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pharyngula | February 25, 2009It was with some trepidation that I learned Ken Miller was on "This I Believe"…but hey, it's actually good stuff that I agree with. Go ahead, even us delicate little atheists can listen to it.
gregladen | February 25, 2009Lizzie, got a job. It's a pretty nice job, with benefits and a salary and everything. Not in her field (biology), but it is a job she likes. So I took her out for a congratulatory dinner, which ultimately gave me a chance to try a new restaurant. Also, we had been in a routine for a few months of meeting almost every week to work on a project, and those meetings had stopped due to scheduling issues (like, that she went and got a job ...). It was time for another dose.
... continued ...
dgmacarthur | February 25, 2009From an editorial in this week's Nature:
Indeed, researchers would do well to blog more than they do. The experience of journals such as Cell and PLoS ONE,
which allow people to comment on papers online, suggests that
researchers are very reluctant to engage in such forums. But the
blogosphere tends to be less inhibited, and technical discussions there
seem likely to increase.
Moreover, there are
societal debates that have much to gain from the uncensored voices of
researchers. A good blogging website consumes much of the spare time of
the one or several fully committed scientists that write…
grrlscientist | February 25, 2009Here's the latest blog carnivals for you to read;
The very first issue of Diversity in Science blog carnival, which celebrates minorities and under-represented groups who are scientists and those who are working to increase the overall diversity of working scientists.
I also was asked to let you know that there is an upcoming issue of the homeschooling blog carnival that is seeking submissions. This blog carnival was recently renamed the "academy of science and technology" blog carnival because the carnival owner wants to expand its horizons and refocus the topics onto science. Specifically…
nisbetmc | February 25, 2009
Last night in his State of the Union address, Obama asked Congress to send him a bill that caps carbon emissions, with the president framing the matter primarily in the context of economic recovery and energy innovation:
"But to truly transform our economy, protect our security, and save our planet from the ravages of climate change, we need to ultimately make clean, renewable energy the profitable kind of energy. So I ask this Congress to send me legislation that places a market-based cap on carbon pollution and drives the production of more renewable energy in America. And to support…
illconsidered | February 25, 2009Contrary to the popular talking point, climate models do take into account H2O as a greenhouse gas. In fact, it is the largest single feedback factor in the climate system. And also contrary to another popular talking point, models are being validated in many ways.
Go have a read at Gristmill for a post by Andrew Dessler on a recent paper he co-authored[PDF] that seeks to assess the state of current climate science literature on the topic of water vapor feedback in models and the climate system. He describes papers raw material as a "mountain of evidence" supporting a strongly positive…
sb admin | February 25, 2009Yesterday, the Institute of Medicine warned that employment-based health insurance coverage is eroding, and that the safety net (clinics and emergency rooms that provide charity and uncompensated care) wonât be able to handle the demand from the uninsured. IOMâs new report, Americaâs Uninsured Crisis: Consequences for Health and Health Care, notes that the decline in health insurance coverage â with 45.7 million uninsured at last count â is likely to continue. Hereâs how they describe the situation in the accompanying policy brief:
A number of ominous signs point to a continuing decline in…
mspringer | February 25, 2009Like the Indiana Pi Bill before it, the Illinois Legislature's attempt to weigh in on the planetary status of Pluto is kind of silly. But not so silly as you might think.
The Indiana Pi Bill in popular legend was an attempt to bring the stubborn decimal expansion of pi into accord with the Biblical value of 3. Of course like many popular legends it's entirely incorrect. The bill didn't set pi equal to three, didn't even mention pi directly at all, didn't contain binding language regardless, and was wholly unrelated to any religious or metaphysical idea. (Anyway I suspect the ancient…
cortex | February 25, 2009In case you were wondering how you should invest your retirement savings (assuming you're fortunate enough to still have some), yet another study demonstrates that low cost index funds are the way to go:
Basic stock market index funds generally aspire to nothing more than matching the returns of a market benchmark. So in a miserable year for stocks, index funds may not look very appealing. But it turns out that, after fees and taxes, it is the extremely rare actively managed fund or hedge fund that does better than a simple index fund.
That, at least, is the finding of a new study by Mark…
cwilcox | February 24, 2009Can't find that perfect piece to tie your living room together?
How about your DNA?
A company called DNA 11 offers you the opportunity to turn your genes into works of art. They're actually quite attractive, too. Kind of modern-styling with a nerd edge:
Of course, it'll cost you at least $169 a piece, but hey - that's the price of a quality artwork! I guarantee you when I stop being a broke scientist*, I'm going to get me one of these for my house that I'll be able to afford*. They're just too cool
*wishful thinking, I knowHat-Tip
tqa | February 24, 2009The first Diversity in Science blog carnival is up over at Urban Scientist. This one is truly a must read - particularly if you're unfamiliar with the subject.
mspringer | February 24, 2009Whew. You may have noticed things have been quiet around here. There's a reason. This weekend I drove to Slidell, Louisiana to be the best man at my friend Aaron's wedding. He was my college roommate at LSU, and he's about the best friend a person could ask for. After graduation, he's gone on to help NASA test rocket engines at Stennis Space Center at roughly twice my salary. Huzzah for grad school!
Anyway the ceremony was very nice, and at the reception I met someone who recognized my name as a writer here at ScienceBlogs. What are the odds? But hey, fleeting fame is not such a bad…
cortex | February 24, 2009One of the frustrations with writing a science book is that you keep on bumping into brand new research that you want to include. That's precisely what happened to me when I read this just published paper in the Journal of Consumer Research by Leonard Lee, Dan Ariely, and On Amir. The behavioral economists were interested in evaluating which decision-making system - the slow rational, deliberate approach (System 1) or the fast, emotional, instinctive approach (System 2) - was best suited for everyday consumer choices. The question, of course, is how one defines a "superior" decision. Who's to…
drorzel | February 23, 2009
editors / 23 / 02 / 2009 / Views / Home - Inside Higher Ed
Inside Higher Ed has done a comprehensive redesign of the site, including a bunch of new features. The best online academic journal just got better.
(tags: academia computing internet)
The Reality-Based Community: Annals of sexist oppression
"In the middle of a long thread on a writers' list-serv, provoked by my post on fashion models, it occurred to me that one of the unrecognized ways women are kept dependent and threatened is simply denying them pockets. This is more important than one might think, right up there with hobbling…
gregladen | February 23, 2009It is almost Spring in the Northern Hemisphere. One thing this means that US citizens and I'd bet some Canadians will be receiving the annual Brown Recluse Spider Warnings via Email. In order to reduce the negative effects of this email spamish meme, I hereby inoculate you. If you get the email, which usually comes with dire warnings and lots of photographs of bad things happening to people's flesh allegedly because of a recluse spider bite, just delete it.
Look at this map and read the caption:
This map is based on data collected by arachnologists and is provided courtesy of Rick…
jwilbanks | February 23, 2009Sorry for the long delay between posts. I was robbed at the beginning of the month, losing my laptop, passport, other pieces of digital technology and identification, house keys, work keys, pens, papers, business cards and so forth. I'm just now catching up with all the real-life work that piled up during the seven-days-without-a-computer phase.
I have some posts queued up, trying to finish out the lengthy series on copyright and databases. And I am going to try to write something approaching a final summary on why I don't like licensing as an approach for databases, instead preferring the…