clock | November 29, 2006While all this was going on I was wondering where Jason Rosenhouse would stand on all of this. He is back from a break and has two posts on the issue here and here.
Update: Chris Rowan wrote an intriguing analysis and a huge thread on the topic is still ongoing on Panda's Thumb
clock | November 29, 2006A paper just got published in PLoS - Biology - "A Human Taste for Rarity Spells Disaster for Endangered Species" - describes how high monetary value of rare species leads to a vicious spiral in which each capture reduces the remaining number of individuals at the same time as increasing the monetary value - until the last individual is captured and stuffed in some rich guy's collection:
"This phenomenon, the authors explain, resembles an ecological process called the Allee effect, in which individuals of many plant and animal species suffer reduced fitness at low population densities, which…
clock | November 29, 2006Made With Molecules online store is expanding its offerings. Sure serotonin earrings are cool, but nothing beats the familiar and soothing effects of theobromine and caffeine. Check them out!
(Hat-tip: Vaughan
clock | November 29, 2006Josh Wilson finds a new (to me, at least) metaphor that puts the geological time in perspective, and Carel discovers some cool models that place the astronomical size and space in perspective. Humbling and edifying. Good ideas for science teachers.
clock | November 29, 2006
The original title of this post - "Diurnal rhythm of alcohol metabolism" - was more correct, but less catchy (from February 21, 2006).
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Why is breathalyzer a poor method of measuring blood alcohol levels for purposes of DUI tickets? Ed Brayton explains and links to DUI Blog with additional information.
Also, do not forget that every function in the body exhibits a circadian cycle. Likewise, alcohol metabolism:
This is from an old study, from the times when it was OK to recruit some college freshmen to drink alcoholic beverages in the name of…
clock | November 29, 2006It appears that the letter K is a niche that still has ample remaining space for new enterprenurial souls...
Keats' telescope
Kele's Journey
Kill The Afterlife
King of Zembla
Kiss & Blog
Kleinschmidt 2005
Kottke
The Krafty Librarian
Kung Fu Monkey
Previously (and please you can add suggestions at any time in the future - I get e-mail notifications so I will get the message):
Number/Symbol
A
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J
clock | November 29, 2006
Paul Gilster of Centauri Dreams blog, and the book of the same name, is coming to the 2007 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference. Are you?
Technorati Tag: sciencebloggingconference
clock | November 28, 2006The Carnival of Education: Week 95 is up on A History Teacher.
Carnival of Homeschooling #48 is up on The Common Room.
clock | November 28, 2006Here's another letter for you:
The japing ape
Jenny D
Jesus' General
jill/txt
Joe Bageant
John Hawks Anthropology Weblog
John Quiggin
Jonstraveladventures
Jon Swift
Journal of the Plague Year
Josh Steiger
The J Train
Just a Bump in the Beltway
Just Noticeable Differences
Check the previous letters of the alphabet (I have just updated most of them) and please add suggestions at any time in the future - I get e-mail notifications so I will get the message):
Number/Symbol
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
clock | November 28, 2006The story about National Science Teachers of America refusing the "Inconvenient Truth" DVDs is not as black & white as previously reported. Sandra Porter has a good run-down.
clock | November 28, 2006Send your submissions for the Festival of the Trees by tomorrow.
Also, send your submissions for the Circus of the Spineless by December 4th.
clock | November 28, 2006I wish that, many many years ago when I was becoming a biologist, that I could have read this wonderful little book - On Becoming a Biologist by John Janovy! What a little gem!
On the surface, or by looking at the Table of Contents, this slim volume appears to be just yet another in a long line of books giving advice to people who are interested about joining the profession. And sure, it does contain important information about getting accepted into a program, choosing one's project, teaching, research, publishing, getting funded, giving talks etc. But it is also much more than that. The…
clock | November 28, 2006In the similar vein to this morning's post (and the neccessary link within it) on the speed of meme-spreading, I tried to do this little experiment about a year ago (October 12, 2005) with no success - perhaps because I asked for more than just a link. Now that my audience is much bigger, let's try again:
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There are estimated to be more than 20 55 million blogs in existence. Somebody somewhere knows the answer to my question. If every one of my readers (who also owns a blog) copies and pastes this post on their blogs, it should spread through the entire…
clock | November 28, 2006NewsTrust is a news portal that rates the stories by the quality of the journalism, as assessed by readers.
Readers are asked to rate stories based on how fair, balanced, accurate, and important the stories are, along with other criteria. The system has been set up to try and limit gaming of the site and to promote a non-partisan balanced view of the underlying journalism.
Along with the major news-media, the new portal is also rating some of the biggest blogs.
You should register and make it a habit to rate the stories. Also, tell your friends (or blog-readers) to do the same. A good way…
clock | November 28, 2006Some things spread like wildfire across the blogs. But, can an artificial meme, designed specifically to measure the speed of its spreading, spread as fast? If we know its speed, can we know its position at the same time, and vice versa? You'll know the answer (pretty soon) if you link to this from your blog.
Perhaps it would be more useful to track the already existing and popular memes, like Beautiful Bird Meme, Random Quotes Meme, Silly Blog Meme, Four Meme, Zero Meme, Dirty Thirty Meme, States Meme, Obscure-But-Good-Movies Meme, Four Jobs Meme, The Blogging Blog Meme, Browser Meme,…
clock | November 28, 2006Aching Back? Sitting Up Straight Could Be The Culprit:
Researchers are using a new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to show that sitting in an upright position places unnecessary strain on your back, leading to potentially chronic pain problems if you spend long hours sitting.
Sleep Problems In Overweight Children Appear Fairly Common:
One-fourth of overweight children may have sleep problems that regular physical activity can largely resolve, researchers say.
Synchrotron Reveals How Neanderthal Teeth Grew:
Scientists from the United Kingdom, France and Italy have studied teeth from…
clock | November 28, 2006
David Kirk is coming to the 2007 North Carolina Science Blogging Conference. Are you?
Technorati Tag: sciencebloggingconference
clock | November 27, 2006Is this useful to you?
It is useful to me, for sure, as my blogroll is in a bad need of updating. By doing this, I get to clean-up my Bloglines, update the feeds on blogs that have moved, delete dead blogs, revisit some old friends I have not read in a while, and add new blogs that you suggest in the comments.
But it it useful for you? Have you discovered, checking my blogrolling posts, any blogs new to you that you really liked and decided to bookmark/blogroll/subscribe for yourself?
I And The Bird
I Blame The Patriarchy
I Cite
I got bugs
I Love Dinosaurs
I Slept Great!
Iceberg Renovation…
clock | November 27, 2006It's been almost three months since Arunn, in the comments to this post, promised to write a post about the thermoregulatory function of big, flappy elephant ears. Finally, he's gotten to it, and now you can go and read his post. A perfect entry for the next edition of Panta Rei, which needs your entries ASAP.