publica, either…
grrlscientist | July 6, 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, we must write an essay explaining why we think we are the best choice, and solicit votes from the public. Whomever receives the most votes wins the job. But I am not the only one who thinks I…
mspringer | July 6, 2009You're all familiar with Dr. Isis, also of ScienceBlogs? She likes cute things. She likes science. Despite the fact that I'm a so-square-I'm-practically-cubic reactionary, I like both of those things too. But when physicists try to make their physics cute it's a cringe-worthy disaster waiting to happen.
In the mail today was a flier from the city municipal water supply. It contained information about the various tested properties of the city water, including contaminant levels and that sort of thing. Among the properties listed was:
Diluted Conductance: 882 μmhos/cm
*Cringe* What they'…
razib | July 5, 2009I have posted Creationism as a function of geography before. John Lynch pointed me to a new poll of Argentina, China, Egypt, Great Britain, India, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Spain and the USA. Though the set of countries is smaller than in some surveys, the number of questions asked were much larger:
-Heard of Darwin
-Not Heard of Darwin
-Know a good/fair amountKnow a little/not much
-Know nothing
-Agree that scientific evidence for evolution exists
-Do not think there is scientific evidence for evolution
-Neither agree nor disagree there is scientific evidence for evolution
-Think it is…
grrlscientist | July 5, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 746 - 593 - 493 - 425 - 298 out of 235 candidates registered. I am in second place.
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 agree that I am a very well-qualified candidate for this job opportunity. Voting ends 30 September and there is one vote allowed per valid email…
gregladen | July 5, 2009The best of last June
Continuing with our discussion of the Evolution 2008 conference, I was hoping to meet T. Ryan Gregory yesterday. He is listed on the Evolution 2008 program as an author of a talk on genome size. Goodnews/badnews: Gregory did not show, but the talk, given by his coauthor working in his lab, was excellent, so we didn't need him.
The research was done, and the paper delivered, by Jillian Smith. The title of the paper was "Genome size evolution in mammals" but it was more focused on specific results Jillian had come up with regarding bats.
source The bottom line is…
grrlscientist | July 5, 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 "…
pharyngula | July 5, 2009A young man with muscular dystrophy, who by all accounts is of good character and even exceptional attitude, is in a contest to win a beach vacation. All you have to do is go to this site and click to improve his odds of winning a well-deserved break.
(via Ctrl-Alt-Del)
gregladen | July 5, 2009Organ virtuoso Qi Zhang plays her electric rendering of "Ridiculous Fellows" from Prokofiev's "The Love for Three Oranges" orchestral suite. This exhilarating performance from TEDx USC features the Yamaha Electone Stagea, a rare, imported instrument specially programmed by Qi herself.
skookumchick | July 5, 2009Should have posted this yesterday; my excuse is that I'm still on Dutch time. Hope you had a restful 4th with you and yours. It rained all day here, but stopped in time for the fireworks. Of course, my husband and I were watching Casino Royale on TV instead of watching them... does that make us old? Or just uncool?
Here's a little snippet of giggles a propos as long as people keep shooting off firecrackers in my neighborhood...
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009The current Antarctic Trip Vote count is as follows; 728 - 582 - 455 - 368 - 292 out of 228 candidates registered. I am in second place.
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 agree that I am a very well-qualified candidate for this job opportunity. Voting ends 30 September and there is one vote allowed per valid…
grrlscientist | July 4, 2009tags: fireworks, fourth of july, independence day
Image: Orphaned [larger view].