Announcements
sporte | February 2, 2007BioHacking is not listing in Wikipedia but it can still be found in the blogosphere. In Bio::Blogs 7, Paraschopra muses about biomathematics, synthetic biology, conferences, and bioinformatics entrepeneurship in in India. He must have seen the news about Accelrys shutting down their R&D shop in Bangalore, India.
oracknows | February 2, 2007Skeptico announces it's his second blogiversary! Skeptico is one of the premier skeptical blogs out there, and, although he isn't posting as much as he used to, can still be counted on to provide some of the best takesdowns of woo there are.
Go on over and say hi and read his retrospective of the most notable unskeptical characters he's written about over the past year.
oracknows | February 1, 2007The 53rd Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at Slicing with Occam's Razor. Once again, the best skeptical blogging from the last fortnight has been gathered, sifted, and presented in one tight, easy to peruse package.
Next up is Action Skeptics, who will host a fortnight hence, on February 15, 2007. If you're interested in adding your name to the increasingly long and distinguished list of bloggers who have hosted in the past, please drop me a line at oracknows@gmail.com. The schedule is here, and what's involved in hosting is described here.
oracknows | January 29, 2007Here's just another friendly reminder that the latest edition of the Skeptics' Circle, that now-venerable blog carnival dedicated to critical thinking and skepticism, is due to appear this week on Thursday, February 1 at Slicing with Occam's Razor. (Hmmm, that's mighty close to Groundhog's Day.)
So, if you're a blogger and have written something that would do The Amazing Randi proud, send it to Occam's Edge at OkcamsEdge@gmail.com. And, as always, if you're interested in trying your hand at hosting, drop me a line at oracknows@gmail.com.
sporte | January 29, 2007The University of Nevada in Las Vegas is looking for a few good undergraduates to come do research this summer in environmental microbiology. Environmental microbiology goes way beyond hot springs bacteria and Yellowstone Park. At UNLV, you can do science in the desert.
It almost makes me wish I was an undergraduate again.
The Microbiology faculty at the UNLV and the Desert Research Institute are looking for inquisitive and eager undergraduates to participate in a 10 week summer research experience in the REU (Research Experience for Undergraduates) program.
Projects involve studying…
oracknows | January 22, 2007
I demand the sum of.....one MILLION visits! Muhahahahahaha!
Sometime while I was in clinic this morning, Respectful Insolence recorded its 1,000,000 visitor:
Hmmm. Durham, North Carolina, eh? Could it be that Bora or Abel put me over the top? Come on, boys, 'fess up! Were either of you taking in your daily dose of Respectful Insolence⢠around 8:52 AM EST?
In any case, it took 2 years, 1 month, an 11 days to reach 1,000,000 visits. Thanks to all my readers. When I first started this whole thing, I never expected to get anywhere near 1,000,000.
Now let's get cracking on 2,000,000.
sporte | January 19, 2007Imagine yourself curled up and cozy, a glass of wine (or pop) in your hand, a blazing fire, and a wonderfully entertaining book in your hand.
Hmmmm. What are you reading?
Oh, of course! It's the open laboratory edited by our very own Science Blogger, Bora Zivkovic, who really does seem to (a) Blog Around the Clock. The secrets out, now you can have a pleasant time reading science blogs and you don't even need a computer.
But if you do have a computer, there are carnivals awaiting. Mendel's Garden is in bloom over at Neurotopia.
And if you really want to dig into a carnival, check…
oracknows | January 19, 2007The winners of the 2006 Medical Weblog Awards have been announced at Medgadget. Winners include our favorite pediatrician Flea (and if he manages to tick off the antivaccination loons, you know he's alright with me) for Best New Medical Weblog; NHS Blog Doctor for Best Medical Weblog; and Anxiety, Depression, and Addiction Treatments for Best Clinical Sciences Weblog.
Go here to find out who else won.
Congratulations to all the winners!
oracknows | January 18, 2007The 52nd Edition of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at Frank the Financially Savvy Atheist. It's a little late in coming (and I'm a little late in announcing it), but as usual another host has come through with a fine collection of skeptical blogging. So go pay him a visit. It also marks the end of the second full year of the Skeptics' Circle. Unbelievable. We're entering our third year, and it just keeps getting better.
Next up is Slicing with Occam's Razor (another great blog title), who will be hosting two weeks hence on February 1. So be sure to supply him with the blogging material…
oracknows | January 16, 2007On our backchannel discussion forum, we ScienceBloggers have been discussing a rather interesting idea that we could use to provide extra value to our readers. The idea is to do short articles about basic concepts in science. It's an intriguing idea, and, while I could try my hand at posts about a number of basic concepts in science, I think that, given my background, my strongest contribution would be basic concepts in my areas of expertise. These could include questions such as:
What is cancer?
What is a randomized clinical trial?
How does chemotherapy work? (Certainly The Cheerful…
oracknows | January 16, 2007Here's an interesting concept that's just been released for purchase, either as a digital download or as a bona fide book: The Open Laboratory: The Best Writing on Science Blogs 2006. It's edited by fellow ScienceBlogger Bora Zikovic.
Oh, and it happens to contain a couple of posts by yours truly. In any case, it's a chance to see the best science blogging of the last year or so, all contained in one nice package.
retrospectacle | January 16, 2007 A Blog Around the Clock's Bora (aka Coturnix) has slaved away assembling and editing the best science blog writing of 2006, with an excellent compendium to show for it. I was not able to submit (due to traveling in China and being away from email etc) to the anthology, which I am sorely sorry for. I know that this will be an excellent read even if it is in an old outdated medium. :D Buy it from Lulu here.
oracknows | January 15, 2007The latest History Carnival has been posted at Investigations of a Dog. Lots of good stuff there.
sporte | January 13, 2007Are there scientific terms or concepts that you'd like to know more about? Looking for a bit more of an explanation? Confused about the difference between DNA and RNA?
Some of my fellow SciBlings, Tara, Chad, John, Janet, and Bora; have proposed that we consider going back to basics. Others have pointed out that we ScienceBloggers might be a little clueless ourselves about which basics that you'd like us to define.
Here's my proposal:
You can ask me a question in the comments here - or via e-mail (digitalbio at gmail.com) and I will pick one every week or so and try to answer it. Or,…
oracknows | January 13, 2007It's rapidly approaching once again: Our once in a fortnight festival of skepticism, our showcase for reason and critical thinking, our veritable carnival of anti-woo.
Yes, the Skeptics' Circle will be appearing once again on Thursday, January 18. This time around, it will be hosted by someone who has what has to be one of the coolest blog names of all time: Frank the Financially Savvy Atheist (although I'm not sure what, if anything, atheism has to do with being financially savvy). So, if you're a skeptical blogger, fire up your keyboard and get an example of your best skeptical blogging…
oracknows | January 5, 2007Better late than never, I guess.
I should have announced three days ago that the polls are now open to vote for the 2006 Medical Weblog Awards. Polls will close at midnight on Sunday, January 14, 2007 (PST), and the winners will be announced on Friday, January 19, 2007.
I happen to be nominated for Best Medical Weblog, but the competition is fierce, with other deserving nominees including fellow ScienceBlogs Aetiology, The Examining Room of Dr. Charles, and Effect Measure, plus worthy non-ScienceBlogs such as Surgeonsblog, Flea, Kevin, MD, and the ever-skeptical Unintelligent Design.…
oracknows | January 5, 2007Just a word to my readers. The ScienceBlogs site has been having technical difficulties since yesterday.
You may have noticed that the load times were very slow yesterday and that at times the site was even completely unavailable. The same thing happened for a while this morning, and early this morning I couldn't get into Movable Type to do my traditional last minute editing before I go to work. All the feeds for the main page, the Last 24 Hours page, and all the Channels have not updated since this morning, and I've been informed that even blog-specific RSS feeds appear not to be updating…
oracknows | January 4, 2007It may be a little later than usual, and my plug may be later than usual because of some truly annoying difficulties that I had with Movable Type tonight, but it's finally here, I've finally plugged it, and it's worth the wait.
Yes, the 51st Meeting of the Skeptics' Circle has been posted at See You at Enceladus.
Next up to host is Frank the Financially Savvy Atheist. (I really love that blog title, particularly the subline: Personal finance with a hint of blasphemy.) Frank will be hosting on Thursday, January 18. So start thinking of skeptical topics that you'd like to blog about and then…
sporte | January 3, 2007You can spend all day staring at irreducibly complex patterns in the sand (wow! it's a pattern! Evidence for intelligent design? Or created by random acts of water?).
Or, you can do something even more fun and enjoy a treat at Tangled Bank #70. As they say in Spain, Viva La Evolución!
oracknows | January 2, 2007OK, folks. The holidays are over. It's time to get back to blogging. For you skeptics out there, it means that it's time to contribute to the Skeptics' Circle, which is being hosted at See You at Enceladus. Babbler's a little short on entries, but there's still a day left. Please send him some of your best stuff, so that the Circle, scheduled to appear this Thursday (January 4) will be a success. Then join us for the carnival on Thursday!
Submission instructions are here, and guidelines are here.