clock | January 25, 2007There is a time for many words, and there is also a time for sleep.
Homer (800 BC - 700 BC), The Odyssey
clock | January 25, 2007My SciBling John Wilkins is regularly updating the list of 'Basic Terms and Concepts' posts (which you should check dilligently every day!), at least until a more permanent repository is made.
Today, he included my Lecture #13 on Current Biological Diversity on the list, though my reposting of it was a part of my regular Thursday noon series of educational posts, not intended specifically to be picked up for the 'Basics' series (though I believe it belongs there).
On one hand, I feel silly to repost stuff that I just reposted a month or two ago (moving it from the old blogs to the new one…
clock | January 25, 2007Just in time for "Best Writer" Koufaxes (LOL), Lance gets back to business: Why we don't like him
Seriously, that is exactly the way we all feel. And Lance knows how to put it in words. Perhaps even words that Republicans can understand.
Update: Amanda comments
clock | January 25, 2007When I was a kid, there was no such thing as "do it yourself" biology for home. Sure, you could do observational stuff, like go out in the woods with a butterfly net and a magnifi\ying glass, or plant some seeds, or look at stuff under the microscope, but it was hard to do real experiments in biology.
My favourite trio of childhood science books (recently reissued) were "Between Play and Physics", "Between Play and Chemistry" and "Between Play and Mathematics" - see, no biology there!
But the world of science has changed since then and there is much more stuff that one can do at home that is…
clock | January 25, 2007Speaking of the role of blogs in science communication, today's NY TImes has an interesting article about the way a sloppily reported story about research on gay sheep got all out of proportion: Of Gay Sheep, Modern Science and the Perils of Bad Publicity (also mentioned by Dave this morning).
Apparently, the media reporting was heavily influenced by PETA, and much of the blogosphere fell for it, except for a couple of notable exceptions, including 'emptypockets' who is a co-blogger on Next Hurrah and a Diarist on Daily Kos who focuses mainly on science topics.
His analysis of the way story…
clock | January 25, 2007While the world is moving towards an Open Science model of exchange of scientific information, there are, as expected, forces that are trying to oppose it. Whenever there is a movement to change any kind of system, those most likely to lose will make a last-ditch and nasty effort to temporarily derail the progress. So, in this case, the Big Science Publishers have decided, instead of joining the new world of Open Science and using their brand names, their know-how and their infrastructure to become the leaders in the new system, and instead opted to go all mean and nasty. Once they finally…
clock | January 25, 2007The latest re-post of my BIO101 lecture notes (this one originally from June 05, 2006). I know I will have to rewrite everything about the Three Domain Hypothesis, but you also tell me if I got other stuff wrong or if this can be in some way improved for the classroom use.
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BIO101 - Bora Zivkovic - Lecture 4, Part 3
In the first two parts of this lecture we tackled the Origin of Life and Biological Diversity and the mechanisms of the Evolution of Biological Diversity. Now, we'll take a look at what those mechanisms have produced so far - the…
clock | January 25, 2007If you think you can easily come up with a workable set of policies to stop and reverse global warming, think again. Or try playing this (very addictive) BBC game that will help you figure it out:
The science behind Climate Challenge:
A game where you are president of the European Nations. You must tackle climate change and stay popular enough with the voters to remain in office.
(Via)
clock | January 25, 2007How Fishes Conquered The Ocean:
Scientists at the University of Bergen, Norway have deduced how bony fishes conquered the oceans by duplicating their yolk-producing genes and filling their eggs with the water of life -- the degradation of yolk proteins from one of the duplicated genes causes the eggs to fill with vital water and float. This is the major solution realized by extant marine teleosts that showed an unprecedented radiation during the late Cretaceous and early Paleogene Periods. The work is a unique hypothesis that integrates the cellular and molecular physiology of teleost…
clock | January 24, 2007Scientists Discover New Species Of Distinctive Cloud-forest Rodent:
A strikingly unusual animal was recently discovered in the cloud-forests of Peru. The large rodent is about the size of a squirrel and looks a bit like one, except its closest relatives are spiny rats. The nocturnal, climbing rodent is beautiful yet strange looking, with long dense fur, a broad blocky head, and thickly furred tail. A blackish crest of fur on the crown, nape and shoulders add to its distinctive appearance.
Isothrix barbarabrownae, as the new species has been named, is described in the current issue of…
clock | January 24, 2007I love it when Archy blogs about mammoths and the latest post is perhaps his best yet!
clock | January 24, 2007Which of the two I am interested in for entirely scientific reasons and which one for more personal reasons, you guess:
Spray Could Offer New Front-line Treatment For Men With Premature Ejaculation:
Patients with premature ejaculation who used a topical anaesthetic spray were able to delay ejaculation for five times as long, according to a study in the February issue of the urology journal BJU International. Researchers from the UK and Netherlands studied 54 men with premature ejaculation, randomly assigning them to a treatment and control group. Both groups reported that without any therapy…
clock | January 24, 2007So, you've written something about science lately? Then send the permalink of your post to Ouroboros for the next isntallment of the Tangled Bank.
clock | January 24, 2007John Dupuis wrote a review of the Republican War On Science by Chris Mooney.
clock | January 24, 2007Too busy these days with the conference and the anthology and getting my life back afterwads to pay too much attention to politics, but I heard that Hillary Clinton is running, Bill Richardson is running, John Kerry is not running and that there was some kind of a meaningless speech the other night that everyone is talking about.
clock | January 24, 2007Every farm that converts from conventional to organic farming is the equivalent to taking 117 cars off the road
clock | January 24, 2007I and the Bird #41 is up on A Snail's Eye View
Carnival of the Green #61 is up on Clay and Wattles