Activism
tsmith | September 10, 2007 September 8th was world rabies day. In the United States, this was celebrated with the news that the canine rabies strain appears to be eliminated from this country. In the U.S., rabies in both humans and domestic animals remains rare, though the virus remains endemic in several species of wildlife (especially raccoons, skunks, and bats). However, worldwide, rabies remains a significant public health problem, causing an estimated 50-60,000 deaths per year worldwide--one death every ten minutes. More after the jump...
First, the news about the U.S. and dog rabies. Like most viruses,…
tsmith | August 16, 2007I've not mentioned this yet because I hadn't had a chance to see it myself, but C-SPAN did broadcast this year's YearlyKos Science Panel. You can see Chris's talk on hurricanes and global warming here; Ed's talk on fighting creationism by running for school board here, and Sean's talk on dark energy and dark matter over yonder. I have the videos of the final parts--the Q&A session--after the jump.
tsmith | August 9, 2007
Apologies for the silence; as I mentioned, August is a crazy month for me. I hope to get back to some heavier science posts some point here, but those will, unfortunately, have to wait a bit. In the meantime, I did want to say a bit about last week's science discussions at YearlyKos, featuring (L-R) Ed, Sean, and Chris; More after the jump. (All photos courtesy of Lindsay).
First, a bit about what went on. I arrived there Thursday, and the first order of events was to get ready for the Science bloggers' caucus Thursday afternoon. This was pretty much a no-holds-barred, unscripted…
tsmith | July 24, 2007
After 8 1/2 years of imprisonment, torture in jail, and a death sentence hanging over their heads, the Tripoli Six (collected links) are back home, and have been granted pardons from the Bulgarian president.
Revere, again, has the details; more at the BBC and New York Times. Many kudos go out to both Revere and Nature reporter Declan Butler for spreading this story out through the blogosphere, and sighs of relief out to the workers themselves and their families and loved ones.
Image from http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2007/07/24/world/24cnd-libya2.large…
tsmith | July 17, 2007By now, regular readers will probably be familiar with The Clergy Letter Project spearheaded by Michael Zimmerman. Formulated in part to respond to the framing of the evolution controversy as a battle between science and religion, the letter now boasts more than 10,700 signatures from clergy, and have sponsored Evolution Sunday events for the past 2 years.
Well, Zimmerman has a new project now:
Our latest initiative is to create a list of scientists around the world who are willing to answer scientific questions posed by clergy who are supportive of modern science in general and evolution…
neurotopia | July 11, 2007It looks like somebody either never heard of Dover, or refused to learn from their lesson. It seems the local ID supporters of Chesterfield County aren't happy:
So far, the official actions of the CCSB have been limited to issuing a rather vague and confusing statement. ID proponents had hoped to influence the selection of science textbooks, but they started their campaign too late, and the CCSB approved the selection of standard biology texts. But there is still much concern about the situation in Chesterfield. ID supporters, backed by a local conservative group called the Family…
tsmith | July 6, 2007Every time you love just a little
Take one step closer, solving a riddle
It echoes all over the world
Every time you opt in to kindness
Make one connection, used to divide us
It echoes all over the world
--Dar Williams, Echoes
I write about African countries with some regularity on here. The continent is, of course, one of the central areas for so many infectious diseases, including the big three (HIV/AIDS, malaria, and tuberculosis). Sometimes I document the science; other times I'll write about what is being done to help (for example, these clever designs, or money raising events. Over…
tsmith | June 1, 2007Razib calls attention to a life-or-death situation affecting many minorities in this country: lack of organ and tissue matches for those in need of a transplant. He highlights one man in immediate need of a bone marrow transplant:
A tragedy, in five lines;
This is Vinay and his wife Rashmi.
They were married in 2005.
He was diagnosed with a rare form of leukemia in 2006.
He is 28.
He needs a bone marrow transplant, in the next six weeks.
It's easy to join the bone marrow registry. You can check out the registration and donation steps here, and pretty much anyone who's healthy and between…
neurotopia | February 12, 2007It's official! In honor of Darwin Day celebrations everywhere, the Alliance for Science is having their first annual Evolution Essay contest! This year's question: Why would you want your doctor to have studied evolution?
Pop on over for contest details, if you're a high school student. First prize is $300, Second is $200, etc. Plus there are a lot of autographed books on evolution that you can win!!! Teachers, prompt your students. If yours wins you get $250 towards lab supplies! Students, submit something! For 1000 words you can buy a semester's worth of books in college, or make a…
neurotopia | February 8, 2007Darwin Day is fast approaching! In honor of Charles Darwin's birthday and his intellectual achievements, the Alliance for Science is starting an annual Darwin Day essay contest geared at high school students. We will be accepting essays from the 50 states, submissions sent by email. There will be cash prizes for the top entries, magazine subscriptions, and numerous signed books on evolution, creationism, or other relevant topics in biology available as prizes. Teachers, if your student is the winner then we will also kick in some money for your science labs.
Now here's the kicker: we don…
neurotopia | October 6, 2006The Alliance for Science, in an effort to further dialogue between the science, religious,and business communities, is committed to bringing in a diverse network of speakers to its public meetings in the DC Metro area. Last year we had Dr. Peter Folger from the American Geophysical Union, Reverend Henry Green, ScienceBlog's own Chris Mooney, NCSE's Eugenie Scott, and AfS co-chair Paul Forbes to name a few. Now we're looking to a whole new year of fun with evolution education (yes, we're on an academic calendar...).
Next Thursday, October 12th, is speaker Michael Shermer. He will also have…
neurotopia | July 22, 2006I just don't get it. On one hand, Francis Collins is clearly a bright guy and an established researcher. He headed the Human Genome Project, for cryin' out loud. He's an evangelical Christian, which I personally don't care about one way or the other, as long as his beliefs remain his personal beliefs. An article in the Washington Post, however, has me wondering what he's thinking.
Certainly Dr. Collins is one of the more prominent advocates for the compatibility of science and religion. On one hand I admire that. Many of the extreme religious conservative persuasion have set up a…
neurotopia | July 17, 2006A new website in the fight against the ID movement's attempted takeover of the Kansas state science standards. Check it out. Nick Matzke has more here.
neurotopia | June 24, 2006Live in the DC Metro area? Support evolution education? Come to a public meeting of the Alliance for Science on Wednesday!!!
tsmith | June 22, 2006Y'all may have read about this on one of the other participating blogs, but just in case, I'll recap here:
First, what is it? My initial post on it is here; essentially, several of us here at Scienceblogs have put together a wish list of projects at DonorsChoose.org, a non-profit that matches donors with teacher-submitted projects in need of funding. My challenge is here; so far, I've had 7 donations for a total of $269.82. An excellent start, but I'm hoping a few more of you will kick in--even a $10 donation, if submitted by 10 of you, would make a huge difference.
Second, SEED has…
neurotopia | June 15, 2006The ScienceBlogs/DonorsChoose raise-money-to-help-science-classrooms-a-thon!
Those of us who blog here at ScienceBlogs think science is cool, important, and worth understanding. If you're reading the blogs here, chances are you feel the same way.
A lot of us fell in love with science because of early experiences in school -- teachers who made science intriguing, exciting, maybe a little bit dangerous. But tightening budgets are making it harder and harder for public school teachers to provide the books, equipment, and field trips to make science come alive for kids. Efforts are further…
neurotopia | June 9, 2006...you might not know what to do
you might have to think of
how you got started
sittin' in your little room
--The White Stripes
Welcome to the second incarnation of Neurotopia! The old incarnation can be found here, although lately it has just been a collection of posts where I complain about how Blogger stinks. But no more! Now I'm here on this slick new platform! The SEED overlords pulled a mean trick on me: they set up the new blog launch mere hours before I'm supposed to hit the road and celebrate my 8th anniversary by accompanying Mrs. Evil Monkey to Fallingwater for the weekend.…
tsmith | March 13, 2006A bit busy today, so I'll direct you elsewhere for some good reading.
First, afarensis is thinking about re-naming his blog Aetiology Jr. after writing another post on bacterial meta-genomics in the sea; Mike discusses the Republican War on Epidemiology; John has more about the candiru I mentioned here, and Joseph revisits probiotics.
Second, as mentioned, an appeal. Some of you who are Panda's Thumb readers may remember this post from November, mentioning the death of Allan Glenn (aka "WinAce" from Wonderful World of WinAce). If you've not seen that site before, check it out--it's…