clock | June 22, 2009The series of interviews with some of the participants of the 2008 Science Blogging Conference was quite popular, so I decided to do the same thing again this year, posting interviews with some of the people who attended ScienceOnline'09 back in January.
We kick off the series with the interview with Sol Lederman who gave a demo session: US Dept of Energy Office of Scientific and Technical Information.
Welcome to A Blog Around The Clock. Would you, please, tell my readers a little bit more about yourself? Who are you? What is your (scientific) background?
I'm not a scientist and I don't…
clock | June 22, 2009Computer Idle? Now You Can Donate Its Time To Find A Cure For Major Diseases:
Not using your computer at the moment? You can now donate your computer's idle time to cutting-edge biomedical research aimed at finding a cure for HIV, Parkinson's, arthritis, and breast cancer.
1.02 Billion People Hungry: One Sixth Of Humanity Undernourished, More Than Ever Before:
World hunger is projected to reach a historic high in 2009 with 1,020 million people going hungry every day, according to new estimates published by United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
Brain Detects Happiness More…
clock | June 21, 2009You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say will be misquoted, then used against you.
- Unknown
clock | June 21, 2009Friday Ark #248 is up on Modulator
Carnival of Evolution #13 will be hosted by FYI: Science! on July 2nd or so and needs more entries.
Scientia Pro Publica needs your entries before July 6th - the host is Greg Laden.
And, get your posts aggregated on ResearchBlogging.org if you want them to be considered for the PLoS ONE Blog Pick of the Month.
clock | June 21, 2009
Here are the submissions for OpenLab 2009 to date. As we have surpassed 170 entries, all of them, as well as the "submit" buttons and codes and the bookmarklet, are under the fold. You can buy the 2006, 2007 and 2008 editions at Lulu.com. Please use the submission form to add more of your and other people's posts (remember that we are looking for original poems, art, cartoons and comics, as well as essays):
A Blog Around The Clock: On Being a Nurse- a guest post
A Blog Around The Clock: Yes, Archaea also have circadian clocks!
A Blog Around The Clock: Why social insects do not suffer from…
clock | June 21, 2009Interview by Ulrike Reinhard:
Also, if you have not done so yet, it is worth your time to listen to Rebooting The News podcasts in which Jay Rosen and Dave Winer discuss the current transformation of the news media. They are longish - almost an hour long each - but worth your while. Good idea is to listen to them in chronological order, though they are getting better and better (i.e., better organized, clearer, more succinct) every week.
clock | June 21, 2009Plant Communication: Sagebrush Engage In Self-recognition And Warn Of Danger:
To thine own self be true" may take on a new meaning--not with people or animal behavior but with plant behavior. Plants engage in self-recognition and can communicate danger to their "clones" or genetically identical cuttings planted nearby, says professor Richard Karban of the Department of Entomology, University of California, Davis, in groundbreaking research published in the current edition of Ecology Letters.
Mate Selection: Honesty In Advertising Pays Off:
Throughout the animal kingdom brilliant colors or…
clock | June 20, 2009Yesterday, I had an interesting discussion on Twitter with @jason_pontin (and a couple of others chimed in, e.g., @TomLevenson and @scootsmoon) about the role of quotes in journalism. Specifically, about the importance of providing a brief quote from sources interviewed for a piece. The difference in mindsets of Old vs. New journalism appeared in sharp relief.
I did not really think hard about this question until now, so this post is just my first provisional stream-of-thought about this and I welcome discussion in the comments.
So, let me try a mental experiment here. You are a journalist.…
clock | June 20, 2009On Twitter, things can be fast and unpredictable. Like yesterday. I was having an interesting discussion with @jason_pontin about the changing role of quoting sourses in Old vs. New journalism, when he suddenly said he had to go and then asked me if I would be interested in joining him. He was going to talk to a group of business-folks at the MIT Enterprise Forum about Web 2.0 and asked me to come in for a few minutes and explain, on Twitter, what Twitter is about. An hour later, it happened. Here is the stream (you can find it yourself by searching Twitter for #MITEO):
@jason_pontin Follow…
clock | June 19, 2009Quoting: the act of repeating erroneously the words of another.
- Ambrose Bierce
clock | June 19, 2009A bunch of interesting Twitterers aggregated in NYC a couple of days ago at the 140 characters conference, discussing various aspects of and uses of Twitter. One of the sessions was about Twitter and Science, led by @thesciencebabe and @jayhawkbabe. I am very jealous I could not be there, but we can all watch the video of their session:
Happy to see the last slide, with @PLoS as one of the recommended Twitter streams to follow for those interested in science.
clock | June 19, 2009
Hunters Are Depleting Lion And Cougar Populations, Study Finds:
Sport hunters are depleting lion and cougar populations as managers respond to demands to control predators that threaten livestock and humans, according to a study published in the June 17 issue of PLoS One. The study was led by Craig Packer, a University of Minnesota professor and authority on lion behavior, who worked with an international team of conservationists.
Mammoths Survived In Britain Until 14,000 Years Ago, New Discovery Suggests:
Research which finally proves that bones found in Shropshire, England provide the most…
clock | June 18, 2009If you have a great ambition, take as big a step as possible in the direction of fulfilling it. The step may only be a tiny one, but trust that it may be the largest one possible for now.
- Mildred McAfee (1900-1994); academic, served as first director of the WAVES (Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service) in the United States Navy.
[thanks to Joey]
clock | June 18, 2009Friday - the day to take a look at all seven PLoS journals and make my own personal picks. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Mendeley, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Taking the Lag out of Jet Lag through Model-Based Schedule Design:
Traveling across several times zones can cause an individual to experience "jet lag," which…
clock | June 18, 2009What does it mean - a Journal Club? Read here and, if you want to do one, contact me.
clock | June 18, 2009Fossil Teeth Of Three-toed Browsing Horse Found In Panama Canal Earthworks:
Rushing to salvage fossils from the Panama Canal earthworks, Aldo Rincon, paleontology intern at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, unearthed a set of fossil teeth. Bruce J. MacFadden, curator of vertebrate paleontology at the Florida Museum of Natural History, University of Florida in Gainesville, describes the fossil as Anchitherium clarencei, a three-toed browsing horse, in the May 2009 issue of the Journal of Paleontology.
Why Do We Choose Our Mates? Ask Charles Darwin, Prof Says:
Charles Darwin wrote…
clock | June 17, 2009However gradual the course of history, there must always be the day, even an hour and minute, when some significant action is performed for the first or last time.
- Peter Quennell
clock | June 17, 2009There are 16 new articles in PLoS ONE today. As always, you should rate the articles, post notes and comments and send trackbacks when you blog about the papers. You can now also easily place articles on various social services (CiteULike, Mendeley, Connotea, Stumbleupon, Facebook and Digg) with just one click. Here are my own picks for the week - you go and look for your own favourites:
Looking for Landmarks: The Role of Expert Review and Bibliometric Analysis in Evaluating Scientific Publication Outputs:
Objective: To compare expert assessment with bibliometric indicators as tools to…
clock | June 16, 2009When I despair, I remember that all through history the ways of truth and love have always won. There have been tyrants and murderers and for a time they can seem invincible, but in the end they always fall. Think of it: always.
- Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi