June 15, 2006
It is something like homeschooling, except there is no learning involved. People are performing their own private church services at home instead of going to the local megachurch. Why do you think this is catching on? Is it good or bad?
June 15, 2006
John Anderson is onto something here....Read his entire article and comment.
June 15, 2006
Al Gore's movie is opening locally tomorrow (though not in the theater up the street) and I am really looking forward to seeing it. I have just read what is, in my opinion, the best review of the movie: Brokeback Earth by Godfrey Cheshire. It is long but well worth your time.
The first page or…
June 15, 2006
A lot of interesting posts appeared over the past day or two concerning evolutionary theory, what evolution is and how it works.
It all started with Jonah Lehrer's article in SEED Magazine on the ideas of Joan Roughgarden:The Gay Animal Kingdom to which PZ Myers responded with Evolution and…
June 15, 2006
The new question-of-the-week was just beemed down from the mothership:
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?
I do not have a day job! I am a stay-at-home dad.
I…
June 15, 2006
Bush to Create World's Largest Marine Protected Area Near Hawaii
".....A turning point came in April, when Bush sat through a 65-minute private White House screening of a PBS documentary that unveiled the beauty of -- and perils facing -- the archipelago's aquamarine waters and its nesting seabirds…
June 15, 2006
Janet has the update on our educational fundraiser. People are pitching in, a little bit of money at a time. But....but, where are my readers?! Only $10 so far?! Come on - I know you can do better than that! Click here:
Help public school kids through my DonorsChoose challenge!
June 15, 2006
Can it get any better than this! The Five Fists of Science, starring Mark Twain and Nikola Tesla in a race to save the world from Thomas Edison and J.P Morgan! I immediatelly pre-ordered the book and can't wait to read it.
Update: I just got an e-mail from Amazon that the book is finally out and…
June 15, 2006
The Aquatic Ape theory is bunk, but Aquatic Sparrow theory just got a huge boost. There is no way I can explain the Big Evolution News Of The Day as well as Grrrlscientist did, so please go here and enjoy the amazing news of the wading/aquatic ancestors of all modern birds, with the beuatiful…
June 15, 2006
When I first uploaded the banner it was kinda mrky and muted. Look at it now! Clear and gorgeous!
Thanks for the banner go (again) to Carel Pieter Brest Van Kempen. You may want to visit his website to check his artwork (and perhaps buy some, or comission your own banner). You can see some of…
June 15, 2006
This Monday night I taught lecture #7 of the 8-week Intro Biology course (adult education at a community college). First, I gave them their Exam #2 (on Diversity, see my lecture notes on those topics here, here and here). The flat distribution of the first exam has now turned bimodal: some…
June 15, 2006
This is my first ever post on education. I wrote it on the John Edwards' primary campaign blog on December 23, 2003, and later re-posted it on http://www.jregrassroots.org/ forums. I republished it on August 23, 2004 on Science And Politics and republished it again on December 05, 2005 on The…
June 15, 2006
You will see (almost) identical text below on many SEED science blogs because we are all doing this together, as a team, so it is not a case of mass plagiarism:
Those of us who blog here at ScienceBlogs think science is cool, important, and worth understanding. If you're reading the blogs here,…
June 14, 2006
Amanda reviews the lies about sex and contraception that are peddled by the Catholic church in their pre-marital classes:
Pandagon goes undercover the lazy way on a Catholic anti-contraception seminar
and
Pandagon goes undercover the lazy way on a Catholic anti-contraception seminar, Pt. II
June 14, 2006
Henry and Janine Cate of Why Homeschool will be hosting the next edition of Carnival of Education. If you write something appropriate for this carnival by by 7:00 PM PST on the Tuesday, the 20th of June, send your entry to them at: cate3 AT panix DOT com
June 14, 2006
I was checking sporadically his blog throughout the day to see when the good news will get posted and, lo and behold, here it is! Reed Cartwright has successfully defended his PhD dissertation and, next month, is coming to my school for his postdoc. Go say Hello and Congratulations to Dr.…
June 14, 2006
I wrote this post on February 27, 2005. Provocative? You decide....
I am happy, along with at least half of the blogosphere, that Billmon is back. One of his recent posts caught my eye, as it was comparing current treatment of science by the Bush Administration to the treatment of science by the…
June 13, 2006
Carnival of Education #71 is up on What's it like on the Inside.
Carnival of Homeschooling #24 is up on About: Homeschooling.
June 13, 2006
SEED Magazine has an interesting article on the advances in avian transgenics....
I've been out of the loop for the past 3 or so years, but I took an Avian Biotechnology graduate class with Jim Petitte (mentioned in the article) a few years back, in which we did every step of the method…
June 13, 2006
When a news release states that a brain region is crucial for something, one is led to believe that this is the MAIN center controlling that function. If it is crucial for thermoregulation than it is the center for thermoregulation and without it the animal does not thermoregulate. Or am I…
June 13, 2006
Archy on 'belief in evolution'.
Lance Mannion about the Godless.
June 13, 2006
A few months ago I reviewed Joan Roughgarden's book "Evolutions Rainbow". Now that SEED magazine has published an interview with her, I thought about writing about it again (or just republishing the old one), but now I see that I do not have to, because PZ Myers did a much better job at it than I…
June 13, 2006
Grand Rounds Vol 2 No 38 is up on Haversian Canal.
Philosophers' Carnival XXXI is up on Kenny Pearce's blog.
June 12, 2006
This post is kinda personal. I wrote it first on July 27, 2005 on Science And Politics. Later, it was professionally edited and published on LabLit.com on March 3, 2006. Here is the unedited version:
I was just thinking today what a long and winding route I took in becoming a biologist. So,…
June 12, 2006
So, Wellbutrin is now officially a drug for treating Seasonal Affective Disorder. And chocolate is so unofficially. But, those may only take the edge off of the symptoms - they cannot affect the underlying causes.
June 12, 2006
I gave the second exam today. I have not graded them all yet, but I have a feeling that the grade distribution will move from flat to bimodal: some people going up into As and Bs, others falling to Fs, and nobody remaining in the middle. Some people put an effort in it, some don't. That's life.…
June 12, 2006
He'll be missed
June 12, 2006
This post is perhaps not my best post, but is, by far, my most popular ever. Sick and tired of politics after the 2004 election I decided to start a science-only blog - Circadiana. After a couple of days of fiddling with the templae, on January 8, 2005, I posted the very first post, this one, at…
June 11, 2006
Welcome to the thirty-first edition of the Carnival of the Green. I am still trying to figure out the details of Movable Type after my move here last Friday (and please look around - there are 45 fantastic science bloggers here at SEED's ScienceBlogs), so fancy graphics and creative hosting will…
June 11, 2006
In chronological order so you know how much time you have to write and submit your posts:
Next Philosophy Carnival (philosophy) will be on June 12, 2006 on Kenny Pearce.
Next Grand Rounds (medicine) will be on June 13th on Haversian Canal.
Next Carnival of Education (teaching, education policy)…