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gregladen | December 17, 2007The Foja Mountains have been the subject of investigation for a couple of years now, and new species are being found there on a regular basis. The lastest, from last June, is the discovery of a possum and a rat.
The Foja Mountains are in Paupa, Indonesia, and form part of the norther ridge of the central mountain range on this large island. There are no records of visitors to this remote area prior to the late 1970s. In december, 2005, a joint international team of scientists bean documenting plants and animals in the area, and subsequently there have been reports of at lease one new bird…
cortex | December 17, 2007For a wonderful example of Oliver Sacks' "romantic scientific method" at work - a method he borrowed, at least in part, from the great Russian neurologist A.R. Luria - listen to this NPR piece, by Robert Krulwich.
It's a beautiful story about the power of stories to help us make sense of our ourselves. Here's how I summarized this romantic method in my recent profile of Sacks:
In his writings, he [Sacks] uses music as a metaphor for his unusual approach to medicine. He cites a Novalis aphorism--"Every disease is a musical problem; every cure is a musical solution"--in several books, usually…
sb admin | December 17, 2007Susan Wood (see her past Pump Handle posts here) has an op-ed in today's Boston Globe: "A public health system defeated at the hands of ideology." She focuses on the Bush administration's "failure to staff important health-related positions with qualified individuals willing to provide science-based advice" -- a problem that's particularly glaring when it comes to reproductive health issues.
grrlscientist | December 17, 2007
Image: Philadelphia City Paper
You only have one week left before Christmas eve arrives, so I assume that you might be getting ready to panic and spend your hard-earned money on just anything, so you can say you gave your loved ones gifts. So I thought I'd help you spend your money wisely by compiling a list of holiday gift ideas based on clever and much-appreciated gifts that my readers have given me throughout the year as well as some gift ideas that I've used in the past.
DVDs;
The Life of Birds: A must-have for kids and adults who are interested in birds. I also recommend this series…
gregladen | December 16, 2007In New York City, a group of Jews were beaten by Christians, as an expression of Christmas Holiday cheer. One of the assailants was previously convicted of anti-black hate crime.
Bill O'Reilly has some strong supporters in New York City....
A group of people exchanging holiday greetings on a subway last week hurled anti-Semitic slurs and beat four Jewish riders who had wished them "Happy Hanukkah," ...
The four Jewish riders were on a train in lower Manhattan during the eight-day Jewish Festival of Lights when they were approached by a group of 10 people who offered holiday greetings.
When…
bushwells | December 16, 2007On the 30th of September 2007, Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Sam Harris and Christopher Hitchens sat down for a first-of-its-kind, unmoderated 2-hour discussion, convened by the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science and filmed by Josh Timonen. I must say that Hitchens is looking quite resplendent. I wonder if this conversation was filmed after Hitchens' self-improvement project was completed?
Please view at your leisure and talk amongst yourselves. And really, don't you have two hours to spare during this tranquil time of the year?
Pant-hoots, grooming session and a carafe…
gregladen | December 15, 2007The Four Stone Hearth Blog Carnival will be at The Greenbelt on December 19th. You should send your posts in any area of anthropology to host@fourstonehearth.net ...
The current Four Stone Hearth is at remote central.
gregladen | December 15, 2007Friday Ark # 169 Blog Carnival is HERE.
I and the Bird #64 - Iowa Caucuses Edition is HERE.
pharyngula | December 14, 2007See, Larry Moran approves of my column in Seed — I'll mention when it is available online, but you'd have it already if you subscribed…and this is also the perfect time to give a gift subscription.
(I know, I'm such a shameless pitchman.)
grrlscientist | December 14, 2007tags: brain blogging, blog carnivals
The 23rd edition of the Brain Blogging carnival is now available for you to enjoy. And hey, they included one of my pieces!
cmcclain | December 14, 2007
Kevin Zelnio is at the top of my list for musicians singing about invertebrates and the deep sea. The competition is small but Kevin is king.
Unfortunately, Kevin has some stiff competition. A one man band, Pagan Wanderer Lu, is leading a project to "highlight the plight of the Giant Isopod". In 2008, there will be a tribute CD released. You can hear 4 of the songs at the Bathynomuslove Records Myspace page. The tracks so far are predominately from British bands. More about the biology of Bathynomus here, here, and video here.
Paul Hawkins - Isopod (I can evolve)
Pocus Whiteface -…
grrlscientist | December 14, 2007tags: Friday Ark, blog carnivals
The 169th edition of the Friday Ark is now available for you to enjoy. This blog carnival focuses on sharing animal photography, and they included several contributions from me!
cortex | December 14, 2007There was a very astute comment left in response to my post on evolution and psychopaths:
Normal people (however you define that term) can be desensitized to the suffering of others. Soldiers fighting in a war - those who don't become shellshocked - become insensitive to killing and wounding. Indeed, people with ordinary lives sometimes have to "harden their hearts" just to do their jobs.
I think one of the more uplifting facts of human nature is that it's very hard for us to "harden our hearts". Consider the behavior of soldiers during war. On the battlefield, men are explicitly encouraged…
cmcclain | December 14, 2007Behemoth is the only word that comes to mind as I discuss, with mouth agape, about the deep-sea drilling vessel Chikyu. JAMSTEC, the Japanese Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology, launched a venture in 2005 to take the deepest cores into the earth's crust following the route of Nautilus in Jules Verne's novel. The deepest core into the crust was currently 2111m but during the Center for Deep Earth Exploration (CDEX) the goal was 7000m. To accomplish this...the Japanese unleash Chikyu which translates into "earth", a fitting name given the size of the ship. Yes it is really that big…
cmcclain | December 14, 2007Christina Kellogg invited me to give a seminar at the joint USGS/University of Southern Florida College of Marine Science. Overall I think the talk went well, but you can be the judge. You can view the whole talk about seamounts here in all of its glory (warning the file size is very large). Viewing it reminded me of Robert de Niro's statement "I don't like to watch my own movies - I fall asleep in my own movies." When I worked at my college radio station, which I enjoyed thoroughly, I never listened to the broadcast later. The radio gig always left me puzzled by how I sounded and viewing…
cmcclain | December 14, 2007My wife felt it important to share this with me and I feel its my duty to pass it along. 100 of these lovely cards are only $139.00 with your own text printed inside.
Send a bit of whimsy to your holiday card recipients with the Jumping Dolphin Holiday Card. A dolphin adorned with red and green ribbon trimmed in gold foil breaks the surface of the water, rising toward the nighttime sky filled with twinkling gold stars. The palm trees on the nearby shore and the colorful plants and fish under the water's surface are accented with gold and lend a festive feel to this colorful card
cmcclain | December 13, 2007I can't think of anything worse than this...I really tried. This completely ruined two of my favorite things Christmas and the ocean.