Blogging news
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 31, 2007Busy week for me. I'm preparing a talk for a conference next month with the longest title ever: The International Conference on Diseases in Nature Communicable to Man. (Basically, a conference on zoonotic disease.) I'll be speaking about my research on Streptococcus suis, and hopefully meeting many other colleagues during the conference.
More immediately, however, I'll be busy at Yearly Kos in Chicago, at the McCormick convention center. This Thursday, I'll be moderating the Science bloggers caucus, at 4:30 in room 106a. Friday, I'll moderate the Science panel, featuring fellow…
tsmith | July 21, 2007Scienceblogs gets another infusion of public health goodness with its latest addition, The Angry Toxicologist. It looks like a great start, with posts on vaccines and autism, restless leg syndrome and balancing your chi (quote: "Oooo, scientificy!") Welcome aboard!
tsmith | July 3, 2007I mentioned back in May that myself and a group of science bloggers went and got ourselves interviewed by Chris Condayan of The American Society for Microbiology's MicrobeWorld. Well, the video ("Microblogology") is up, featuring fellow U of Iowan John Logsdon, Jonathan Badger, Yersinia, Elio Schaechter, and Larry Moran.
From the blurb: "Six science bloggers talk about why they blog, the role of blogging in science, feedback they've received and the greatest microbiological discovery in the past decade." I'm including the video after the jump; just be warned that I talk *really* fast…
tsmith | June 25, 2007I mentioned that a whole group of us went to the Creation Museum in Kentucky. Professor Steve Steve has his account now up at the Thumb, while Jason Rosenhouse has a two-parter at EvolutionBlog, and Wes Elsberry's account is here. Oh, and a group picture:
Rear, L to R: Evil Monkey, Richard Hoppe ("RBH"), Wes Elsberry, Andrea "I'm Italian, not female!" Bottaro, Jason Rosenhouse, and Art Hunt. Front row: RBH's wife (whose name I didn't catch, sorry!); journalist Lauri Lebo; me; Professor Steve Steve, and Art's daughter (and Steve Steve's kind tour guide), Amy Hunt.
tsmith | June 9, 2007Via Bora, I see that the Koufax awards are back up and running. All of the categories (I think) can be found at this link. Aetiology was nominated in two that I noticed: best series (for the emerging diseases and zoonoses series--now up to 27 posts) and most deserving of wider recognition. Scienceblogs is also up for best blog community, and many science bloggers here and elsewhere are nominated in the various categories as well, so be sure to browse and check out all the nominees. I'm not sure when voting will open, but I'll keep y'all posted....
tsmith | May 24, 2007
As I mentioned, last night I took a break and went out for dinner and conversation with a wonderful group of science bloggers. Larry Moran of Sandwalk (not pictured) was good enough to arrange it all, and we met up in his office (home of the Talk.Origins server). Joining us were (left to right) Mona of ScienceNotes; Jonathan Badger of T. Taxus, who works at TIGR the J. Craig Venter Institute; Andrew of Mixotrophy (which, OK, is just a placeholder for now, but he's a reader and commenter on many blogs); fellow University of Iowan John Logsdon, Eva of Eastern Blot (not pictured) and Chris…
tsmith | May 21, 2007...check it out over at Ami Chopine--thanks to Shinga for sending along my entry on a little boy's brush with death following his father's smallpox vaccination. Lots of excellent posts collected over there; check em out.
However, what may be the most notable, well, note, is that Dr. Flea has flown the coop. There are a collection of posts on the situation at the beginning of this week's PGR; I'll just join others in hoping that once his legal issues have blown over, Dr. Flea will be back--he is missed.
tsmith | May 15, 2007I'm in DC again at the American Institute of Biological Sciences meeting, hearing all about evolutionary biology and human health. It's been busy, but yesterday I ran into fellow sciencebloggers Chris Mooney (who was giving his "Framing science" talk along with Matt Nisbet, who I didn't have a chance to meet). I also saw Jason Rosenhouse and got to chat with him for a few minutes. More sessions today, then back to Iowa...
In the meantime, this week's Grand Rounds, the weekly medical blogging carnival, is up over at Medical Humanities.
tsmith | May 12, 2007....or, where I impersonate PZ.
As PZ noted last month, he was tapped to moderate the science caucus at YearlyKos, featuring fellow Sciencebloggers Chris Mooney and Ed Brayton, along with Cosmic Variance's Sean Carroll. However, PZ had to go and get himself some other plans, and I was fortunate enough to be chosen to step in. It's still early, so I'm brainstorming and have read the comments at Pharyngula and DailyKos regarding what everyone would like to get out of the science sessions at YearlyKos, but in case you didn't see either of those threads the first time around, or if you did…
tsmith | May 3, 2007Busy today and have family visiting from out of town, so I'll take a few minutes instead to highlight some fairly new blogs.
First I'll note that my friend and colleague over in the Biology department, John Logsdon, has a new blog: Sex, Genes, and Evolution. He's a real live evolutionary biologist working on a number of projects revolving around, well, sex and genes. And he has great hair.
Second, the American Society for Microbiology now has an official blog, Small Things Considered, written by past ASM president Moselio Schaechter. I've been meaning to mention it for awhile and…
tsmith | April 26, 2007If you've been reading Scienceblogs over the last 24 hours or so, you've probably seen reference to Shelley's legal issues regarding Wiley publishing and their accusation that her use of one panel of one figure of a scientific paper violated copyright. Well, after the story was featured at Boing Boing and elsewhere around the blogosphere, Wiley has now apologized:
"We apologise for any misunderstanding. In this situation the publisher would typically grant permission on request in order to ensure that figures and extracts are properly credited. We do not think there is any need to pursue…
tsmith | February 12, 2007In honor of Darwin Day, Evil Monkey brings news of an essay contest being sponsored by the Alliance for Science:
2007 National High School Essay Contest
Why would I want my doctor to have studied evolution? If you are a high school student in the United States, we want to hear your answer to that question. Send us an essay of not more than 1,000 words by March 31st.
There are cash prizes and more for winners; the details can be found here.
tsmith | January 16, 2007coturnix brings news of the release of the science blogging anthology that he's spent the last few weeks compiling. After taking over 200 entries from science blogs all over the net, he and other judges culled it down to 50 posts (ncluding this one of mine), and the book is available here just in time for the science blogging conference.
tsmith | January 13, 2007Go vote for your favorite! Voting ends Sunday at midnight (PST).
Additionally, the Koufax Awards nominations are open. For those unfamiliar, these are for:
The Koufax Awards are named for Sandy Koufax, one of the greatest left handed pitchers of all time. They are intended to honor the best blogs and bloggers of the left. At the core, the Koufax Awards are meant to be an opportunity to say nice things about your favorite bloggers and to provide a bit of recognition for the folks who provide us with daily information, insight, and entertainment. The awards are supposed to be fun for us and…
tsmith | January 11, 2007
So I see from other blog siblings that it's National Delurking Week. Aetiology has been around now for a year and a half (and just over a year here at Scienceblogs), and I'm thrilled to have a good group of regular commenters, but I never know quite how to answer when people ask who reads my blog. I know a bit just from my sitemeter stats, and a bit more from what commenters occasionally reveal, but that's only a small subset of regular readers. So for the rest of you who just pop in and read but rarely, if ever, comment, I'd love to hear a bit about you--where/how you found the site, how…
tsmith | January 4, 2007Check out all the categories and nominees here. Aetiology was nominated so of course I'd appreciate a vote or two just so I don't get totally creamed, but other favorites are there as well, including fellow ScienceBloggers Effect Measure, Dr. Charles, and Orac, as well as other favorites of mine such as Flea and Unintelligent Design (and those are just in the Best Weblog category; there are new blogs, policy blogs, and patient blogs, including Living the Scientific Life).
tsmith | December 21, 2006Hadn't even realized this was ongoing, but the 2006 Medical Weblog Awards are underway. Nominate your favorite medical blog here; several Sciencebloggers have already been mentioned, but spread the love.
tsmith | December 18, 2006This month's Seed magazine contains a feature on the year in science at Scienceblogs, complete with a "class photo." See if you can find your favorite sciencebloggers...
tsmith | November 17, 2006Via Dynamics of Cats comes notice that two frequently-cited bloggers on Scienceblogs.com, Sean Carroll of Cosmic Variance and Jennifer of Cocktail Party Physics, are gettin' hitched. Two bloggers in love...could anything be cuter? A collective "awww" is in order, I think--congrats!