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tqa | June 21, 2006There are a number of places on this planet where the signal of evolution is readily apparent to anyone who cares to look. Most of those places are islands. It's no coincidence that Darwin made the Galapagos famous, or that Wallace did his most important work in the Malay Archipelago. As helpful as those places were to the discovery of evolution, they pale in comparison with the Hawaiian Islands, and I'm not saying that because I work there. We've got examples of evolution out here that will knock your socks off.
More than ninety percent of everything that is native to the above sea level…
ddobbs | June 21, 2006Now here's a provoking notion: PTSD in elephants .In an arresting article in Seed, Gay Bradshaw, a professor at Oregon State University, describes the implications of several studies of elephant groups in which wayward youngsters went a-wilding, essentially, murdering rhinos and creating mayhem. The young male elephants were from social groups that had been fragmented and lost the social structure that most elephants grow up in. She speculates that the loss of that social structure gave the rogue elephants what amounts to post-traumatic stress syndrome.
This offers plenty of interest on…
grrlscientist | June 20, 2006For those of you who are following the World Cup, I ran across an article this morning at that has quite a few links that describe the science of World Cup soccer. Linked from this article are interesting studies showing that teams who wear red uniforms are most likely to win, that winning is great but losing is safer for the fans, and that "heading the ball" is associated with an increased risk of motor neuron disease.
Read this article for these and more interesting reports of soccer-based or inspired research.
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tags: science, soccer, research
purepedantry | June 19, 2006I have a bagillion things to do this week, but I would note that many of the other bloggers on this site are running a fundraiser for DonorsChoose. DonorsChoose raises money so that teachers can do science projects with kids -- hopefully involving explosions though I have not independently validated that. Anyway here is the Seed Blog's post summarizing what is up with that and all the people trying to raise funds.
Science matters, and if you want science to continue to matter you need future scientists. You got to get 'em while they're young if you know what I mean. So if you have some…
purepedantry | June 19, 2006How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?...
We can answer this with a multiple choice question...
Jake manages to find time to blog because
A) he writes while waiting for gels to run, reactions to run their course, cells to grow, etc.
B) he has little or no other personal life.
C) he has been heavily sleep deprived since some time in the late Clinton administration.
The answer is D, all of the above.
In fact, I do often blog while I am waiting for stuff to…
stcynic | June 19, 2006I haven't yet attempted to answer any of the Ask a Science Blogger questions, but I think I'll give this week's question a shot. The question is:
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
Well, I'm not a grad student, a post-doc, a scientist or anything that suggests that someone actually works hard to earn a living, but this is a question I've gotten from others as well. This is especially true because I'm probably one of the most prolific of the bloggers here,…
stcynic | June 19, 2006How can you do anything but laugh about this sort of macho posturing?
As some of you may know, I took a trip to Cleveland on Saturday to give those who call me a liar an opportunity to say that to me to my face. Like I stated before, none of those spreading that libelous lie had the backbone to show. These same cowards have one more chance to meet me in person. October 2007 at the Blogging Man 2007 blogging conference in Reno, NV...
I'm rather disappointed. I haven't been in a good fight in a few years and was kind of looking forward to busting some faces.
Oh Gribbit, you're such a manly man…
neurotopia | June 19, 2006My dad just emailed me and told me he'll match the next $100 of contributions, so make sure you click the icon under my profile and donate!!!
tqa | June 19, 2006One of the things I've been thinking about doing in this new version of the blog is a series of posts on the biology of the Hawaiian Islands. The designation of the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands as a National Monument earlier this week gave me both a kick in the right direction, and a geographical starting point for the series.
In the next couple of days, I'll get the series started. The first post or two will discuss some general features of the geological history of the islands, and how that relates to the historical biology of the islands. With any luck, I should be able to convince you…
grrlscientist | June 19, 2006Did you know that Dutch football (soccer) fans' orange lederhosen offended the Fédération Internationale de Football Association or FIFA, because they carry the logo for the Dutch beer, Bavaria? The Dutch brewery that makes Bavaria beer is not a sponsor for the games, so officials did not want the logo to be seen in the stadium -- especially since several thousand screaming fans were wearing identical lederhosen.
What makes these pants so special? In addition to their garrish orange color, these were special pants for other reasons; they came with the tail of a lion, Holland's national…
tqa | June 18, 2006Japan managed to buy enought votes at the recent meeting of the International Whaling Commission to pass a resolution declaring that the moratorium on whaling was meant to be temporary and is no longer needed. The resolution is not all that significant from a practical standpoint - it takes a super-majority to actually end the moratorium, and Japan's going to have to bribe a bunch more countries before they hit that mark. However, it apparently did enough for the morale of the Japanese whalers enough for them to unilaterally declare that they are going to increase their "scientific" whale…
purepedantry | June 18, 2006The Scientific Activist has a post on chemistry to create little people looking chemicals. I don't remember chemistry being nearly this cool.
neurotopia | June 18, 2006Wow, that was a nail biting miracle. The US held off a penalty card massacre and a tough Italian team to draw 1-1 with only 9 players on the field. The drawback? Read on....
...we haven't scored a single goal yet in this Cup. That's right, our only "goal" actually came off one of the Italian defenders. Our first real goal came late in the second half off a beautiful shot by Beasley, but it was taken back due to an offsides call. Talk about frusturating!!!
I'm extremely upset because the Americans played a tough-as-nails game, especially in the second half, and I have little doubt they…
grrlscientist | June 17, 2006This entry is for everyone who thinks that World Cup soccer (futbol) is not popular in the USA, think again: it's danged popular in Manhattan right now! At this moment, I am sitting in a pub, watching the USA-Italy game and there are at least 70 people crowded in here watching along with me, including three other women.
Needless to say, there is plenty of profanity here, especially after the two three missed USA goals and the one successful Italian goal. And there was plenty of cheering after the American goal and plenty more after Mastroeni De Rossie was kicked out of the game because he…
tqa | June 16, 2006I'll be more or less out of the loop this weekend, due to some family things in another state. (That's one of the downsides to living in Hawaii. Any out-of-state travel requires a minimum of 10 hours in the air roundtrip.) I'm hoping to have a few things go up on the blog while I'm away, but comments and trackbacks might not appear immediately - some get held up for approval by the moderation system.
grrlscientist | June 16, 2006I woke up this morning, feeling under the weather, so I have not been doing much writing today. Sorry about that. I had planned to put together a few more pieces for you to read today, but analgesics have dulled my writing ambitions along with my pain. I did download three scientific papers this afternoon that I plan to write about this evening and over the weekend, so you can be looking for those pieces. Until then, I hope that my answer to this week's question from the Mothership will satisfy you.
Question How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs…
neurotopia | June 16, 2006Great news!!!! SEED is going to match our Donor challenge up to $10,000 bucks!!! So click the Donor icon below my profile and give some love to a cash-strapped classroom or school! If nothing tickles your fancy, scroll through the other SEED bloggers' challenges and find something that you like!!
mikethemadbiologist | June 16, 2006From the Seed Hive Mind comes the following question:
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
As a PI, I actually find blogging to be a good release, and I don't find that it takes nearly as much time as people think. For me, when I'm inspired to write, the words come quickly (if not coherently). Plus, I don't watch television, which frees up lots of time that most people don't even realize they're pissing away.
The other aid is that I usually have a bunch…
purepedantry | June 15, 2006The Synapse now has a permanent page with some kickass clip art for icons. Click on The Synapse at the top of this page. Check back often for the newest issue and submission guidelines. The current submission date is the 25th of June.
UPDATE: By the way (I am so skatterbrained), we are not the only proud neuroscience carnival on the web. Neurophilosopher's Blog is organizing the first Encephalon starting on July 3rd. Interested parties should submit to encephalon_submit {AT} yahoo {DOT} com. Neuroscience is a big world people, so I am certain there is more than enough of it to go…